Having completed the important topic of Indus Valley Civilization in detail, now we come to some smaller topics which are not as much important from UPSC’s point of view. Here our approach would be to give a general idea of the Vedic Period and highlight the important terms. Some of the terms may be hard to remember, but we will try to make it interactive using diagrams, maps and tables.
We call the Period between 1500 to 600 BCE the Vedic age as its reconstruction has been made from Vedic textas the primary source. Indo-Aryans (those who spoke the Indo-European language) are believed to be the composer of Vedic texts. Different theories postulate how Aryans came to India:
| Name of the Theory | The postulate of the Theory | Proposed or Supported by |
| Aryan Migration Theory | Indo-Aryans migrated in a series of immigration from different regions.
|
It is the most accepted and dominanttheory tillnow |
| Central Asian Theory | Aryans migrated from Central Asia and Eurasian Steppe
A recent study ‘The Genomic Formation of South and Central Asia’(2018) of the Y chromosomesupport this view |
Max Muller |
| European Theory | Europe is the homeland of AryansBased on the comparative linguistic studyof Greek, Latin, German, and Sanskrit e.g. Sanskrit words ‘Pitri’ and ‘Matri’ are similar to the Latin ‘Pater’ and ‘Mater’ | Sir William Jones (1786) |
| Indian Theory | Aryans were indigenous to the subcontinent.
DNA analysisof Women Skelton found at Rakhigarhi refutes the Aryan migration theory |
Dr. Sampurnanand and A.C Das; Ganganath Jha and others |
| Arctic Region Theory | Northern Arctic is the homeland for Aryans as Vedas speak of 6 months of long days and long night | Bal Gangadhar Tilak |
| Tibet Theory | Tibet is the original home of Aryans | Swami Dayananda Saraswati |
For sake of Study, the Vedic Age has been divided into Rig Vedic (or Early Vedic Period between 1500 to 1000 BCE) and Later Vedic Period (1000-600 BCE)