The Vedic Age in India’s history covers a long period in the Bronze and Iron Age during ancient times. It begins with the Indo-Aryan migration into the Punjab. This is debated whether they emerged from outside of India or if they were indigenous to the region, but both linguistic and genetic markers provide evidence that the Indo-Aryans were a branch of the Indo-Europeans who had migrated from Central Asia into the Indian subcontinent. Although the term Indo-Aryan invasion is regularly used, this was not an organized power intent on carving out territory. It was a centuries-long migration of separate tribes from the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization to the Battle of the Ten Kings. The Vedic tribes migrated hundreds of years after the initial Indo-Aryans and competed and warred against them for the prime lands. This is because the Indo-Aryans were pastoralists who herded cows. The Indo-Aryans brought horses, chariots and increased pastoralism to India while the Vedic people brought their oral traditions called the Vedas. Over the years, they integrated with the indigenous inhabitants and began an enormous process of cultural exchange. This dramatically changed the landscape of the northern regions and set the stage for it to become a bastion of spirituality. The Vedic peoples also brought social hierarchies based on occupation, but this was not the caste system of later periods. This was a fluid system before it eventually became linked to family history and intermarriage became forbidden. Hinduism emerged from a synthesis of old India and the beliefs of the Vedic peoples but two major religions, Buddhism and Jainism, would search for something else and reject the traditions of the Indo-Aryans. It is upon this backdrop that one of the richest civilizations in history would be built on. Indian civilization would propel us ever forward.
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