VEDIC PERIOD

AR. ARPITA SARKAR

AR. RANJITHA GOVINDRAJ
SCHOOL OF ARCHIRECTURE
RAMAIAH INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE, BANGALORE
 HISTORY TIMELINE

Vedic period

• Indus & Saraswati Civilization: 2500 – 1000 BC

• Vedic Civilization: 4500 – 1500 BC
• Birth of Jainism and Buddhism: 563 – 400 BC
• Mauryan Dynasty: 325 – 175 BC
• Gupta Dynasty: 300 – 650 AD
• Muslim Invasions: 700 – 1200 AD
• The Mughal Empire: 1300 – 1700 AD
• The British east India Company: 1600 AD
• The British Empire: 1700 – 1900 AD
• India’s Freedom struggle: 1857 – 1947
• Independence: 1947
• Aryans migrated in India towards the end of Indus Valley Civilization
from Central Asia.
• They moved to the basins of Ganga and Yamuna instead of settling
around the river Indus.

VEDIC CIVILIZATION
• Vedic civilization is the earliest
civilization in Indian history. Written
records of these people have been
found.
• This civilization is named after the
Veda’s, the early literature of the Hindu
people.
• The timeline of Vedic civilization is 4500
BC – 1800 BC whereas that of the Indus
valley civilization is 3300 BC – 1500
BCE.
1. Rig Veda: It is the oldest religious text in the
world. Hence called as ‘the first testament of
mankind.’ It was composed during Early Vedic
period. It contains hymns dedicated by sages to
the Gods. It contains the famous ‘Gayatri
Mantra.’
2. Sama Veda: ‘Sama’ means ‘sweet song/ melody’.
These hymns are sung by the priests at the time
of sacrifice.
3. Yajur Veda : It deals with rituals and hymns
recited during performing Yajnas.
4. Atharva Veda: It deals with magic and charm.

Two of the greatest epics were also composed during this period. 'The Ramayana' and 'The
Mahabharata'. These tell us a great deal about the culture, society and religion of the
people of that era.

It was during the Vedic age that the Caste System was born. Due to work specialization,
different classes of society developed. Besides the Brahmins, there were the Kshatriyas or
warriors, the Vaishyas or merchants and Shudras or outcasts, who performed menial jobs
like scavenging, fishing and removing dead bodies. The status of the Brahmins and
Kshatriyas improved greatly while other castes were degraded and reached the lower rungs
of society.
 GEOGRAPHY
• The texts describe geography that serves to believe
to be in north India.
• The Vedic civilization flourished along the river
Saraswati in a region that now consists of the
modern Indian states of Uttaranchal and passing
through Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan; reaches the
Arabian Sea in Gujarat.
• The greatest river described in the Rig-Veda is
Saraswati which dried up around 1900 BCE.

SOCIAL LIFE ECONOMIC LIFE: THEIR OCCUPATIONS

• Family life • Agriculture
• Food • Domestication
• Games & BRAHIMNS of animals
Amusements Priests • Trade
• Dress KSHATRIYAS • Discovery of
• The Varnas /Castes warriors Iron
VAISYAS • Other
Herders, farmer, artisan occupations
SUDRAS and Industries
Servants, labourers
VEDIC VILLAGE (Also known as Aryan village)
• Aryans were a nomadic people and did not like to live in
the towns and houses of brick, as they were used to living
in huts of grass and bamboos.
• In time they formed village type settlements and huts of
grass and bamboos, wattle & daub – which were circular
in plan.
• Bamboos were bound reed sand spaces between them
filled with other reeds and leaves and plastered with
mud.
• These huts overtime, gave way to elongated huts which
were oval in plan and the roofs were vaulted with bent
bamboos.
• Internal supports of the huts had pots of clay at the base
and this became bases of columns in subsequent
Architecture.
• The shorter two ends became flatter and had semi-circular openings which eventually
became “Sun Windows” (OR “Chaitya Windows” as they were called in subsequent
Buddhist Architecture.
• The Aryan villages were simple structures, which formed the basis for architecture in
India.
• Their huts were very basic, circular and with thatched roofs over bamboo logs. Fences
of wood and bamboo surrounded the settlement for protection against wild animals.
• Vedic villages were a collection of huts with Bamboo fence all – around the periphery of
the village.

• The fence had vertical sand horizontals with a member at the top.

• Each village had a gate which was called ‘Cow Gate’ as it was use for the cattle to go out
in the day and move in at the evening time.

• The gate became the ‘Torana’ in subsequent Buddhist Architecture.

• The railing and fence was used to indicate the importance of any religious monument. It
was also used to symbolically indicate sacredness.
• The huts were arranged in groups of the threes or fours around an open courtyard, a
conglomerate of such units was a typical Aryan village.

• The village was defined and screened off from the wildlife of the surrounding forests by a
timber fence.

• A gateway was installed in front of the entry portion, constructed much like a fence and
having its horizontal ties raised high enough to provide a controlled entry through which
cattle passed to and fro.

• The Semi circular Sun windows evolved into ‘horse shoe’ shape because of taking in of
the bottom ends by a member at the base which was used to keep the roof from
spreading outwards
• The village structures gave way to building of towns which had battered walls and a
pillared storey above, which was topped with semi-circular roofs and ‘Horse Shoe’
windows

• The towns had fences and moats around them.

• Soon the demand for fertile land grew and rivalry spread. Groups of villages joined forces
and thus small 'cities' or clans called 'Vis' were born.

• The city buildings were made almost entirely from wood, and walls protected each city.
The Vedic carpenters became skilled at constructing timber structures and their
techniques were used in stone constructions of the future.

• During this period, animal husbandry,

agriculture, weaving, carpentry were the
primary occupations. The barter system
flourished.

• External trade began with West Asia and

Egypt. Coins were introduced for trade and
were called the 'Nishka'.
TYPES OF HOUSING
Aryan village was an incorporation of timber and thatched huts of different types:

CIRCULAR HUT

• The most elementary hut was circular in plan, this was the simplest to construct with
bamboo and thatch
• Circular huts, through easy to erect had obviously functional limitations.
TYPES OF HOUSING
RECTANGULAR HUT

• An addition was made to the circular hut and its form was changed to elastic

• Elastic nature of bamboos was used in roofing. A barrel like effect was created for the
roof by bending the bamboo in the form of an arch and bending the bamboo over
bamboo walls.
VEDIC CITY AND ITS FUNCTIONS
VEDIC INFLUENCE ON BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE
VEDIC INFLUENCE ON BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE