Thank you for your comment Pusaka.
Just to set the record straight:-
Yes, the Aryan people did enter the Indian Sub-Continent from the North, by about 1500BC they had entered the Sub-Continent and had made contact with the Indus Valley civilisation, which was at the time of contact a bronze age culture. Historians refer to the era that the Aryan Peoples began as the Vedic Age, its duration was approximately 1200BC to 400BC, after which the Hindu belief system supplanted the observance of purely vedic ritual, which is known as shrauta, or belonging to the Vedas.
However, the Iron Age was well and truly under way in the Indian Sub-Continent by 1200BC, and some scholars date the beginning or iron smelting in India to as early as 1700BC. One thing is true:- by 1300BC the working of iron in India was sufficiently advanced to permit the manufacture of large artifacts. In Uttar Pradesh the beginnings of iron technology seems to date from about 1800BC.
The entry of the Aryan people into the Sub-Continent marks the beginning of the Vedic Age in Indian history. It is known as the Vedic age because it was during this period that the Vedas were written. It is generally agreed that there are four Vedas:- Rigveda, Samaveda, Yujurveda, Atharvaveda, and each of these Vedas is further classified into four parts, one of which is the Samhitas, which were originally written before 1100BC, and possibly as early as 1700BC. The Samhitas were the earliest part of the Vedas, and were probably began before entry to the Sub-Continent, however, before 500BC the Samhitas were revised, probably to harmonise their inclusion into the full body of the Vedas. The Samhitas deal with mantras and blessings.
All the other Vedas were written during the Vedic Period in India. Originally they were seen as compilations of knowledge to used be for guidance, rather than purely religious texts. They were written in Vedic Sanscrit.
The record is very clear:- the Aryan People did not bring the Vedas with them into the Indian Sub-Continent, the Vedas were written in the Indian Sub-Continent.
Nor did the Aryan People initiate the iron technology of India, the role of the Aryan People, or more correctly, the Vedic People, was to develop and spread material culture into the Sub-Continent. The people who were indigenous to the Indian Sub-Continent initiated iron technology long before the Vedic Age began, but the Vedic People helped to develop and spread this technology.
The correct name of the Horse Sacrifice is Ashvamedha.
In ancient India kings used this ritual to prove their right to rule, very briefly it involved allowing a horse to roam free for a year, and all the land that it walked upon became the domain of the king. After the year was over, the horse was sacrificed.
However, this sacrifice of a horse was not limited to kings proving their right to rule. Horse sacrifice also had a place in some burial rites and in the entry of a person from another social division into the warrior division of society. Mobility between social divisions was possible in early times. If a member of the warrior division was raised in rank, and a ritual was deemed to be appropriate, horse sacrifice was also used.
By the time that Shrauta rituals, including the Horse Sacrifice, were common practice in India, iron technology was already well established, thus there was a choice of bronze or of iron, as the material for the implement to be used in the carrying out of the sacrifice.
Were the Indian people the first to use iron?
In classical history terms, the Hittites were credited with initiating iron technology, and that usage dates from about 1500BC.
Discoveries in recent years seem to date the beginning of iron technology in India to at least a similar date and very possibly much earlier. At Lahuradewa in Uttar Pradesh iron artifacts dating from the period 1800BC to 1100BC have been found. There is general agreement in academic circles that the Indian Iron Age began in the 13th century BC, by which time there was a lot of iron smelting going on in India.
However, both the Hittite and the Indian use of iron do not come anywhere near the use of iron in ancient Mesopotamia, where the evidence suggests usage that dates back to around 3000BC. Then we have a tomb discovery of an iron dagger blade in Anatolia (ancient Turkey) that dates from around 2500BC.
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