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A History of Agriculture in India v1.c25: Chapter 19. The Vedic Age: Pastoralism, Hunting and Cultivation of Barley

A History of Agriculture in India v1.c25

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Chapter 19. The Vedic Age: Pastoralism, Hunting and Cultivation of Barley

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1500 B.C. TO 1000 B.C.

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The extent of the country occupied by the Aryans, as mentioned in the Vedic texts, is eastern Afghanistan, North-West Frontier Province, Kashmir, the Punjab and parts of Sind and Rajasthan. The Aryan land is called Saptasindhavah—the land of seven rivers. The seven rivers are the five rivers of the Punjab, viz. the Sutudri (Satluj), the Vipas (Beas), the Parushni (Ravi), the Asikni (Chenab) and the Vitasta (Jhelum). The other two rivers are the Indus to the north and the Sarasvati in the present-day Haryana. Drishadvati, now represented by the Chutang, is also mentioned along with the Sarasvati. The Punjab was the land of the Rig-Veda. The Vedic people knew the whole of the Punjab, and occupied the best part of it along the river-beds. The rest was a jungle of xerophytic plants, e.g. *Salvadora persica* and *Prosopis cineraria* (*P. spicigera*) and remained as such till this arid area was irrigated by canals in first quarter of the current century.

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The territory occupied by the Aryan settlers was divided into a number of tribal principalities ruled by Rajas. There were five principal tribes called Panshajana. Of these, the most important were the Bharatas, who had settled in the region between the Sarasvati and the Jamuna. They were supported by Vasishtha Rishi. The Bharatas, under the leadership of Sudās, fought a tribal confederacy of five tribes, viz. Puru, Yadu, Turvasa, Anu and Druhyu, along with five of little note, viz. Alina, Paktha, Bhalānas, Siva, and Vishāṇin. The priest of the Purus was Vishwamitra. The battle was fought on the banks of the Parushni (Ravi) and is known as Dashrajana, or the battle of the ten kings. In this battle, the Bharatas defeated the Purus. Purukutsa, Raja of the Purus, was killed in this battle. It is from the Bharatas that India derives its name.

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In the north-west of India lived the Gandharis. The *Rig-Veda* mentions the fine-quality wool of the sheep kept by them.

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The indigenous inhabitants are mentioned as Dasyu and the Dāsas. Dasyus are described as black-skinned, snub-nosed people, and were the original inhabitants of the Punjab and Sind. They were conquered by the Aryans and were treated as Shudras. There are many references to the slaughter of Dasyus in the *Rig-Veda*, and the term *Dasyu-hatya* occurs frequently.

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Most of the tribal wars were fought for acquiring cows, which were a symbol of wealth. The term for war in the *Rig-Veda* is *Gavisthi* or search for cows.

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Most of the tribal problems were settled in assemblies, known as *sabha* and *samiti*. The Aryans gave their primary loyalty to the tribe which was called *Jana*. The Aryan society was patriarchal, with several generations of the family living under the same roof. Preference was for sons, who could help actively to look after cattle and in war and hunting.

The Rig-Veda and the Aryan Deities

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The *Rig-Veda* is the oldest book of the Aryans. According to Max Müller, its hymns comoposed between 1200 B.C. and 1500 B.C. were handed down orally from the father to the son. The manuscript on which Max Müller based his translation was a commentary by Sayana Akarya, dated back only to A.D. 1400. I-tsing, the Chinese traveller, who visited India between A.D. 671 and A.D. 695, says that the four Vedas contain about one hundred thousand verses, and in every generation there were intelligent Brahmins with prodigious memory who could recite all these verses.

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'In the Vedas the gods are constantly invoked to protect their worshippers, to grant them food, large flocks, large families, and a long life; for all which benefits they are to be rewarded by the praises and sacrifices offered day after day, or at certain seasons of the year. Deities are invoked by different names, some clear and intelligible, such as *Agni*, fire; *Surya*, the sun; *Ushas*, dawn; *Maruts*, the storms; *Prithvi*, the earth; *Ap*, the waters; *Nadi*, the rivers: others such as Varuna, Mitra, Indra, which have become proper names, and disclose but dimly their original application to the great aspects of nature, the sky, the sun, the day.'¹

