Case-based Worksheet for State and Society up to 1000 CE Class 9 (Understanding Society...)

The Vedas constitute the earliest known corpus of Indian literature, especially since the script used by the Harappans of the Sindhu–Sarasvatī civilisation has not yet been deciphered. What we know today as Vedic literature existed in oral form for several centuries before it was written down. We have read in previous grades that the date of composition of the Ṛigveda remains debated among historians, with estimates ranging from the fifth millennium BCE to the second millennium BCE. We have also studied earlier that the Ṛigveda was composed in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, where the Sindhu–Sarasvatī civilisation flourished.

You may remember from your previous grades that the three important kingdoms of southern India, the Cholas, Cheras, and Pandyas, had their own royal emblems. The tiger was the emblem of the Cholas, the bow represented the Cheras, and the fish symbolised the Pandyas. Much of what we know about these early Tamil kingdoms comes from Sangam literature, the earliest Tamil literary tradition, which dates between 300 BCE and 300 CE. The Chera, Chola, and Pandya rulers were known as the three crowned kings or “Vendar of Tamilakam”, and their kingdoms flourished in fertile rice-growing regions.