On this page, you will find NCERT Class 6 History Chapter 5 Notes Pdf free download. CBSE Class 6 Social Science Notes History Chapter 5 SST What Books and Burials Tell Us will seemingly help them to revise the important concepts in less time.
What Books and Burials Tell Us Class 6 Notes Social Science History Chapter 5
CBSE Class 6 History Chapter 5 Notes Understanding the Lesson
1. One of the oldest books in the world are the Vedas.
2. There are four Vedas:
- the Rigveda
- the Samaveda
- the Yajurveda and
- the Atharvaveda.
3. The oldest veda is the Rigveda, composed about 3500 years ago. The Rigveda includes more than a thousand hymns, called sukta or ‘well-said’. These hymns are in praise of various gods and goddesses.
4. Some hymns of Rigveda are in the form of dialogues between sage and rivers (Vishvamitra and two rivers Beas and Sutlej).
5. River Beas and Sutlej were worshipped as goddesses.
6. Three gods are especially important:
- Agni: the god of fire
- Indra: a warrior god and
- Soma: a plant from which a special drink was prepared.
7. The hymns were composed by sages (rishis).
8. Priests taught students to recite and memorize.
9. Most of the hymns were composed, taught and learnt by men. A few were composed by women.
10. The language of the Rigveda is in old or in Vedic Sanskrit which is different from the Sanskrit we learn these days.
11. There are three families of languages. One – Indo-European family; second – Tibeto-Burman family and third – Austro-Asiatic family.
12. Indo-European family includes: Sanskrit, Assamese, Gujarati, Hindi, Kashmiri and Sindhi. Apart from these foreign languages are – Persian, English, French, German, Greek, Italian and Spanish
13. Tibeto-Burman family: The languages which are spoken in north-east states come under this family group.
14. Austro-Asiatic family: Languages spoken in Jharkhand and parts of central India belong to this family group.
15. A manuscript on birch bark of the Rigveda was found in Kashmir. About 150 years ago, it was used to prepare one of the earliest printed text of the Rigveda, as well as an English translation. It is now preserved in a library of Pune, Maharashtra.
16. There are many prayers in the Rigveda for cattle, children (especially sons) and horses.
17. Horses were yoked to chariots that were used in battles. Battles were also fought for land, water and to capture people. •
18. The obtained wealth was kept by the leaders, some was given to the priests and the rest was distributed amongst the people. Some wealth was used for the performance of sacrifices (yajnas) in which offerings were made to the fire. Offerings could include ghee, grain and in some cases animals.
19. In the Vedic age, there were no regular armies but there were assemblies where people met and discussed matters of war and peace. They also chose leaders, who were often brave and skillful warriors.
20. The people were described on the basis of work they did, the language they spoke, the place they belonged to, their family, their communities and cultural practices.
21. There are two groups who are classified in terms of their work – ‘the priests’, sometimes called Brahmins, who performed various rituals and ‘the rajas’.
22. Rajas were different from what we think in present time. They did not have capital cities, palaces or armies, nor did they collect taxes, sons did not automatically succeed fathers as rajas.
23. General people were called from two names -‘jana’ and Vish’. The word ‘jana’ is still used in Hindi and the word Vaishya’ comes from ‘vish’.
24. The people who composed the hymns described themselves as ‘Aryas’ and called their opponents ‘Dasas’ or ‘Dasyus’. These were people who did not perform sacrifices and probably spoke different languages. Later, Dasas and Dasyus were replaced with Dasa and Dasi meaning slave. Slaves were both men and women and they were often captured in war. They were treated as the property of the owner.
25. Stone boulders are known as megaliths and were used to mark burial sites. The practice of erecting megaliths began about 3000 ago years and was prevalent throughout the Deccan, south India, in northeast and Kashmir.
26. Some megaliths are found on earth surface whereas some are underground.
27. Sometimes, archaeologists find a circle of stone boulders or a single large stone standing on the ground. These are the only indications that there are burials beneath.
28. Generally, the dead were buried with distinctive pots, which were called black and red ware. There were also found tools and weapons of iron and sometimes, skeletons of horses, horse equipment and ornaments of stone and gold.
29. Different items were found in different burials. Some burials have more objects such as objects of gold, stone, copper, conch shell whereas some only have pots.
30. Sometimes, megaliths contain more than one skeleton. These indicate that people, perhaps belonging to the same family, were buried in the same place at different times through portholes.
31. The another burial site ‘Inamgaon’ was occupied between 3600-2700 years ago. It is a site on the river Ghod, a tributary of the Bhima. Here, the dead were buried in the ground, laid out straight, with the head towards the north. Sometimes, burials were also within the houses. The vessels, containing food and water were placed with the dead.
32. After seeing the skeleton, it can be found out whether the dead is child or young, men or women. But, there are some problems. How can we identify the found skeleton is of girl or boy? Likewise, how it can be identified that the skeleton is of men or women. It is not possible to find out on the basis of ornaments because often ornaments were worn by both men and women.
33. A better way of figuring out the sex of a skeleton is to look at the bone structure. The hip or the pelvic area of women is generally larger to enable child bearing.
34. About 2000 years ago, there a famous physician named Charaka who wrote a book on medicine known as the ‘Charaka Samhita’.
35. Found in Inamgaon site:
- Grains: wheat, barley, rice, pulses, millets, peas and sesame.
- Animals: cattle, buffalo, goat, sheep, dog, horse, ass, pig, sambhar, spotted deer, blackbuck, antelope, hare, and mongoose.
- Aqua: crocodile, turtle, crab and fish
- Fruits: Ber, Amla, Jamun, dates and a variety of berries.
36. We find some of the first evidences of writing in China around 3500 years ago. These writings were on animal bones. These are called oracle bones, because these were used to predict the future.
37. The kings lived in palaces in cities, in China. They had vast quantities of wealth, including large, elaborately decorated bronze vessels. However, they did not know the use of iron.
What Books and Burials Tell Us Class 6 CBSE Notes Important Terms
Veda: One of the oldest books in the world are the Vedas. There are four Vedas:
- Rigveda
- Samaveda
- Yajurveda and
- Atharvaveda.
The first Veda was composed about 3500 years ago.
Language: Language is the means of communication. This may be in the vocal or written form.
Hymn: Religious poem (mantra) in praise of gods and goddesses.
Chariot: A cart which was drawn by two bullocks or horses.
Sacrifice: Sacrifice is a process in which offerings are made to the fire meant for gods and goddesses. In Rigveda, the word ‘yagna’ has been used for sacrifice.
Raja: Raja was the ruler of state. They did not have capital cities, armies and they did not collect taxes from the people.
Slave: Slaves are those men or women who are captured in the war. Slaves were treated as the property of their owners. They worked as per the directions of their owners only.
Megalith: Stone boulders are known as Megaliths. These megaliths were used at burial sites. These were also used to mark the burial sites.
Burial: Burial was the grave where dead bodies were kept alongwith some articles and edibles.
Skeletal: A study pertaining to skeleton. When a dead body is kept beneath the earth, after some times all organs are dissolved and ruined and thus only body bones structure remains.
Iron: Iron is a metal which was used for making tools and weapons.
Notes of History Class 6 Chapter 5 Time Period
About 3500 years ago: Beginning of the composition of the Vedas.
About 3000 years ago: Beginning of the building of megaliths.
About 2700 years ago: Settlement at Inamgaon.
About 2000 years ago: Charaka