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The Mittanis. Here we may refer to Mittanis of Asia Minor who were the contemporaries of the Rig-Vedic Aryans of north India. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries B.C., Aryan names were frequent among the Mittanian rulers, and appear in the diplomatic correspondence from El Amarna in Egypt and Boghaz Keui, the Hittite capital in Asia Minor, in documents written in modified cuneiform script on clay tablets. In a treaty between the Hittite king Subiluliuma and the Mittanian Mattiuaza, son of Dusratta, in about 1380 B.C., in which the latter invokes his gods as witness, in the formula *ilani Mi-it-tra-as-si-il-ilani U-ru-w-na-as-si-il ilu In-da-ra ilani Na-sa-at-ti-ia-an-na*. These can only be the gods Mitra, Varuna, and Indra. The last deity is the Nasatyas, an alternative name for the Asvins. This Hittite treaty points to a common stock of mythology among the Indo-European peoples of India and Asia Minor.

Archaeological Remains of the Aryans

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Gandhara Grave Culture. The archaeological evidence of the

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¹Max Müller, *Chips from a German Workshop*, Vol. I, p. 27 arrival of the Aryans in the North-West Frontier Province, according to Thapar, is available in the Gandhara Grave Culture, covering Periods I-III, and the occurrence of objects of copper or bronze, viz. copper celts, swords, shaft-hole axes, and spiral-headed pins, which have a wide distribution in time and space (Heine Geldern, 1936, 1937, 1956; Piggott, 1950; Gordon, 1958; Allchin, 1968).

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The Gandhara Grave Culture, was brought to light by the excavations at Buthara II, Katslai I and Loebanr I Butkara, Barama, Timargarh and Balambat in Swat by Dani. It is characterized by: (a) three distinct types of burial practices (inflexed articulated inhumation, cremation in urns and fractional and multiple), corresponding to three periods of occupation I, II and III; (b) two classes of pottery (red ware and grey ware); (c) the use of copper-bronze during Periods I and II and of iron during Period III; and (d) the knowledge of horse-breeding. On the basis of a comparative study and ¹⁴C determinations, Period I is dated to sixteenth-thirteenth century B.C., Period II to twelfth-tenth century B.C. and Period III to ninth-sixth century B.C. The settlement pattern of this culture indicates the location of the habitation sites along the slopes extending to the river, permitting the use of river for terrace cultivation. Higher slopes would no doubt have been used for cattle-grazing.

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A detailed study of the skeletal material (Bernhard, 1967) obtained from the graves indicates the presence of two dominant groups of foreign peoples in the graves: *Eurydolichomorph* or Proto-Europoid in Period I and *Leptodolichomorph* or the Mediterranean in Period III, ‘closely connected the southern migration of foreign people into the Pakistan-India sub-continent which began in the second millennium B.C. and continued in the first’. On the basis of this evidence, the excavator felt that these migrations represented two waves of invasions of the plain grey ware-using people, the first associated with copper or bronze in about the middle of the second millennium B.C. and the second with iron in the beginning of the first. On circumstantial evidence, the people associated with these migrations are identified with the Aryans, the two waves being further explained by the use of the words *ayas* (generally taken to be copper) in the Rig-Vedic literature, and *tamra-ayas* (copper) and *krishna-ayas* (iron) in the later Vedic.²

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² Thapar, B.K. *The Archaeological Remains of the Aryans in North-Western India*, I.C.H.R.

The Aryans

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The Aryans were tall and handsome people of fair colour. Men wore ear-ornaments and there is mention of an ornamental headdress for women, which stood up like a ‘horn’. Gold was used for bracelets, anklets, ear-rings, and neck-ornaments.

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Dress. The Vedic Aryans used the deer-skin or woollen cloth for garments. The dress usually worn consisted either of three or of two garments. Luxury manifested itself in the wearing of variegated garments or clothing adorned with gold. The hair was carefully combed and oiled. Women wore it plaited, and in some cases men wore it in coils : it was a characteristic of the Vasisthas to have it coiled on the right. Shaving was not unknown, but beards were normally worn, and on festive occasions men bore garlands.

