Later Vedic Period: In this period, the Aryans moved into the eastern areas as is evident from the story of Videga Madhava in Satapatha Brahmana according to which Videga Madhova started from river Saraswati with fire god Agni and with his help moved eastwards till he reached river Gandak (Sadanira). He then crossed the eastern bank of river Gandak leading to the naming of the area as 'Videha', apparently named after its first Aryan Coloniser. So, the Aryans with the help of fire and iron tools expanded into Western Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and upto thel borders of Bengal. In this process of expansion the Janas' (Units of tribal people) of the early Vedic age were transformed into Janapadas' (territory under units of tribal people) of the later Vedic age. The Aryans in the later Vedic age also acquired knowledge of the eastem sea and the western sea. They also had knowledge of Narmada river and the Vindhyan mountains. The Aitreya Brahmana, a text of the later Vedic age divides the country into five parts -north, east, west, south and the Central parts. Political Structure Early Vedic Period: The Aryans were engaged in two types of conflicts-first, they fought with the pre-Aryans, and secondly, they fought amongst themselves. The Rig Vedic people came into conflict with the indigenous inhabitants called the dasas, dasyus etc. Singe the dasas also appear in the ancient Iranian literature, they seem to have been a branch of the early Aryans. The Rig Veda mentions the defeat of Sambara by a chlef called Divodasa, who belonged to the Bharata clan. In this case the term das appears in the name Divodasa. Possibly the dasyus, in the Rigveda represent the original inhabitants of the country, and an Aryan chief who overpowered them was called Trasadasyu. The Aryan chief was soft towards the dasa, but strongly hostile to the dasyus. The term dasyuhatya, slaughter of the dasýus, is repeatedly mentioned in the Rig Veda. The dasyus possibly worshipped the phallus and did not keep cattle for dairy products. In the Rig Veda, Indra is called Purandhara which means that he was the breaker of forts. But the so called forts have not been identified."



The Dasarajna or the battle of the ten kings is an important' historical event which took place on the banks of Parushni (Ravi) river. In this battle, Sudas, the son of Divodas and the Bharata king of Tritsu family fought with and won over an alliance of ten tribes of which five were Aryan and another five were non-Aryan. In this battle, Purukutsa, the leader of the ten tribes was killed. This battle broke out because of a dispute between Vasishta, the priest of the Bharatas and Visvamitra, the priest who supported the ten tribes. Another issue which sparked off the conflict was the division of the waters of the Parushni. Another important battle took place on the banks of the Yamuna where Sudas defeated a confederacy of three non-Aryan tribes led by king Bheda.


The tribal chief called as 'Rajan' was the centre of the administrative machinery of the Aryans in the Rig Vedic period. The king's position was hereditary and the king was called as 'Gopajanasya' i.e. the protector of the tribe and its cattle and not the ruler of any specific territory. The king was assisted by a purohit, a senani and a gramani. In the beginning the gramani was just the head of a small tribal fighting unit. But when the unit settled, the gramfani became the head of the village and in course of time he became identical with the Prajapati (authority over pasture land). The king also employed sples to keep an eye on unsocial activates. So there was not definite bureaucratic setup. The king did not maintain any regular or standing army but in times of war he mustered a militia whose military functions were performed by different tribal groups called Vrata, gana, grama, sardha. Several tribal assembles called Vidhatha, Sabha, Samiti and gana are mentioned in the Rig Veda. Vidhatha seems to be the oldest parent folk assembly from which Sabha and Samiti differentiated. These assemblies exercised various deliberative, military and religious functions. Even women attended the Sabha and vidhatha in Rig Vedic times. But the two most important assemblies were the Sabha and the samiti and the kings showed eagerness to win their support. There was no doctrine of divinity associated with kingship, only one king Purukutsa has been described as ardhadeva (semi-divine) in the Rig Veda. Later Vedic Period: Aryans expanded from Punjab over the whole of western Uttar Pradesh covered by the Ganga-Yamuna doab. In the process of expansion, the 'janas' were trarisformed into 'janapadas' which were the first tecritorial kingdoms mentioned in the later Vedic age. The Bharatas and Purus, the two major tribes, combined and thus formed the Kuru janapada. The Kurus settled down in the upper Ganga-Yamuna doab with two capital at Hastinapur on the banks of Ganga and Indraprastha on the banks of the Yamuna. The land of the Kurus was called as Kurukshetra which was place where he Mahabharata was took place between the Kauravas and the Pandavas both of whom belonged to the Kuru clan. As a result practically the whole of the Kuru clan was wiped out. Form tradition we learn that when Hastinapur was flooded, the remnants of Kuru clari moved to Kaushambi near Allahabad. Panchala janapada was formed to the east of Kuru janapada. Covering the districts of Bareilly, Badaun and Farukhabad in Uttarpradesh. The Panchala janapada had a northern capital at Ahicchatra and a southern capital at Kampilya. Koshala janapada was formed to the east of Panchala in eastern Uttarpradesh with capitals at Ayodhya (Saket) and Sravasthi. Videha janapada was formed in northern Bihar. Other important janapadas were kasi, Magadha, Anga, Surasena, Matsya, Kekeya and Madra.

With the formation of bigger kingdonts, the king became more powerful. His authority acquired territorial connotation. The term "Rashtra' which indicates territory, first appears