History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c14.5

c14.5

The Ṛigveda, the oldest composition and the sacred religious text of the Aryans, which was transmitted almost unaltered from generation to generation simply through oral traditions, memorizing and recital, furnishes us with a picture of the earliest Indo-Aryan culture. They were predominantly agriculturists, reckoning wealth in domesticated sheep, cows and horses; they knew the uses of bronze, copper, gold and silver; and they made use of wheeled chariots for rapid transport and warfare. They used to speak in Vedic Sanskrit—one of the original Indo-European languages, and were worshippers of anthropomorphic gods They were frequently at war among themselves and with the earlier inhabitants of the land, whom they subdued and derisively termed Dasyus or Dasas. They built up a society which was mostly priest-laden with division of labour that ultimately gave rise to the three main classes known as Brahmins, the priests; Kshatriyas, the warriors and rulers; and Vaisyas, the traders. Nevertheless, the Aryans gradually imbibed and assimilated the religious practices, social customs and cultures of those earlier people, the so-called Dravidians or Dasyus, and even intermingled with them by marriages inspite of many rigid regulations for the preservation of the purity of the race.