Page:A History of Civilisation in Ancient India based on Sanscrit Literature Vol 1.djvu/57

Rh Kshatriyas started form the only redeeming portion of the inane and lifeless literature of this period. And these speculations remained as a heritage of the nation, and formed the nucleus of the Hindu philosophical systems and religious revolutions of a later day.

It was in this period of Aryan expansion in the Gangetic valley that the Rig Veda and the three other Vedas—Sâman, Yajus, and Atharvan—were finally arranged and compiled. Then followed another class of compositions known as the Brâhmanas, and devoted to sacrificial rites; and these inane and verbose compositions reflect the enervation of the people and the dogmatic pretensions of the priests of the age. The custom of retirement from the world into forest life, which was unknown in the earlier ages, sprang up, and the last portions of the Brâhmanas are Âranyakas devoted to forest rites. And lastly, the bold speculations started by Kshatriyas are known as the Upanishads, and form the last portions of the literature of this period, and close the so-called Revealed Literature of India.

Scholars have generally held that a period of at least four or five centuries was required for the great social and political changes of this epoch. Within this period the valley of the Ganges, as far as Tirhoot, was cleared, colonised, and Hinduised, and formed into sites of powerful kingdoms. Religious observances were vastly elaborated; social rules were changed; the caste-system was formed; the supremacy of priests was established and confirmed, and ultimately questioned by the Kshatriyas; and lastly, within this age, a varied and voluminous literature was recorded. The Period may, therefore, be supposed to have extended approximately from 1400 to 1000 B.C.

One or two facts may be cited here which confirm these dates. The central historical fact of this period was a great war between the Kurus and the Panchâlas, which forms the subject of the Mahâbhârata, and of