Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Major Sources
Major Sources
OF
ANCIENT INDIAN
HISTORY
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of history is to throw light on the
past. This is done through discovery and study
of historical sources. It is rather easy to find
sources for writing the history of the recent
past, because there is plenty of hand written
and printed material on and about modern
State and Society. There is also enough
material in respect of medieval times. But the
real difficulty arises for writing ancient history.
Modern historian write the events in such away
that the cause and effects are established but
the ancient historians treated only those
events from which one could learn something
“The mahabharata says that any interesting
narration which gives instruction about
religion, economy, sex, salvation is called
HISTORY’’
The ancient Indian scholars have described
history as fifth veda. These sources are divided
into two main groups. They are Archaeological
and Literary.
Sources of ancient Indian history
Literary sources Archaeological sources
Ramayan Mahabharat
seals
The ones who are preparing for ancient history exam of PU (first semester) … it is advised that
you prepare this flow chart by heart Good Luck
SOURCES OF ANCIENT INDIAN
HISTORY
LITERARY SOURCES ARCHAREOLOGICAL SOURCES
• The ancient literature and • The archaeological sources
literary sources are important also plays an important role in
source of information for the constructing or reconstructing
reconstruction of ancient the history of a region. For
Indian history. The example up to 1920, Indian
classification is simple– civilization was considered to
religious literature, secular have begun about 6th century
literature, accounts of foreign B.C. however the excavation at
travelers . Further Mohenjo-Daro, Kalibangan,
classification is given in the and Harappa proves it to be of
above table. 5000 B.C.
LITERARY SOURCES
• RELIGIOUS LITERARY SOURCES
Religious literary sources provides information for the period between the
beginning of the Aryans into India and Alexander’s invasion into India. The
Vedic, Jain and other contemporary literature are religious literary sources
of ancient India.
• THE VEDAS
The word Veda is derived from the Sanskrit root word ‘vid’ which means
to know and thus Veda means storehouse of knowledge. The Vedas are
four in number and the Rig Veda is the oldest. Rig-Veda throws light on
the early life the Aryans, their spread. The rig Veda has 10 chapters and
1028 suktas.
The samaveda, the yajurveda and the atharvaveda were composed later on.
“Sam” means song, it means hymns that meant to be sung at the time of
soma sacrifice. 75 hymns of Sama Veda are original and remaining
belongs to rig Veda. The yajur Veda lays down the procedure of
performance of sacrifice .The atharva Veda was composed by sage Atharv.
It has 40 chapters . It contains Ayurvedic system of medicine, magic and
charms . These three gives us information about the religious, social,
economic and political life of later vedic aryans
• The Aranyakas
The word aranyakas means forest or jungle. Those books that are composed in the
forest as a result of meditation of hermits and sages came to be called as
aranyakas . They are seven in number and are the basis of upnishadas.
• The Upnishads
The word ‘up’ means near and ‘nishad’ means to sit. While sitting at the feet of
gurus, the disciples acquire knowledge about soul, god ,creation of universe and
the transmigration of soul. The book that contains such type of knowledge are
called upnishads. The main upnishads are – Ish, Kain, Katho, Aitreya, Taitriya,
Mandukya.
• The sutras
sutras are divided into three parts:
1. Kalap Sutra ( description of vedic yajnas)
2. Grih Sutra ( rituals related to family life)
3. Dharam Sutra ( they are related to the social, political and civil law)
• The vedangas:
The vedangas help in comprehending the Vedas
• The Smritis
The smrities were composed by Manu, Vishnu, Narad, Yagyavalkya. They throw
light on the social, political and religious life of the people from second century
A.D. to 7th century A.D.
• THE EPIC
THE RAMAYAN
The Ramayana was composed by Maharishi Valmikiji. It contains
about 24000 verses. It depicts the life story of lord Rama in very
beautiful words
THE MAHABHARAT
The Mahabharata was composed by sage Veda Vyasa . It
narrates the 18 days long battle at kurukshetra between the
kauravas the Pandavas of Puru dynasty. Before the battle
started lord Krishna gave a great sermon of Geeta to Arjuna.
• THE PURANAS
The word purana means old, ancient or primitive . They are 18
in number and some of the important puranas are Matsya
Purana, Vayu Purana , Bhavishya Purana, Bhagwat purana.
