Question

Write a note on the Later Vedic period in detail.

Answer 1

• The Later Vedic period is dated around 1000-600 B.C.E. The treatises of the period give information about this period. 
• This period saw the spread of Later Vedic from the foothills of the Himalayas in the north to the Vindhyas in the south.
• A story in the Satapatha Brahmana bears evidence of the Later Vedic period settling and bringing land under cultivation from west to east. 
• The Later Vedic period saw a gradual formation of the confederacies of the Vedic villages. They were known as ‘Janapadas’. 
• Generally, the seniors and the elites in a Janapada collectively took social decisions. 
• They functioned like oligarchic states. These slowly expanded into Mahajanapadas.