The Rigvedic "Pani" belong to which class of citizens ?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — D, Traders. In the Rigveda the Panis are a wealthy, cattle-owning people repeatedly portrayed as misers who hoard riches and refuse sacrifice; historians identify them with the trading/merchant community (the term is linked to the later vanik / baniya, 'merchant'). So they represent the class of traders, not a priestly or artisan group.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) The priestly class of the Rigveda were the Brahmins (the hotr and purohita who performed the yajna); the Panis are cast as their opposite — people who withhold gifts and offerings.  (b) Iron (krishna/shyama ayas) is unknown to the Rigveda and appears only in the Later Vedic age, so a distinct class of iron-smiths in Rigvedic times is anachronistic.  (c) Although the Panis are associated with hoarded wealth, they are remembered as traders/wealth-hoarders, not as a guild of goldsmiths.

Concept: The Panis are one of the recurring 'others' of the Rigveda — a rich, cattle-owning people shown as misers who neither worship the Vedic gods nor share their wealth with priests. Most historians read them as a trading or merchant community, and the name survives in the later word vanik ('trader'). They are best known from the Vala legend, in which they steal and hide cattle.

State PCS 2019 Q41 — History PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2019 Q41 — History PYQ with Answer