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Food. Milk formed a considerable part of the ordinary food, being taken in its natural state or mixed with grain. Ghee or clarified butter was also much used for frying food as well as for feeding the sacrificial fire. Grain was either parched or ground into flour, and mixed with milk or butter, and made into cakes. As throughout the history of India, vegetables and fruits formed a considerable portion of the dietary. But the Vedic Indians were a nation of meat-eaters, nor need we believe, ‘that they merely ate meat on occasions of sacrifice’. Rather, as in the Homeric age, the slaughter of animals was always in some degree a sacrificial act, and one specially appropriate for the entertainment of guests. The sheep and the goat were the normal food eaten by men and offered to their gods: horse-flesh was probably eaten only at the horse-sacrifice, and not so much as ordinary food as to gain the strength and swiftness of the steed. ‘There is no inconsistency between this eating of flesh and the growing sanctity of cow, which bears already in the Rig-Veda the epithet aghnyā, not to be killed.’ If this interpretation of the term is correct, it is merely proof of the high value attached to that useful animal, the source of the milk which meant so much both for secular and sacred use to the Vedic Indian. The flesh eaten was either cooked in pots of metal or earthenware or roasted on spits.³

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³ Rapson, E.J. (Ed.), The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, pp. 88, 90

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In addition to milk, the Aryan had at least two intoxicating drinks. The first was the soma, which however, by the time of the Rig-Veda, appears almost exclusively as a sacrificial drink. Basham⁴ believes that soma was possibly bhang (Cannabis sativa), whose consumption produces vivid hallucinations and expansion of consciousness. Bhang grows wild in the submontane districts of the Punjab and Uttar Pradesh as well as in Central Asia and South Russia. It is the favourite drink of sadhus and hippies. Bhang is most likely the soma plant.

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⁴ Basham, A.L. The Wonder that was India, p. 236

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The popular drink was, however, the sura, which was distilled from barley. It was extremely intoxicating, and the priests regarded it with disapproval: in one hymn mention is made of men made arrogant by the surā reviling the gods, while another couples it with anger and dicing as the cause of sin.

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Sports. Among the amusements of the Aryans the first place must clearly be given to the chariot race, a natural form of sport among a horse-loving and chivalrous people. The second belongs to dicing. Dancing was also practised, and the dancing of maidens is several times mentioned; it seems that men also, on occasion, danced in the open air, as a metaphor alludes to the dust of the dancing feet of men.

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The Village. All the evidence points to the absence of city life among the tribes. The village probably consisted of a certain number of houses built near each other for purposes of mutual defence, surrounded by a hedge as protection against wild beasts. The pur, which is often referred to and which in later days denotes a ‘town’, was probably no more than a mere earthwork fortification which may in some cases at least have been part of the village. In certain passages, these puras are called autumnal; and by far the most probable explanation of this epithet is that it refers to the flooding of the plains by the rising of the rivers in the autumn, when the cultivators and herdsmen had to take refuge within the earthworks which at other times served as defences against human foes. In the midst of each house burned the domestic fire, which served both for practical and sacrificial uses.⁵

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⁵ Rapson, E.J. (Ed.), The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, p. 91

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All the Aryan buildings, however, appear to have been of wood, and the house seems to have been rectangular, with a thatched roof, divided into more than one room or compartment. Possibly the cattle and sheep, as well as the household, were under a single roof. This pattern of living still prevails in the Kulu Valley.

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Chaupals. The community had periodic assemblies in a meeting-hall, from which women were excluded. Here, the business of the clan was discussed, and gossip retailed. The men gambled at a game of chance played with nuts. One is reminded of chaupals in the present-day Haryana.

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Artisans. The carpenter, working with an axe or adze, and making ploughs and chariots, or the door-posts of a house, was an honoured person. His equipment included the bow-drill, the use of which is implied in the fire-making appliance with which fire was kindled. Next in importance was the worker in metal who smelted the copper ore in a furnace, using the wing of a bird in place of a bellows to fan the flame. Bronze seems to have been the only metal worked; it follows that copper must also have been used, although the word for this metal occurs only later than the Rig-Veda, as does that for tin.

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Leather-workers were certainly there. Leather was used for chariot-races, reins, whips, slings, bow-strings, cuirasses, bellows, bottles, and large containers. It was also used for making carboy-like holders for storing ghee and oil, cattle troughs, shoes and sandals, leather arm protectors for archers, harness and saddles for horses, floor spreads and drum leather.

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Potters made pots which were used for boiling milk, keeping curds and storing grains. They made pitchers for storing water and soma juice.

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Pastoralism. The Vedic Aryans were primarily pastoral. When they settled in the Punjab, they cut the jungles, and built their villages. They grazed their cattle in the jungles, and planted barley in the land close to the abadi (habitation) where it could be protected from wild animals. Like the Gujars of Jammu and Kashmir, they often travelled for long distances in search of pastures, but ultimately returned to their homes along with their cattle.