Puranas gives useful information about the various royal
dynasties.but at the same time it has many short comings as
well the dates and geneologies do not coincide with one
another
• Buddhist Literature
The Tri-Pitakas are the most important Buddhist scripture.
They were written in Pali language. Pitak means basket, so
tri-Pitakas meaning three basket of knowledge.—a - viney
pitak , suta pitak, Abhidham pitak. Deepvansha and
Mahavansha are buddhist scripture written in Pali
language during the 4th and 7th century respectively. Lalit
Vistar is the biographical sketch of lord Buddha.
• Jain literature
There are many important Jain scriptures. The Jain work of
“Parishishat Parva” written by Hem Chander is most
important of all. It was written in 12th century A.D. “Bhadra
Bahu Charitra” throws light on the life of Chandra Gupta
Maurya.
2. Secular Literature
The ancient Indians wrote some secular literature. The subjects of there works
were grammar, history, politics, Biographies of kings, imaginative and gossips
literature . These works throws ample of light on the contemporary political,
social, cultural, and economic life of people. Some of the important works are
Panini’s Ashtadhyayi ; Patanjali’s Mahabhashya ; Banabhatt, the poet
laureate of Harshavardhan wrote Harshcharitra; Kalhan wrote Raj Trangini
which depicts the history of 12th century of Kashmir; Chand Bardai’s Prithvi Raj
Raso. Mudrarakshas by Vishakhdatta tells us about the fall of Nandas and the
rise of the Mauryas. King Harsha was a great writer and he wrote- Ratnavali,
Priyadarshika and Nagananda. Arthashastra was written by Kautilya, the prime
minister of Chandragupta Maurya
3. Sangam Literature
The most informative sources about the ancient history of Sangam Literature. It
was written in Tamil. From first century A.D. to fourth century A.D., there used
to be literary assemblies of Tamil poets, under the patronage of South Indian
rulers. These assemblies were called Sangam assemblies and the literature
composed during these assemblies was called Sangam literature. This literature
tells us about the social, economic, religious and cultural life of the period
4. Accounts of foreign travellers
In ancient times, several Greek, Persian, Chinese, Tibetan, and Muslim
travellers came to India. Some of them visited India from cultural
and religious point of view , while others visited it as ambassadors or
accompanied the foreign invaders . On their return to their respective
countries they recorded accounts of their visit, which is very useful
from historical point of view.
examples – Herodotus a greek scholar, wrote ‘ Histories’ towards
the end of 5th century B.C. ; Chandragupta Maurya defeated ‘Selecus’
a successor of Alexander. Later on they signed a treaty of friendship .
Selecus sent Magesthenese as his ambassador to the court of
Chandragupta Maurya. He spent 5 years at Patliputra and wrote
‘Indica’; Fa-hien, Heiun-Tsang and It- sing were prominent scholars
who visited India during ancient times and they carried buddhist
literature to china.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOURCES
• In ancient Greece and Rome, there were
historians to write the accounts of their times.
But ancient Indians who wrote on many subjects,
rarely wrote history. Most of ancient material has
also been lost. It is thus a challenging task to
rediscover India’s ancient past. Yet there are
sources from which history is written. The
Archaeological Source can again be divided into
three groups, namely, Archaeological Remains
and Monuments, Inscriptions and Coins.
1. Archaeological remains and Monuments:
• Ancient ruins, remains and monuments recovered as a result
of excavation and exploration are archaeological sources of
history. The archaeological remains are subjected to scientific
examination of radio-carbon method for its dates.
Archaeological sources give us some knowledge of the life of
the ancient people. India is rich with ancient ruins, remains,
and monuments.
• 2. Inscriptions:
Inscriptions supply valuable historical facts. The study of
inscriptions is called epigraphy. The study of the writings on
ancient inscriptions and records is called palaeography.
Inscriptions are seen on rocks, pillars, stones, slabs, walls of
buildings, and body of temples. They are also found on seals
and copper plates. We have various types of inscriptions.
Some convey monarchical orders regarding administrative,
religious and major decisions to the public in general.
• Numismatic:
The study of coins is known as numismatics. Coins
form another source of historical information.
Ancient coins were mostly made of gold, silver,
copper or lead. Coin moulds of Kushan period made
of burnt clay have been also discovered. Some of
the coins contain religious and legendary symbols
which throw light on the culture of that time. Coins
also contain the figures of kings and gods.