Vedic Civilization

The Vedic Civilization is the Indo-Aryan culture associated with the Vedas, which are some of the oldest extant texts, orally composed in Vedic Sanskrit. Most scholars[8] today postulate a Indo-Aryan migration into India, proposing that early Indo-Aryan speaking tribes migrated into the north-west regions of the Indian subcontinent in the early 2nd millennium BCE. The nature of this migration, the place of origin of the Proto-Indo-Iranian speakers, and sometimes even the very existence of the Aryans as a separate people are hotly debated in India, a phenomenon termed the 'Indigenous Aryan debate' by Edwin Bryant.

The exact connection between the genesis of this civilization and the Indus Valley Civilization on one hand, and a possible Indo-Aryan migration on the other hand, is the subject of dispute[citation needed]. Early Vedic society was largely pastoral. After the Rigveda, Aryan society became increasingly agricultural, and was organized around the four Varnas. Several small kingdoms and tribes merged to form a few large ones, such as the Kuru and PanÐ"§ala, some of which were often at war with each other[citation needed].

In addition to the principal texts of Hinduism (the Vedas), the great Indian epics (the Ramayana and Mahabharata) including the famous stories of Rama and Krishna are said to have their ultimate origins during this period, from an oral tradition of unwritten bardic recitation[citation needed]. The Bhagavad Gita, another primary text of Hinduism well-known for its philosophical nature, is contained in the Mahabharata.

Early Indo-Aryan presence probably corresponds, in part, to the presence of Ochre Coloured Pottery in archaeological findings. The kingdom of the Kurus corresponds to the Black and Red Ware culture and the beginning of the Iron Age in Northwestern India, around 1000 BC (This date is most likely, contemporaneous with the composition of the Atharvaveda)[citation