 Today we're gonna talk about a part of Indian history which is overrated way beyond the point of being overrated. We're talking about the Vedic Age. So let's first understand the term Vedic Age. Vedic refers to the Vedic literature and Age refers to the period when the Vedas were created. Since we don't have any other sources for that period except the Vedic literature, we call it the Vedic Age. The Vedic Age started sometime after the downfall of the Indus Valley civilization and continues till well today. In the sense that Indians still follow Vedic rituals like Yadnias. But it's generally considered that after Buddha came up with a new philosophy for living a better, non-materialistic, non-Yadney-oriented life, that's when the Vedic Age ends. Now let's talk about the Vedic literature. The meaning of the word Veda is to know or knowledge. There are a total of four Vedas. The oldest is the Rig Veda, which means knowledge in the form of rick or verses. Samaveda means knowledge in the form of Sama, Yajurveda means knowledge in the form of Yajus. Atharva Veda, which is basically a collection of charms and spells. Each Veda is divided into four parts. The Samhitas, they mostly contain hymns and praises of gods. The Brahmanas contain information about rituals. The Aranyakas and Upanishads contain philosophy and spiritual knowledge about the soul and Brahma. There are six other texts that we include in the Vedic literature. They're called Veda Anga, Shiksha. It's about the phonology, phonetics and pronunciation of Vedic hymns. Kalpa, also known as Sutra, is a collection of instructions for carrying out Vedic rituals. Vyakaran is grammar. Nirukta is the etymological dictionary of the Vedic words. Chandashastra, it is a text about various meters used for chanting the hymns. Jyotish, it is the relation of the rituals with astronomy and timekeeping. So the four Vedas and six Vedangas together form the Vedic literature. Now, let us see the origins of the Vedic people. It's clear that the people of the Vedic Age call themselves Aryans. You can watch our other episode on the origin of Aryans for more details on that. It is generally considered that the Aryans somehow arrived, appeared, migrated or moved into the region of the Sapta Sindhu, where the Rig Veda was composed, created, compiled, made around 2000 BCE. So the Vedic people or the Vedic society basically comprised of pastoral nomadic clans at first. Now the Vedic religion is a very materialistic and ritualistic religion. The people were basically fire worshippers and performed yadna's. So the Vedic religion is also known as yadna dharma or religion based on yadna. The idea behind performing a yadna was that the smoke rising from the fire carries the offerings up to the heavens to the Vedic gods like Indra, Varuna and Surya. Also by doing the yadna and praising the gods, you would please them and they would grant you wealth and prosperity. And that's why performing a yadna is such a virtuous deed. The ritual of yadna would assure you a place in the heavens where you spend all your virtues and then come back to the earth again. Now these Vedic clans were led by a monarch which was generally a hereditary position. The king was not just a tribal chief but held a position of great honor. He led the tribe in wars and ensured the protection of life and property. The people of Vedic times lived in huts made with bamboos and wood. Also gambling was very common and horse and chariot racing was especially popular. They ate both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. From rice and barley and beans to goats, rams, horses, even buffaloes. Now let's talk about some characteristics of the Vedic age. The Varuna system was basically a hierarchical social structure. The classes were formed based on people's occupations. Brahman, they were basically the priests and scholars. Kshatriya, this was the class of rulers and administrators. Vaishya was the class of traders, merchants and farmers. And Shudra was the class under which came the remaining population. The ashrams were basically a way of life. First is the Brahmacharya ashram. It was basically the student phase of life. A person was expected to learn as much as he could. Second is Grohasthashram. It is basically household life which starts after the person gets married. At this stage, burning a living is compulsory. Also it was mandatory to carry out religious rituals like yajnas. Third is Vana Prasthashram, which is basically like retirement. A person is supposed to hand over their responsibilities over to the next generation and is expected to go and live in the forest. Last ashram is the Sannyas ashram. This was the ultimate sacrifice. One is expected to leave everything and give up all of his material possessions. He should declare himself dead by carrying out certain rituals and should detach himself completely from materialistic life. And finally the last thing that the Vedic age gave us is the Upanishads. Just like any other religion centric society, in the Vedic society too, eventually the people started asking questions about the validity of gods and rituals which led to the creation of the philosophy of the Upanishads and Arannikas, which were a collection of great philosophical thoughts about life, reality, universe. This creation and one's purpose in it. For instance, this verse from the Kena Upanishad, which means it is known to him to whom it is unknown. He does not know when it is known. It is unknown to those who know well and known to those who do not know much. See you people in the next video. Till then, it's a bye from Design History's team.