Write a short note on Vedic religion and Megaliths.

Vedic religion liturgy is reflected in the Mantra portion of the four Vedas, which are compiled in Sanskrit. The religious practices centered on a clergy administering rites that often involved sacrifices. This mode of worship is largely unchanged today within Hinduism, continue the tradition of oral recitation of hymns learned solely through the oral tradition. Texts dating to the Vedic period, composed in Vedic Sanskrit, are mainly the four Vedic Samhitas, but the rahmanas, Aranyakas and some of the older Upanishads are also placed in this period. According to traditional views, the hymns of the Rigveda and other Vedic hymns were divinely revealed to the rishis, who were considered “hearers” rather than “authors”.

The mode of worship was worship of the elements like fire and rivers, worship of heroic gods like Indra , chanting of hymns and performance of sacrifices. The priests performed the solemn rituals for the noblemen (Kshsatriya) and some wealthy Vaishyas. People prayed for abundance of children, rain, cattle, long life and an afterlife in the heavenly world of the ancestors. This mode of worship has been preserved even today in Hinduism, which involves recitations from the Vedas by a purohita (priest), for prosperity, wealth and general well-being. However, the primacy of Vedic deities has been seconded to the deities of Puranic literature.

Megalith is a large stone which has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. Megalithic means structures made of such large stones, utilizing an interlocking system without the use of mortar or cement. The word megalith comes from the Ancient Greek megas meaning great, and lithos meaning stone. “Megalith” also denotes an item consisting of rock hewn in definite shapes for special purposes. It has been used to describe buildings built by people from many parts of the world living in many different periods.

A variety of large stones are seen as megaliths, with the most widely known megaliths not being sepulchral. The construction of these structures took place mainly in the Neolithic and continued into the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. The megaliths are found in all upland areas of the peninsula, but their concentration seems to be in eastern Andhra and in Tamil Nadu.