Aryans

Guiding question: How did the social life of the Indian people transform with the coming of the Aryans?

The Aryans are the very first known invaders of India, who invaded during the Vedic age. The Aryans first came in India as a barbaric tribe 5000 years ago and they vanquished the Indus valley people right after their arrival. This they with ease as they were great warriors and had very advanced fighting technique whereas the Indus valley people had no knowledge about war. The Aryans soon took over and completely transformed India, in every aspect such as social class, agriculture, architecture, and helping the economy of India.

The Aryans played a major role in bringing the caste system to India. They divided the people according to their status in four groups. The top most out these four castes were the Brahmins who were religious leaders and held sacrifices for common people and also could pardon sins. The Brahmins were lucky from birth as they could remain Brahmins for the rest of their lives without proving themselves. They were the only caste who were allowed to read texts like Vedas. The second caste was the strongest of all and consisted of nobles and warriors who were known as the Kshatriyas. They were given the second rank as they were extraordinary warriors and were extremely brave. The third cast consisted of merchants and traders who were known as the Vishyas. This caste was responsible for most of the tax payment and thus they were considered higher than the Shudras. The Shudras was the fourth and the lowest caste. They mostly consisted of people captured from wars and slaves who served all the three castes above them. The Shudras were treated worse than dogs and if the shadow of a Shudra was cast upon anyone from the higher castes, they would immediately go and bathe.

The Term Paper on Indian Caste System India Castes British

Caste is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as one of the hereditary social classes in Hinduism, which is also a division in society based on wealth, inherited rank, or occupation, and allows little mobility out of the position to which a person is born. The word caste was first used by 16 th century Portuguese traders; it is taken from the Portuguese word casta. Varna, the word for caste, ...

Leaving out the caste system the Aryans were also responsible in establishing sacrifices and ceremonies. This act soon became a tradition and is still practiced by Hindus till this day. A normal person at that time was expected to perform at least forty sacrifices in his whole life. Sacrifices were also performed by the king who performed acts on tamed animals as an offering to god. The Aryans believed in god in various forms, which include wind, water, thunder, earth, and fire.

The Aryans did do many good things for the Indians but they also had flaws. The female gender was abused a lot and many limitations and restrictions were put for them under the rule of the Aryans. The women were not allowed to leave the house until she was accompanied by her father or husband. This was however done for their own good as disgraceful acts such as rape were performed on the streets. However the major problem was that the birth of a boy was celebrated by everyone, but the birth of a girl was considered disgraceful and the women were discarded. This act just like the ceremonies and sacrifices are practiced till this day in India. The ceremonies and sacrifices are common but in villages mostly they kill their new born daughter by leaving it in a kettle with boiling water. The women during the Vedic age were basically an embarrassment for the family and society. They were used to do house hold work but more important than that they were used mostly to reproduce so that their future generation would enlarge.

Bibliography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Aryan_migration

http://www.indianetzone.com/26/the_aryans.htm

http://edhelper.com/ReadingComprehension_Geography_155_1.html

http://adaniel.tripod.com/aryans.htm

http://www.indhistory.com/aryan.html