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The village maintained, on pay or on a share of produce, cowsherds, who were entrusted with the work of taking the cattle to the pasture ground in the morning and bring them back in the evening (Anguttaranikaya. I. 205; Rig-Veda, X. 10. ef). Such a practice still survives in many villages of Haryana.

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A number of hymns in the Vedas are addressed to Indra for gifts of cattle. "May we escape poverty by means of cattle" (R., X. 4. 2. 10). "Grant to us Indra wealth of barley and cattle" (R., X. 3. 13. 7). "Shedder of rain, set open these clouds, set open the cow pastures, send us liberal kine liberally" (R., I.3.3.7, 8). "Givers of horses, cows and garments" (R., V. 3. 10, 8). "Lord of wealth (Indra) visit us as of old to give us cows, horses and chariots" (R., VIII. 6.4. 10).

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The sixth Anuvaka of the eighth Mandala of the Rig-Veda relates wholly to the liberal gifts in cows, mares, camels and horses, one of which is characteristic, viz. "I have received sixty thousand horses, and tens of thousands—a score of hundreds of camels, a thousand brown mares, and ten times ten thousand cows with red patches." (R., VIII. 6.4. 22).

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The name of the sacrificial fee, dakshina, is explained as referring originally to a cow placed 'on the right hand' of the singer for his reward. The singers delight to compare their songs to Indra with the lowing of cows to their calves. At night and in the heat of the day the cows seem to have been kept in the fold; while for the rest of the day they were allowed to wander at will.

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The Aryan vocabulary is rich in names for every aspect of the herd, states Piggott, with special words for 'a cow with a strange calf', 'a cow barren after calving', 'a three-year-old ox', and so on. Red, black, dappled, and light-coloured cows are mentioned, and herds were differentiated by distinctive nicks cut in the ears. One may compare the infinite variety of Punjabi words for buffaloes. The cows were milked three times a day, and castration was practised. Oxen were used for the normal purposes of farm transport.

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Churning of milk was done with a wooden beater, twirled with a rope, now one way, now the other. This practice still continues in the rural areas of India. The churning-stick is called madhani, and the churningpot *chāti* in Punjabi.

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Cows which gave abundant milk and which could be milked with ease are prayed for, thus: "These white kine giving milk like wells" (R., VIII.⁷. 10.3). "I invoke the milk cow that is easily milked, that the handy milker may milk her" (R., I. 22. 8.26). The quality of some cows which let down their milk merely on the sight of their calf has been well observed and referred to thus: "As a cow having a copious stream of milk yields it coming into the presence of the calf" (R., IX. 4.2. 1).⁶

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⁶ Aiyer, A.K.Y.N. *Agriculture and Allied Arts in Vedic India*, pp. 42, 46

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To the Vedic Aryans, the buffalo was a new animal and they were only accustomed to cows. When they came across the buffalo in India, they called it *gauri* and *govala*, extension of the term *go* (cow).⁷

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⁷ Sharma, R.S. *Conflict, Distribution and Differentiation in Rigvedic Society*, I.C.H.R.

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As cows were the principal wealth of the Aryans, they were often stolen, and expeditions were organized for their recovery with prayers to Indra. "Recover thou our cattle, Indra; bring them back; the drum sounds repeatedly as a signal; our leaders mounted on their steeds, assemble; may our warriors be victorious" (R., VI.4.4. 31).

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Sheep and Goats. Dogs were used for guarding houses and for boar-hunting, and they got driven away from the sacrifices, but there is no direct evidence of their use in herding, which seems to have been carried out by a herdsman armed with an ox-goad. The flocks included both sheep and goats, kept for their wool as much as for their flesh. The Sanskrit word for a sheep is used by transference for wool, and no doubt sheep's wool was mainly used, but there is evidence that goat's wool was also used, presumably from such long-haired animals as those of Kashmir. The wool, when spun, was woven, probably by women, on a loom of which the names of warp, woof, and shuttle are preserved.⁸

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⁸ Piggott, S. *Prehistoric India*, pp. 267, 268

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The art of weaving was well known and there are numerous references to it in the Vedas. The fibre used was wool. Wool was woven into carpets and fabrics for garments. The use of the needle was also known, and stitched garments were presumably in use. Softness was a great attribute of the best carpets and of the fabrics for the best garments.

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Hunting. Hunting seems still to have played a considerable part in the life of the Aryans. The hunter used both bow and arrow and snares and traps. There are clear references to the capture of lions in snares, the taking of antelopes in pits, and the hunting of the boar with dogs. Birds were captured in nets stretched out on pegs. Buffaloes seem to have been shot by arrows, and occasionally a lion might be surrounded by hunters and shot to death.

