Sources of History Flashcards
Sources of History
Archeological: Material Remains, Pottery, coins, inscriptions
Literary: Religious, secular, foreign accounts
Archeological sources
One who studies it = Archaeologist
Material remains
Excavations show layout of settlements, pottery, form of houses, food crops, tools, etc.
Vertical digging provides chronological sequence.
Building activities demarcated by stone and brick buildings.
Ring wells used as toilets, drains and garbage dumps.
Megaliths in South India.
Use of iron around 3000years ago.
Dates managed through carbon-14 dating or radio-carbon method. Vegetation and climate is examined through pollen analysis. Animal bones are also examined for their usage.
Major sites:
Narmada Valley: early hunters + gatherers
Vindhya: 1st rice crop
Magadha: 1st kingdom
Sulaiman + Kirthar hills: 1st crops, wheat and barley around 8000 years ago.
Garo hills: early agriculture
Indus + tributaries: 1st cities
Ganga valley: development of cities around 2500years ago.
Pottery
Red and black pottery : Indus Valley Civilization
Painted grey ware: Vedic Age
Coins
Numismatics: study of coins
Copper, silver, gold, lead
Coin moulds from kushana period found.
Silver punch marked coins (earliest) found, rectangular or square/round in shape with names of kings, Gods, or dates or issuance.
Most coins found in post-Mauryan era.
Provide an idea about the guilds of merchants that issued them and goldsmiths that show their craft.
Most coins issued by Guptas.
Metal used in coins also give information on what resources were available, for example lead used by Satavahanas in the South indicates the metal being found in the Deccan region abundantly.
Inscriptions:
Epigraphy: study of inscriptions
Paleography: study of the old writings on the inscriptions
Carved on seals, pillars, rocks, copper plates, temple walls, bricks or images.
Earliest inscriptions: seals of Harappa dating back to 2500BC, remain undeciphered.
Oldest deciphered inscription: Brahmi script issued by Ashoka in the 3rd century BC.
Ashokan epigraphs were first deciphered by James Princep in 1837, a civil servant of the EIC.
2 Ashoka pillars were found by Firoz Shah Tughlaq and re-established by him at Firoz Shah Kotla Fort in Delhi.
Languages used:
Prakrit (earliest) in 3rd century BC.
Then around 2nd century AD, Sanskrit was used.
Regional languages came to be around 9th to 10th centuries AD.
Other languages used:
Brahmi (left to right): Ashokan, dropped post Gupta period
Kharoshthi (right to left): used sometimes
Greek and Aramaic: Afghanistan
Boghaz-Koi inscription found in Asia Minor mentioned Vedic Gods like Mitra, Varuna, Indra and Nasatya.
Inscriptions issued were:
By royal orders regarding Socio-Religious and administrative purposes. For example: Ashokan inscriptions.
As votive records. For example: Budhist, Jain inscriptions.
Donation records. For example: land grants, gifts, etc.
Celebration of attributes, achievements of kings. For example: Allahabad inscription of samudragupta.
Important inscriptions:
Uttaramerur: Chengalpattu, TN: Temple inscriptions describing self-government in 7th-9th century AD.
Eran: MP: Sati evidence
Besnagar/Vidisha: MP, by Heliodorus, a Greek ambassador of Sunga period, 2nd century BC in Prakrit about Lord Vasudeva.
Junagarh: Gujarat: 1st pure Sanskrit inscription by Rudradraman (Saka) around 150AD. Says that Pushyagupta, governor of Mauryan kingdom built a dam on Sudarshan lake.
Mehrauli/Garuda pillar: MP and later Delhi: Maybe by Chandragupta Vikramaditya, mentions Chandragupta II’s conquest over Vatakas.
Aihole: Karnataka: Victory of Pulakeshin II (Chalukya) over Harshavardhana in Sanskrit, composed by Ravikirti, court poet.
Allahabad pillar/prayag prasasti: UP: by samudragupta, composed by harisena in Sanskrit. Mentions Samudragupta’s conquests and diplomatic relations.
Lumbini pillar: Nepal: Ashoka’s visit to Buddha’s birthplace
Mandasor: MP: construction of Sun temple, composed by Vattabhatta
Hathigumpha: Odisha, by Kharavela of Kalinga in 2nd century BC.
Literary Sources
Most authentic sources to reconstruct history
Ancient manuscripts dating back to 4th century AD found in Central Asia.
