did not disappear , but become one aspect of the complex caste structure which developed in north india within the general categories of varna
It was in Panjup , in particular , that the Aryans made the transition to settled agriculture
They cultivated the semi-arid lands of this region with river irrigation . The Aryans grew barley,rice and wheat in rotation. As they gradually shifted to settled agriculture they came to value land in a new way, it gained in value. Cattle had been the most important form of wealth to the pastoral nomads , but land come to be prized as a form of wealth and its control of its use was managed through in clan organization.
With the switch to agriculture , hoeever,socail organization become more straifed and clansmen become unequel in status during the time of the composition of the Rig Veda,clans had begun to be
divided into vish (ordinary clansmen) and rajanya,ruling families of warriors The rajas or lineage chiefs began to come for the most part form these families . Clan lands, however , werw help in common by brough groups , vish and rajanya. AS I mentioned,there was on private ownership, but clan controlled of usage their members.
The bifurcation in clan status differences between lines descending form an older and and younger son, with higher status given to those who demonstrated leadership qualities--the ability to laed cattle ,raids, to protect the clan , to establish new settements , and to control alliances with other clans. Thw rajanya families werw characterzied as chariot-riders and warriors , while the vish were sedentary folk,producers of pastoral and agricultural items.They were the lesser status , junjor lineages in clans and as such they had the obligation to give some of their product to the rajanya and to priests and bards . They were to give the oblations --sacrifical items --which the priests offered at ritual ceremonies which the rajanya organized . The pritses , which came to be know as brahmins,legitimized the superior status and authority of the rajanya at these rituals .(Brahmin is often alos spelled Brahman.) They invest the chiefs with attributes of the dieties
Tn the early Vedic preiod the clansmen placed a high value on common eating and the vish and the rajanya ate together. Later more distnace developed.
With the increasing significance of agriculture and the growth of trade , power came to be based on greater control over the jana , the tribe, and its territory. The territory came to be named after a dominant rajanya lineage . The rajanyas,themselves,came to be divided into those lineages which were allowed to provide rajanyas and those who were not allowed to Rajas,coming from the special lineages of ruling status,came to be know as kshatriyas,from the word for power , Kshatra led in the settlement of new territories.
As the jana developed the desire to increase production in agricution in agriculture , the vish incorporated a new group into their agricultural organization, those who had fallen outside the lineage system,low-status Aryans, and the non -Aryan dasas. These people came eventually to be know as sudras . This lower status group came to include indigenous people with artisan skills .
The historian Kulke have a theory to explain the emergence of the varna system:they aruge that the pastorl , warrior culture Aryans did not have artisanal skills--only carpenters to mend chariots are mentioned in the early hymns. However, the newly agricultural people needed the skills