Consider the following statements regarding the Rig Vedic period:
1. Women slaves were prevalent during the Rig Vedic period.
2. Land was a well-established property during the Rig Vedic age.
3. Child marriage was widely prevalent during the Rig Vedic age.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
2 and 3 only
Incorrect Answer1 and 2 only
Incorrect Answer1, 2 and 3
Incorrect AnswerExplanation:
• Women slaves were prevalent during Rig Vedic age. For example, we hear of gifts made fo priests is stated in terms of cows and women slaves and never in terms of the measurement of land.
o The term for family (kula) is mentioned rarely in the Rig Veda. It comprised not only mother, father, sons, slaves. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• The Rig Vedic people may have occasionally occupied pieces of land, but land did not form a wellestablished type of private property. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
• In Rig Vedic times, we also notice the practice of levirate and widow remarriage. There are no examples of child marriage and the marriageable age in the Rig Veda seems to have been 16 to 17. Hence statement 3 is not correct.
• The fourth division called the sudras appeared towards the end of the Rig Vedic period, because it is mentioned for the first time in the tenth Book of the Rig Veda, which is the latest addition.
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By: Parvesh Mehta