Materials used birch bark, palm leaves, sheep leather, wooden tablets.
Divided into secular and religious
Religious literature
Vedic: socio-cultural-economic life of Aryans and their contact with non-aryans
Puranas (mythical info, 18 in number, genealogical records of Kali Yuga rulers, eg: Vayu, skanda, matsya, Vishnu, etc.)
Mahabharata and Ramayana (400AD, Mahabharata older than Ramayana, reflects state of affairs from 10th century BC to 4th century AD, originally called Jaya Samhita, then Bharata after one of the oldest tribes of Vedic times, later called Mahabharata or Satasahasri Samhita).
Jaina and Buddhist Literature (Buddhist texts in Pali, compiled in 2nd century BC in Ceylon, Jatakas are birth stories of Buddha. Jaina texts in Prakrit, compiled in 6th century AD in Vallabhi about trade, polity, etc.)
Secular Literature
Sangam Literature:
Earliest Tamil texts around 2300 years ago by poets of Madurai. Info regarding the lives of people, society, polity and economy of the region.
Other texts include:
Dharmasutras (500-200BC), Smritis (6th century AD). Contained codified law and duties of kings and punishments for the guilty.
Arthashastra by Kautilya (15 books).
Kalidasa: Abhijyana Shakuntalam.
Harshacharita by Banabhatta (7th century AD)
Sandhyakara Nandi: Ramacharita.
Bilhana’s Vikramankadevacharita.
Rajatarangini by Kalhana (12th century): Biographies of Kashmiri kings.
Foreign Accounts
Greek and Roman:
Herodotus: Accounts on NW conquests of India by Persian emperors.
Megasthenes by Indica.
Periplus of the Erythrean Sea.
Ptolemy’s Geography (150AD).
Chinese:
Arab:
Accounts of Sulaiman (Silsilat-ut-Tawarikh) and Al Masudi (Muruj-ul-Zahab).
Al-Biruni: Tahqiq-i-Hind and Kitab-ul-Hind, etc.
Modern Historians
Nathaniel Brassey Halhed-Translated Manusmriti (1776) as A Code of Gentoo Laws.
Sir William Jones set up the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784 and translated Abhijyana Shakuntalam.
Charles Wilkins translated Bhagavad Gita into Bhagvad Gita: Dialogues of Krishna in 1785.
Max Muller of Germany translated Vedas, Upanishads, hitopadesha and published It as Sacred Books of the East in a 50 part series.
Vincent Arthur wrote The Early History of India in 1904.
RG Bhandarkar reconstructed Satavahana dynasty in the Deccan + religious sects of Hinduism.
Pandurang Vaman Kane write History of Dharmashastras.
Raja Rajendralal Mitra published various manuscripts of Vedic literature.
RC Majumdar wrote History and Culture of Indian People propounding Indian Renaissance.
Nilakantha Shastri wrote History South India.
KP Jaiswal in his book Hindu Polity in 1924 talked about ancient republics like the Mahajanapadas.
AL Basham write The Wonder That Was India in 1951 denouncing the negative stereotypes about the country.
DD Koshambi wrote An Introduction to the Study of Indian History in 1956.
Important books and their authors
Mudrarakshasha by Vishakhadatta
Rajatarangini by Kalhana
Kathacharitsagar by Somdeva
Kamasutra by Vatsayana
Prashnottarmalika by Amoghavarsha
Swapanvasdattam by Bhasa
Buddha Charita by Asvaghosa
Natyashastra by Bharata
Abhigyan Shakuntalam, Vikramorvashi and Raghuvansham by Kalidasa
Amarkosha by Amarsimha
Panchasidhantika and Brihat Samhita by Varamihiraha
Surya Siddhanta by Aryabhatta
Pancha Tantra by Vishnu Sharma
Nitisara by Kamandaka
Aihole prashasti by Ravikirti
Indica: Megasthenes
Arthashastra by Kautilya
Charaka Samhita by Charaka
Lilawati by Bhaskaracharya
Harshacharita, Kadambari Nagananda and Ratnavali by Harshavardhana
Gatha saptashati by Hala
Astadhyayi by Panini
Mahabhasya by Patanjali
Naishadhacharitra by Sri Harsha
Mrichkatika by Shudraka
Gitagovinda by Jayadeva
Navratna by Virsena.
