A History of India, Third Edition

EARLY CIVILISATIONS OF THE NORTHWEST

means ‘war’ today, is related to this term. Samgrama must have originally
meant a meeting (sam—together) of two or more grama, which in the
social context of those days always meant a fight. When the Vedic people
settled down they moved from carts into houses and the word grama came
to refer to a village rather than to a train of vehicles. It is characteristic
that in all Rigvedic texts grama still means a train of vehicles or group of
warriors and only in the Brahmana texts does it mean a village.

Social differentiation and the emergence of the caste system

Settled life also implied a greater degree of internal social stratification
within the tribe or village. Even in Early Vedic times a distinction was
made between the ordinary free members (vish) of a tribe and the warrior
nobility (kshatriya), from among whom the tribal chieftain (rajan) was
selected. The Brahmins as priests were also mentioned as a distinct social
group in these Early Vedic texts. When the semi-nomadic groups settled
down they established closer relations with the indigenous people who
worked for them as labourers or artisans. Colour (varna) served as the
badge of distinction between the free Aryans and the subjugated
indigenous people. Varna soon assumed the meaning of ‘caste’ and was
applied also to the Aryans themselves in order to classify the strata of
priests, warriors, free peasants and the subjugated people. A late hymn of
the Rigveda contains the first evidence of this new system. It deals with the
sacrifice of the mythical being Purusha and the creation of the universe and
of the four varnas. This hymn (X, 90) assumed great normative importance
for the ordering of Hindu society and legitimising the position of the
Brahmin priests at the apex of the social hierarchy:

When gods prepared the sacrifice with Purusha as their offering

Its oil was spring, the holy gift was autumn, summer was the wood

When they divided Purusha how many portions did they make?

What do they call his mouth, his arms? What do they call his thighs

and feet?

The Brahman was his mouth, of both arms was the Raj any a

[Kshatriya] made

His thighs became the Vaishya, from his feet the Shudra was

produced.

The four varnas were originally estates which then served as general
categories for various jatis, as the individual castes were called because one
is born (jata) into a caste. But this full-fledged caste system assumed
greater importance only at a much later period. Social stratification in the
Late Vedic period was characterised by the emergence of a hierarchical
order of estates which reflected a division of labour among various social