Underline the changes in the field of society and economy from the Rig Vedic to the later Vedic period.

Between the Rig Vedic (c. 1500–1000 BCE) and later Vedic (c. 1000–600 BCE) periods, the centre of Aryan life shifted from the Sapta-Sindhu region to the upper Ganga plains, transforming both society and economy.

Changes in society

• Varna order: flexible, occupation-based divisions hardened into a rigid, hereditary four-fold hierarchy dominated by Brahmanas and Kshatriyas.
• Status of women declined — they lost access to assemblies and to upanayana; scholars like Gargi and Maitreyi were exceptions rather than the rule.
• Patriarchal authority deepened; the gotra institution and the ashrama scheme of life stages emerged.
• The kin-based tribe (jana) gave way to territorial janapadas, eroding tribal egalitarianism.

Changes in the economy

• From cattle pastoralism — the cow was chief wealth and gavishthi ('search for cows') meant war — to settled plough agriculture.
• Iron (krishna ayas), appearing around 1000 BCE with the Painted Grey Ware culture, and heavier ploughs helped open the Ganga plains; barley (yava) was joined by rice (vrihi) and wheat (godhuma).
• Crafts multiplied: smiths, weavers, potters, carpenters and leather-workers.
• Exchange grew, with nishka and satamana as units of value, though coinage and true towns were still absent; bali changed from a voluntary offering into a regular tribute.

These cumulative changes laid the material base for the janapadas, urbanisation and state formation of the sixth century BCE.