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The king was given the title of Raja. The king not subscribe to their views or rituals they per-
ruled according to the wishes of the people and formed, were known as Dasas or Dasyus (Femi-
in the beginning, he had no absolute powers. nine – Dasi). The Dasas also did not perform
There were two assemblies known as Sabha and sacrifices and spoke a different language. Since
the Samiti. These assemblies advised the Raja in the Aryans belonged to a warrior class, they also
the matter of running the administration of the captured slaves in the war. Later, these slaves
kingdom, discussed matters of war and peace were made to work in the fields and treated as
and chose leaders among the members of the the property of owners. Much of the Gangetic
community to lead them. valley was a forested region then. These slaves
Words to Describe People were used ot clear the forests. In the forests,
We often describe people by their surnames, however, also lived dangerous animals and forest
religions or their novel way of wearing clothes. communities. So, it is said that some of the
Still, sometimes we describe them by the lan- people who were treated as opponents by the
guages they speak or certain unique cultural warrior Aryans, fled to the south. During the time
practices. During early Vedic times, the people when the warriors were still in the north-west,
there were other developments in the south.
had their own way of describing people by their
work. The occupations in Rig Vedic times being Silent Sentinels — The Story of Megaliths
limited, it was the easiest way of referring to The megaliths are like tombs of dead persons,
people. In the early Rig Vedic period, there were who were buried in ditches, over which huge
only two groups of people – Brahmins, who stone boulders were places (mega means huge,
performed various kinds of rituals and ceremo- lith – stone). The archaeologists, earlier, believed
nies and Rajas or leader who were often brave that the practice of megaliths started only when
and skilled warriors and led the community iron was discovered, because digging ditches or
during the war. The term, ‘Raja’ here (during the megalith burials was possible only with iron tools.
early Rig Vedic times) does not refer to kings. But later, many megaliths were found on the
They did not have proper armies nor did they sides of hills and in river valleys, where natural
collect taxes. These two groups distinguish ditches existed. A huge stone was placed over
between a leader and the community, that was these graves, so that they could be located on the
led. ground easily. In India, the practice of erecting
In the Rigveda, the jana or vish is used to megaliths is believed to have started around
3,000 years ago. Besides, Deccan and south
describe the community as a whole. For example,
Bharata was one of the community, after whom
Bhaatvarsha is derived, it is referred to as
Bharatjana or Bharatvish. Similarly, other com-
munities such as Puru jana or vish or Yadu jana
or vish are also mentioned in the Rigveda.
Though these names sound familiar today, they
were actually wandering tribes when the people
had settled in the Ganga Valley, then known as
Aryanvarta. The people of the settlements as a
whole, were called Aryas and the people who did A Megalithic Burial Site
Social Science-6 35