Agriculture

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There are exhortations to idlers to work rather than wasting time in gambling. "Play not with dice; pursue agriculture; delight in wealth so acquired; there, gambler, are cows, there is a wife (to look after)" (R.,X.3.5.13).

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While the profession of agriculture and the possession of vast cultivated land were extolled, the man behind the plough, the man who is actually the tiller of the land, was looked upon as a dull individual, not a fit company for the members of the upper classes. The profession was regarded as fit only for the unlearned, and those devoid of wisdom. It remained so for centuries.

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Ploughs were drawn by teams of two to eight bullocks. Plough-oxen may be employed for the whole day when they are eight-strong per plough. If the number of oxen yoked to one plough is six, they should not be engaged for more than three-quarters of the day. If the number is four, not more than half the day, and if the number is two, not more than one-quarter of the day.

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Atri, Parasāra, Āpastamba and others say ‘one who yokes eight oxen to a plough is a pious man. One who yokes six is just a businessman. Cruel are those who employ four and those who employ two are but beef-eaters.’⁹

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⁹ Gangopadhyay, R. *Some Materials for the Study of Agriculture and Agriculturists in Ancient India*, pp. 86, 87

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Employment of large team of bullocks indicates that the bullocks were weaker than the present-day breeds. Besides, the ploughs were made of wood, and they were not provided with iron ploughshares, and to plough hard clay soil more bullock-power was necessary.

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There are 21 references to agriculture and ploughing in the Rig-Veda, the bulk of which are in Books I and X. R.S. Sharma¹⁰ states, Books I and X, which account for a good bulk of the Rig-Veda, are admittedly late, both from the point of view of style and the nature of material culture they reveal. Most references to field agriculture are confined to these mandalas, and evidence furnished by them shades off into post-Rig-Vedic period from around 1000 B.C.

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¹⁰ Sharma, R.S. *Conflict, Distribution and Differentiation in Rigvedic Society*, I.C.H.R.

Ploughing

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The rains have fallen, and the ploughing of fields begins. The first ploughing of the season was inaugurated amidst much ritual.

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Here are hymns addressed to Shuna, Sita, and Shunashira. Addressed to Shuna: "May the oxen draw happily; the men labour happily; the plough furrow happily; may the traces bind happily; wield the goad happily."

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Addressed to Sita, the earth goddess: "Auspicious Sita, be present, we glorify thee; that thou mayest be propitious to us; that thou mayest yield us abundant fruit. May Indra take hold of Sita; may Pushan guide her; may she, well-stored with water, yield it as milk year after year."

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Addressed to Shunashira: "May the plough-shares break up our land happily; may the plough go happily with the oxen; may Parjanya water the earth with sweet showers happily; grant, Shuna and Shira, prosperity to us" (R., IV. 5.12. 1-8).

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Here is a reference to ploughs and ploughing. "Our auspicious ploughs with their ornamental handles, and their sharp-pointed shares, cleave the ground to the happiness of cows, sheep and well-grown maidens." The ploughs were wooden and so were the ploughshares.

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"May the ploughmen plough round and round, happy with the prospect of heavy crops—may the rain god grant us plenty with milk and honey." "Fit up the ploughs, and yoke them close to each other." "May Indra press the plough deep into the soil; may the sharp-pointed share cleave the soil and push the ploughed earth on both sides of the furrows" (Y., 189. 13-20).

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"O, Indra, I ask your help in ploughing for the increase of grain" (Y., 16.10). "May the lowlying lands so ploughed and rich with milk, and wet with honey and ghee come back to us much fertilized" (Y., 189.20). "The ploughshare furrowing the field provides food for the ploughman" (R., X. 10.5.7).

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The plough used was large and heavy, but a yoke does not seem to have been used. Maybe the plough traces were tied to the horns of bullocks as in Early Dynastic Sumer and Third Dynasty Egypt.

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Irrigation. As already stated, the Aryans' land of Northern India is well-watered and has seven rivers. There is reference to craftsmen (ribhus) who led forth the rivers (R., IV. 4.1.7). The reference is to irrigation by channels taken from the rivers. There is also reference to soil erosion by rivers. "Rivers, the corroders of their banks, like armies destructive of their foes" (R., IV. 2. 9. 7).

