Earlier it was believed that the Rigvedic economy was primarily an agricultural and peasant based economy. However, recent researches have shown that the Rigvedic economy was primarily pastoral even though, the roots are from which the term arya is derived means ‘to cultivate’. The Family Books of the Rig-Veda show this.

They domesticated pashu (which included cattle, horse and even human beings), as opposed to mriga, i.e. wild animals. The term for cow (gau) in different forms is mentioned 176 times in the Family Books. Cattle were synonymous with wealth (rayi), and a wealthy person was called gomat.

The importance of cattle was such that the terms of battle were derived from gau itself, such as gavisti, gosu, gavyat, gavyu, and godhuli was a measure of time. Gopa and gopati were epithets given to the king. Duhitri was the term used for daughter because she used to milk the cow.

One of the four categories of gods was known as gojata, i.e. cow born. When the Vedic people encountered buffalo in India they called it gauri and gavala or cow-haired. The Rig-Veda is replete with terms connected to pastoral activities such as pastya.

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which originally meant stall or stable and sometimes it is interpreted as large pasture grounds when it occurs aspastyavanta (in its various forms it occurs 18 times in the Rigveda), vrijana (57 times), which means enclosure, collection of cattle, gostha which also means collection of cattle and vraja (45 times) meaning pasture grounds.

Another important term is gotra, which in the Rig-Veda means cowpen. It is possible that animals were herded in common and such a place was known as gotra. And from this it acquired the character of an exogamous institution. All the pasture lands were under communal control. The cattle obtained in raids were divided among the families.

However, leader of the raids received a larger share. Further, cattle formed an important item of dana and it may also have formed a part of bali, the tribute given to the raja by the clan or vis members. The cattle in general and cow in particular were the main medium of exchange during the Rigvedic period.

In sharp contrast to the above the linguistic evidence for agricultural activities is limited. There are twenty-one references to agricultural activities in the Rigveda, but only a few occur in its core. The term kris (to cultivate) occurs rarely in the Family Books.

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The term kristi, mentioned 33 times, is used in the sense of the people such as panchakristyah. This word is similar to panchajanah and panchacharsaniyah. Sayana also understands kristih in the sense ofprajah or people. Similarly charsani is also derived from char ‘to move’.

The term hala does not appear at all and langala (plough) appearing in the earliest books is believed to be a non-Aryan (Munda) loan word. Sira is another term for plough. The varatra or a leather strap of the plough is also mentioned. Phala (ploughshare) and furrows (sita and sunu) are mentioned in Book IV, the latest of the Family Books.

In a later portion of the Rigveda, Pusan is described as marking furrows. The early Vedic Aryans used wooden ploughshares in cultivating lands. Cultivated fields are called kshetra, and fertile ones urvara. Clearance and cultivation were made possible through the use of hoe (khanitraj, sickle (datra and srini) and axe (parasu, kulisa, vrikna, svadhiti and tejas. Vasi was some kind of hand axe.

The Rigvedic families cultivated their lands themselves. There is no word for either wage or for wage earners. Similarly no term for interest is found. The term rina indicates the mutual obligation to pay one another.

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Land or grain do not figure as objects of dispute, nor is land mentioned as a gift item, even though the whole social fabric was based on some kind of gift economy. Consequently, “individual ownership of land is not evidenced Sorm the Rigveda.

Art and Crafts:

Although the references to craft specialists are comparatively sparse in the Rigveda, some of them got place in the hymns. The groups mentioned include leather workers (charmakaras), wheelwrights (Rathakaras), smiths and potters (kulala), and carpenters (taksan).

However, none of these groups was considered to be of low status. Weaving seems to have been a domestic craft. Wool, obtained from sheep, was the most common raw material. Cotton is not at all mentioned.