GS Paper I — Q1
Underline the changes in the field of society and economy from the Rig Vedic to the later Vedic period. (Answer in 150 words)
हिंदी में प्रश्न पढ़ें
ऋग्वैदिक से उत्तर-वैदिक काल तक सामाजिक और आर्थिक क्षेत्र में घटित परिवर्तनों को रेखांकित कीजिए। (उत्तर 150 शब्दों में दीजिए)
Model answer
Drafted with AI by UPSC Answer Check against this question's marking rubric, to the 150-word length. UPSC does not publish answers for Mains — this is one way to score well, not an official key. How we build rubrics and answers.
The shift from the Rig Vedic to the later Vedic period is best seen as a transformation from mobile tribal life to settled territorial society. Socially, flexible kin-based units (jana, viś) gave way to a rigid varna order, with Brahmana–Kshatriya dominance and Shudra subordination, while women's status declined, with their exclusion from assemblies. Economically, the pastoral-nomadic, cattle-centric economy (gavisthi) shifted to settled agriculture (krishi) using iron tools, making land, not cattle, the chief source of wealth. Geographically, the centre moved eastward from Sapta Sindhu to the Ganga-Yamuna doab, where rice (vrihi) cultivation and settled Painted Grey Ware villages spread. In political and religious institutions, tribal assemblies (sabha, samiti) declined as monarchical janapadas with regular taxes (bali, bhaga) emerged; simple worship of Indra and Agni gave way to elaborate sacrifices (ashvamedha, rajasuya), reinforcing priestly power and economic extraction. Thus, the period underlines a decisive move from tribal pastoralism to agrarian, hierarchical, territorial society.
How this answer will be evaluated
Framework: GS1 History: Comparative Analysis (Rig Vedic vs Later Vedic)
What earns full marks: Clear, analytical comparison of socio-economic shifts with specific examples.
Evaluation rubric
Each sub-part is marked on its own, against the marks and word limit printed on the paper.
- The answer Underline the social and economic changes from the Rig Vedic to the later Vedic period. 10 marks · 150 words
highlight— name the salient points → one line of substance each → close
Must cover
- Economy: pastoral, cattle-centred (gavishti) to settled agriculture with iron (krishna ayas) and plough; land replaces cattle as wealth
- Eastward shift from Sapta Sindhu to the Ganga-Yamuna doab; rice (vrihi) and Painted Grey Ware settlements
- Society: fluid kin-based jana/vish to a hereditary varna order with Brahmana–Kshatriya dominance and Shudra subordination; decline in women's status and exclusion from assemblies
- Polity-religion link: sabha/samiti decline, territorial kingdoms (janapada, rashtra), regular levies (bali, bhaga); elaborate sacrifices (rajasuya, ashvamedha) raising priestly power
Loses marks
- Treating the periods as identical or reversing the direction of change
- Only political changes without society and economy
Earns more
- Gotra exogamy and the ashrama scheme
- Evidence sources: Rig Veda versus later Samhitas and Brahmanas; archaeology (PGW)
Extra mark
- Upanishadic questioning of ritualism as a response
What "Underline" is asking you to do
Draw one strand out of a larger picture and make it unmistakable — typically the change as against the continuity, or the single factor the stem wants separated from the rest. It is marked much as highlight is; what differs is that the strand is given to you and the answer must stay on it.
Structure that answers it
The larger picture in one line → the strand isolated from it → point by point on that strand alone, each set against what it displaced → what the strand amounts to
Where marks are lost
Describing the whole background evenly, so the strand the question named never stands apart from it.
Practice this exact question
Write your answer and it is marked point by point against the model answer above — what you covered, what you missed, what you got wrong.
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