DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0139
VEDIC AGE DEVELOPMENTS 77
and ground between "pounding stones". Barley and
wheaten cakes, milk, curds, butter, and cheese, and wild
fruits were the chief articles of diet; the products of the
chase were also eaten, but there appears to have been at
the earliest period a restriction in the consumption of
certain foods. Beef was not eaten at meals. Bulls were
sacrificed to the gods. Two kinds of intoxicating liquors
were brewed—the mysterious Soma, beloved by deities,
and a mead or ale called "sura", the Avestan "hura",
prepared probably from grain, which had ever an evil
reputation as a cause of peace-breaking, like dice, and
of wrongdoing generally.
Metals were in use, for the earliest Aryan invasion
took place in the Bronze Age, during which there were
great race movements and invasions and conquests in
Asia and in Europe. It is doubtful whether or not iron
was known by the earliest Aryan settlers in India; it was
probably not worked, but may have been utilized for
charms, as in those countries in which meteoric iron was
called "the metal of heaven". The knowledge of the
mechanical arts had advanced beyond the primitive stage.
Warriors fought not only on foot but also in chariots, and
they wore breastplates; their chief weapons were bows
and horn or metal - tipped arrows, maces, battleaxes,
swords, and spears. Smiths roused their fires with feather
fans; carpenters are mentioned in the hymns, and even
barbers who used razors.
The father was the head of the family, and the family
was the tribal unit. War was waged by a loose federation
of small clans, each «of which was distinguished by the
name of a patriarch. The necessity of having to conduct
frequent campaigns in a new country, peopled by hostile
aliens, no doubt tended to weld tribal units into small
kingdoms and to promote the monarchic system. But
and ground between "pounding stones". Barley and
wheaten cakes, milk, curds, butter, and cheese, and wild
fruits were the chief articles of diet; the products of the
chase were also eaten, but there appears to have been at
the earliest period a restriction in the consumption of
certain foods. Beef was not eaten at meals. Bulls were
sacrificed to the gods. Two kinds of intoxicating liquors
were brewed—the mysterious Soma, beloved by deities,
and a mead or ale called "sura", the Avestan "hura",
prepared probably from grain, which had ever an evil
reputation as a cause of peace-breaking, like dice, and
of wrongdoing generally.
Metals were in use, for the earliest Aryan invasion
took place in the Bronze Age, during which there were
great race movements and invasions and conquests in
Asia and in Europe. It is doubtful whether or not iron
was known by the earliest Aryan settlers in India; it was
probably not worked, but may have been utilized for
charms, as in those countries in which meteoric iron was
called "the metal of heaven". The knowledge of the
mechanical arts had advanced beyond the primitive stage.
Warriors fought not only on foot but also in chariots, and
they wore breastplates; their chief weapons were bows
and horn or metal - tipped arrows, maces, battleaxes,
swords, and spears. Smiths roused their fires with feather
fans; carpenters are mentioned in the hymns, and even
barbers who used razors.
The father was the head of the family, and the family
was the tribal unit. War was waged by a loose federation
of small clans, each «of which was distinguished by the
name of a patriarch. The necessity of having to conduct
frequent campaigns in a new country, peopled by hostile
aliens, no doubt tended to weld tribal units into small
kingdoms and to promote the monarchic system. But