Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c5.2

c5.2

The beginnings of Indian social, as of religious speculation lie in Vedic literature—the four Vedas, the Brāhmaṇas and the Upaniṣads. The Ṛigveda, the oldest document extant, consists of hymns to many gods composed probably in the third and second millenniums before Christ. Mostly from the Ṛigveda are derived the Sāmaveda and the Yajurveda though the latter comprises some prose formulas of its own. Much later in date is the Atharvaveda which incorporates a good deal of Dravidian belief and ritual and which, in its whole outlook, is very different from the Ṛigveda. Primarily religious and devotional, the Vedas nevertheless reflect the whole life of the age and afford a glimpse into the political institutions and ideas of the early Indo-Aryans. The sacrificial ceremonial which occupies a large space in the Vedas is elaborated with an almost incredible minuteness of detail in the prose works, the Brāhmaṇas, attached to each Veda. Since ritual had entwined itself with the whole of human existence and activity, the Brāhmaṇas throw some light on the social organisation, law and politics of the age. The Upaniṣads inquire into the nature of the Divinity but the stories which illustrate the theme incidentally refer to mundane affairs. It is, then, from these sources that the earliest phase of Hindu political thought has to be reconstructed. Nothing can compensate for the absence of political treatises as such but scattered references have the advantage of presenting every idea in the general intellectual perspective and social milieu.