Aryans without caste - 8

...The Harappan people have not left any written records and as such their history is not known. Their script which has about 400 characters is still to be deciphered. So it cannot be said with any certainty that they did not have the hereditary caste system. However, the well developed nature of their cities indicates that they also had a stratified social structure like any other civilization of their times. In absence of any records about Harappan civilization the Hindu scriptures become our main source of knowledge about social structure in this sub-continent. It does make sense because word “Varna” makes it appearance in connection with the groups which emerged during later the Vedic period.


However, the agriculture was nearly absent from the life of Rig Vedic people for full 600 years. Agriculture, as compared to cattle rearing, is superior occupation. In turn the cattle rearing is superior to hunting. In pastoral economy one has a ready supply of meat but this supply of food is not as certain as in agriculture. The difference lies in relative control over nature in both the activities. In agriculture there is assured supply of surplus food which comes from relatively higher man’s control over the nature. It gives more benefits compared to pastoral life. The pastoral life is barely a sustenance life with little surplus. The food available in a cattle stock economy depends on the natural growth rate of the cattle stock. The nomadic life also necessitated the movement from one place to another place in search of new pastures. This migration from place to place had inherent uncertainties attached with it. It also resulted in waging small wars with other Aryan tribes and the natives. It also meant poverty as compared to agricultural societies. Agriculture allows one to have sufficient surplus and a well-settled relatively comfortable life avoiding hardship of moving from one place to another. It is surprising that the Aryans who were surrounded by agriculturist communities refused to take up the agriculture for an extremely long period of 600 years. The Rig Vedic Aryans were surrounded by small village based agricultural communities. The contemporary presence of agriculture in Sapta-Sandhav cannot be denied since it was the place of urban Harappan civilization which was based on agriculture, manufacturing and trade. Though the Harappan civilization had declined the agriculture had survived. It is strange that those who claimed that the Vedas contain knowledge about everything had the ancestors who did not know a thing about agriculture. This perfect knowledge had the imperfection of ignorance about agriculture. This they had to learn from the natives of India. This land taught them the agriculture. The natives of India were set to become impure Shudras excluding their kings...