In the early Rigvedic period, what was considered to be the most valuable property?

The correct answer is B) Cow. The Rigvedic economy was pastoral, and cattle (go) were the standard measure of wealth. Words like gomat (rich in cattle) and gavishti (a search for cows, which came to mean war) show how central cattle were. Cows were also the main form of dakshina given to priests.

• Land (A): Individual private ownership of land was not established in the early Rigvedic period. Pasture and settlement were used collectively, and agricultural land was not the prime store of value.
• Women (C): Women were not regarded as property to be ranked above cattle. Some texts show them being given away in marriage, but that does not make them the most valuable possession.
• Water (D): Water was sacred and essential, and rivers are praised in the hymns, but it was not reckoned as a form of wealth.

The core concept is the pastoral economy and how wealth was measured through livestock. For Mains, this links to the shift from pastoral to agrarian economy in the later Vedic period, when land and kshetra gained importance and private property developed.

Trap: Aspirants often pick Land by projecting later Vedic or post-Vedic agrarian ideas back onto the Rigvedic age. Always anchor the question to the period named in it.