Underline the changes in the field of economy and society from Rig Vedic to later Vedic period.

Changes in the economy

In the Rig Vedic period, cattle were the main form of wealth. A gavishti was a raid to capture cows. Gifts to priests were often cows and horses. Farming existed, but it was not yet the main source of livelihood. There was little town-based craft, little regular tax, and no large standing army that needed a big grain store.

Later Vedic texts describe settled agriculture. Rice and barley were grown in the middle Ganga belt. Krishna ayas (dark metal, usually read as iron) made it easier to clear forest and to plough more deeply. Crafts became more specialised. Carpenters, smiths, potters and weavers appear as distinct groups. Bali and sulka are named as dues paid to the chief. Grants of land to priests also become more important. Trade was still limited, but the household was no longer only a herding unit.

• Pastoral wealth: Early hymns measure status in cattle, horses, and the generosity of the rajan in the vidatha and the sabha.
• Settled farming: Later books and the Satapatha Brahmana assume the plough, the furrow, and a village that can support a large yajna.
• Craft and tribute: Specialists and regular dues show a surplus economy, not only a camp of herders.

Changes in society

Rig Vedic society was organised mainly by kinship. Jana and vis mattered more than a fixed caste ladder. Women appear as hymn composers and as participants in ritual. Widow remarriage and a more open domestic life are visible in the hymns. Varna is named, but a person’s work was not yet locked for life.

Later Vedic society became more ranked. The Brahmana and the Kshatriya claimed ritual and political leadership. The Vaishya was the paying householder. The Shudra was tied more firmly to service. Ideas of gotra and ashrama grew. The king’s rajasuya and ashvamedha turned kingship into a public ritual of rank. Women’s public role became narrower. Upanayana became a gate for twice-born males. The village (grama) sat inside a territorial unit called a janapada.

• From clan to rank: Assemblies became weaker as the rajan became a territorial lord with priestly support.
• Varna as duty: Later texts teach dharma by birth more firmly than the early hymns.
• Gender and ritual: The later household became more patriarchal because the large sacrifice became a specialist male science.

These two changes belong to one process. A plough economy needed a ranked society to organise labour, and a ranked society needed surplus to support king and priest.