DDK HistoryF.p65 - CSIR

RGVEDIC PRODUCTION 88
craftsman-god was adopted from the pre- Aryans, presumably along
with their craftsmen. The war chariot, whole details and dimensions
may be accurately restored from the veda, needed excellent
craftsmanship. Heavier ox-drawn anas carts were used also for transport.
The plough was known as slra. The main cereal barley (yava)
gave its name to grain in general. Wheat (godhuma, the bosmoran of the
Greeks) and rice (vrihi) are not explicitly mentioned in this oldest veda.
The sickle (datra), a digging tool khanitra were also known. Settlers
(vis) are peasants (krsti), unploughed fields are akrsivala. There is
nothing about division of land or land-ownership, let alone buying or
selling land, or for that matter any commodities. The main source of
wealth, its very measure, was cattle; in the second line, horses. Camels
too might be given away by a chieftain. The buffalo mahisa is ‘ the
powerful beast’, but this very useful agricultural animal seems to have
been still untamed. Cattle and horses of each kind, even of each separate
colour, had their special designation. Naturally, the fight for water had a
special importance. Indra is called apsu-jit, the ‘ water-conqueror’
(RV. 8.13.2, 1.100.11, 6.44.18, &c). It was for the sake of water that
he overthrew the brazen cities of the Dasyus in RV. 2.20.8, and elsewhere.
Not only Indra but all the peoples fight for water (RV. 4.24.4). So the
present dispute between India and Pakistan over the diversion of
waters in the Indus basin had its origins some 3500 years ago. They
fight for children (tanaye), cattle (gosu), water (apsu) (RV. 6.25.4) ;
naturally both sides pray to Indra for victory, which shows the rise of
warfare between Aryan tribes. The multiple contradictions between a
pastoral nomadic life, the tradition of fruitful raids upon civilizations
now vanished, and the necessity of settled agriculture were beginning to
develop.
Before going on to the political developments in the Indus valley, it
might be pointed out that contact with Aryan people and tradition outside
India was not broken. The characteristic Indian humped bull, not
generally known elsewhere, appears, about 1000 B. c. on a few
Syro-Hittite seals (W. H. Ward : Seal Cylinders of Western Asia;
Washington, B.C., 1910; nos. 922, 930 etc.; her Hittite name was perhaps
Lelwannis). The Usas of the RV. who so often bares her breast and