Question

How have people in a society been depicted in the Rigveda?

Answer 1

According to the Rigveda, there are two groups of people in terms of their work: (i) The priests, called Brahmins, and (ii) The 'rajas.

The priests performed various rituals while the 'rajas' ruled. These rajas' did not, however, have capital cities, palaces or armies, nor did they collect taxes. Two words were used to refer to the people or the community as a whole those words were 'jana' and Vish'.

The people who composed the hymns referred to themselves using the word 'Aryas' and called their opponents 'Dasas' or 'Dasyus, The 'dasas' were later slaves and were treated as the property of their owners.