CBSE Notes For Class 6 History Social Science Chapter 4 What Books And Burials Tell Us
One of the Oldest Literary Sources in the World
- There are four Vedas – the Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda, and Atharvaveda. The oldest Veda is the Rigveda, composed about 3500 years ago.
- The Rigveda includes more than a thousand hymns, called sukta or well-said. They are in praise of various Gods and Goddesses. Rigveda was composed in the North-Western part of the sub-continent.
Three Gods are especially important
- Agni, the God of fire
- Indra, a warrior God
- Soma, a plant from which the special drink was prepared.
The hymns in Rigveda were composed by sages (rishis). Priests taught students to recite and memorize these carefully. Most of the hymns were composed, taught, and learned by men and some were composed by women.
- Some of the hymns in the Rigveda are in the form of dialogues. For example, there is a dialogue between a sage named Vishvamitra and two rivers (Beas and Sutlej) that were worshipped as Goddesses.
- The Rigveda is in old or Vedic Sanskrit. The Rigveda was recited and heard rather than read. Rigveda was written many centuries after it was composed and printed less than 200 years ago.
Class 6 History Social Science Chapter 4 Cattle, Horses and Chariots
- In the Rigveda, there are many prayers for cattle, children (especially sons), and horses. Horses were used to pull chariots in battles that were fought to capture cattle.
- Battles or wars were also fought for land, water, and to capture people. The land was important for pasture and for growing hardy crops like barley that ripened quickly.
- Most of the men took part in these wars. They discussed war and peace in assemblies and also chose brave and skillful warriors as their leaders.
- Some of the wealth captured in the battles was kept by the leaders, some was given to the priests and the rest was distributed amongst the people. Some wealth was used for the performing yajnas or sacrifices in which offerings were made into the fire.
- The yajnas were meant for Gods and Goddesses and offerings in the yajnas included ghee, grain, and sometimes animals.
Class 6 History Social Science Chapter 4 Words to Describe People
- In Rigveda, two groups are described in terms of their work. These were the priests, who were sometimes called Brahmins and performed various rituals, and the rajas.
- The rajas did not have capital cities, palaces, or armies. Taxes were not collected and sons did not succeed their fathers as Rajas.
- The words jana and vish were used to describe the people or the community as a whole. Several Vish or Jana are mentioned by name, For Example. Puru jana or vish, the Bharata jana or vish, the Yadu jana or vish, etc.
- The people who composed the hymns described themselves as Aryas and called their opponents Dasas or Dasyus.
- Dasyus were the people who did not perform sacrifices and probably spoke different languages. Later, the term dasa (and the feminine dasi) came to mean a slave.
- The men and women, captured in war, became slaves and were treated as the property of their owners.
Class 6 History Social Science Chapter 4 The Story of the Megaliths
- The big stones or the stone boulders are known as megaliths, which were used to mark burial sites.
- The practice of building megaliths began about 3000 years ago. It was prevalent throughout the Deccan, South India, in the North-East and Kashmir.
- Some of the megaliths were built on the surface, and some were underground. Sometimes, archaeologists find a circle of stone boulders or a single large stone standing on the ground. They indicate the burials under the ground.
- All the burials have some common features. Generally, the dead were buried in different pots, which are called Black and Red Ware. Sometimes tools and weapons of iron, skeletons of horses, horse equipment, and ornaments of stone and gold are also found in the graves.
Finding About Social Differences
- According to archaeologists, the objects found with a skeleton in the grave probably belonged to the dead person. Sometimes more objects are found in one grave than in another.
- For example, in Brahmagiri, one skeleton was buried with 33 gold beads, 2 stone beads, 4 copper bangles, and 1 conch shell, while other skeletons were buried with only a few pots.
- These differences in burials suggest that there was some difference in status amongst the people who were buried. Some were rich while others were poor and some were chiefs while others were their followers.
Burial Spots for Certain Families
- Some megaliths also contain more than one skeleton. This indicates that people belonging to the same family were buried in the same place, however at different times.
- The bodies of those who died later were brought into the grave through the portholes (a type of opening). The boulders or stone circles placed on the surface might have served as signposts to find the burial site.
A Special Burial at Inamgaon
- The site of Inamgaon is located on the bank of river Ghod, a tributary of the Bhima River. It was inhabited by people between 3600 and 2700 years ago.
- In Inamgaon, adults were generally buried in the ground, laid out straight, with the head towards the North. Some burials were done within the houses, and the vessels that probably contained food and water were buried with the dead.
- A man was found buried in a large, four-legged clay jar in the courtyard of a five-roomed house on this site. The body was placed in a cross-legged position. This was one of the largest houses at this site, located in the center, and it also had a granary.
Occupations at Inamgaon: In Inamgaon, archaeologists have found seeds of wheat, barley, rice, pulses, millets, peas, and sesame.
- Apart from these, bones of a number of animals have also been found. Many of these bones have cut marks that show they may have been used as food.
- These include bones of animals like cattle, buffalo, goat, sheep, dog, horse, ass, pig, sambhar, spotted deer, blackbuck, antelope, hare, mongoose, crocodile, turtle, crab, birds and fish.
- Evidence was also found that fruits like ber, amla,jamun, dates, and a variety of berries were collected and consumed.
- These findings and evidence indicate that the people of Inamgaon were hunter-gatherers, farmers, and herders.