Social Life
In the later Vedic period joint family system was prevalent. The families
were patriarchial. Father was the head of the family and was very powerful. He
could even disinherit his son. People worshipped their male ancestors. Another
chief feature of the later Vedic period was the vanashram system. During this
period life span of 100 years of a man was divided into four equal parts of 25
years each and different duties were assigned to him in different parts of life.
These ashrams were-
- Brahmacharya
- Grahastha
- Vanaprastha
- Sanyasa
In the later Vedic period position of women declined. They were given a
lower position in the society. They were considered inferior and
subordinate to men. Women could not participate in the political
assemblies. They no longer accompanied their husbands in religious
yajnas. Marriage was considered a sacred bond. Woman was the mistress of
the house and enjoyed respectable position in the household. Polygamy
also prevailed. Education was provided independently by teachers in the
ashrams maintained by them. The rich people and king gave large
donations to the learned teachers. The main aim of education was to
shape their character and prepare them for the future. Besides religion
and philosophy other important subjects of study were arithmetic, logic,
astrology, grammar, medicine and language. The art of writing had become
known to the Aryans. Women were free to get education. There were women
scholars also. Dress was similar to the early Vedic period. They wore
cotton, woollen and silken clothes. Shoes were also used by the people.
Both men and women wore ornaments. Aryans started wearing silver
ornaments. The principal means of entertainment of this culture were
music, dancing, dicing, hunting and chariot racing. The Aryans had built
up cities during this period. Indraprastha, Hastinapur, Koshambi and
Benaras had grown up as principal cities. They still led a moral and
virtuous life.
Caste System
During the later Vedic period the caste system became very rigid. It was
difficult to change one's caste but it was not absolutely impossible. The
society had been divided into four main caste divisions- Brahmans, Kshatriyas,
Vaishyas and Shudras. Brahmans emerged as the most important class. They
performed the sacrifices and rituals for their clients. Kshatriyas came next and
they were to fight wars, third position was occupied by Vaishyas and they
carried trade and Shudras were considered the lowest among the four castes. They
were to serve the other three castes. The first three castes called Dvija -twice
born but Shudras were deprived of it. According to Satapatha Brahmana,
Kshatriyas and Brahmans could marry women from the Vaishyas and Shudras but the
Vaishyas and Shudras could not marry Brahmana and Kshatriya girls.