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Wells. Wells were in use for supply of drinking-water to men as well as to animals, and also for irrigation. "As a thirsty ox or a thirsty man hastens to a well" (R., I. 19.4.2). "Our praises converge towards you, like herds towards a well" (R., X. 2.9.4). "Tie the ropes tight to the waterpots, let us draw water from this unfailing well. Set up the cattle trough; bind the straps to it; let us pour out the water from the well which is not easily exhausted" (R., X. 9.2.5).

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There were kucha wells, which were just holes dug in the ground. Even now such wells are in use in the riverain areas of northern India. These were a source of danger to unwary men and cattle. Prayers were offered for the safety of cattle that they may not fall into such wells. "Let not, Pushan, our cattle perish, let them not be injured, let them not be hurt by falling into a well" (R., VI. 5.5.7).

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*Fields.* Land was laid out into regular fields, ploughed and sown, and crops were reaped and stored. Land was also measured and fields of definite sizes were laid out. This system implies individual ownership. Thus: "Wide fields, vast treasures, spacious pastures, has Indra bestowed on his friends" (R., III. 3.2.15).

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Measuring-rods of presumably standard lengths were used for measuring fields. "Like a field measured by a rod" (R., I. 16.5.5).

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Here are references to seed and sowing. "Sow the seeds; may the earheads be many and heavy for the sickles to cut and pile in heaps; may these auspicious ploughs (used at sowing time to cover the seeds) bring us wealth in cows, sheep, chariots and well-nourished and strong women" (A. 88.1.7).

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"Harness the ploughs, fit on the yokes, now that the womb of the earth is ready to sow the seeds therein; and our praise to Indra, may there be abundant food, may the grains fall ripe towards the sickle" (R., X. 9.2.3).

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*Harvesting of Crops.* Harvesting began with a prayer. The harvesting tool was the sickle. Thus: "I take the sickle also in my hand with a prayer to thee" (R., VIII. 8.9.10). "May the crop swell at my prayers; let the sickles cut down the heavy crop of grain" (R., V. 6.12.9.10) "May there be abundant food, may the grain fall ripe towards the sickle" (R., X. 9.2.3). Some form of container or measure was used for which the word *urdara* is used.

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Harvesting was both by cutting down the crop at the level of the ground and also by cutting the earheads. "As barley is harvested by separating the earheads from the stalk" (Y., 122.1). "Thou milkest the nutritious grain from the humid stalk" (R., II. 2.2.6).¹¹

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Even now in the Kumaon Himalaya at higher altitudes, barley is harvested in this manner and the ears are snipped off with a pair of sticks, while the straw which is allowed to stand in the field is burnt.

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*Barley.* Barley (*Yava*) is the grain crop mentioned frequently and in many contexts, such as sowing, harvesting, winnowing and storing. Thus, "As a husbandman repeatedly ploughs the earth for barley" (R., I. 5.6.15). "Causing the barley to be sown in fields properly prepared by the plough" (R., I. 17.2.21). "The cattle feed upon the barley" (R., X. 2.¹¹.8).

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¹¹ Aiyer, A.K.Y.N. *Agriculture and Allied Arts in Vedic India*, pp. 3, 5, 6, 12, 14, 16 and 17

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*Sesamum:* This is the only oilseed mentioned. Both the black-seeded and the white-seeded varieties were grown, and the seed was pressed for oil.

v1.c25.s4.t1.22

*Sugarcane:* This crop seems to have been grown by the Aryans. "I offer you dried sugarcane, white sesamum, reeds and bamboos" (A., 475, 53 and 54).

v1.c25.s4.t1.23

CUCUMBER AND BOTTLE-GOURD are specifically mentioned, "May I be liberated from death like the urvaruka (cucumber) fruit from its stalk" (R., VI. 4.5.12). An idiot is thus described. "He is like an empty bottle-gourd" (A., 720.1-4).

v1.c25.s4.t1.24

There is no mention of wheat and cotton in the Vedas, though both the crops were cultivated by the Harappans. It seems that the Aryans were accustomed to barley diet in their original homeland and they stuck to it. Barley is good for men, cattle and horses. Barley is used in Hindu rituals even at present in India. For clothes the Aryans continued to prefer wool to cotton even in the hot climate of the Punjab.

v1.c25.s4.t1.25

Rice is not mentioned in the early Vedic literature. It is highly probable that the Aryans were not aware of rice in the early stages of their colonization of India and learnt its cultivation from the aborigines of this country when they reached the areas now described as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Rice does not find a place in the basic rituals of the Aryans; however, it does find a place in secondary rituals which were later elaborations.

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