Ancient Indian History - Sources

 Literary and Archaeological records are the two main categories

that give evidences of Ancient Indian History.

 The literary source includes literature of Vedic, Sanskrit, Pali,

Prakrit, and other literature along with other foreign accounts.

 The archaeological source includes epigraphic, numismatic, and

other architectural remains.

 The archaeological explorations and excavations have opened the

great landscapes of new information.

Indian Literary Sources

 The ancient Indian literature is mostly religious in nature.

 The Puranic and Epic literature are considered as history by

Indians, but it contains no definite dates for events and kingdoms.

 The effort of history writing was shown by a large number of

inscriptions, coins, and local chronicles. The principles of history
are preserved in the Puranas and Epics.

 The Puranas and epics narrate the genealogies of kings and their
achievements. But they are not arranged in a chronological order.

 The Vedic literature contains mainly the four Vedas i.e. Rigveda,
Yajurveda, Samaveda, and Atharvanaveda.

 The Vedic literature is in a different language called as the Vedic

language. Its vocabulary contains a wide range of meaning and is
different in grammatical usages. It has a definite mode of
pronunciation in which emphasis changes the meaning entirely.

 The Vedas give reliable information about the culture and

civilization of the Vedic period, but do not reveal the political
history.

 Six Vedangas are the important limbs of Vedas. They were evolved
for the proper understanding of the Vedas. The Vedangas are −

o Siksha (Phonetics)

o Kalpa (Rituals)
 o Vyakarna (Grammar)

o Nirukta (Etymology)

o Chhanda (Metrics) and

o Jyotisha (Astronomy).

 Vedanga has been written in the precepts (sutra) form. This is a

very precise and exact form of expression in prose, which was
developed by the scholars of ancient India.

 Ashtadhyayi (eight chapters), written by Panini, is a book on

grammar that gives excellent information on the art of writing
in sutra (precepts).

 The later Vedic literature includes the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas,

and the Upanishads.

 Brahmanas gives a description of Vedic rituals.

 Aranyakas and Upanishads give speeches on different spiritual and

philosophical problems.

 Puranas, which are 18 in numbers give mainly historical accounts.

 The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are epics of great historical

importance.

 The Jain and the Buddhist literature had been written

in Prakrit and Palilanguages.

 Early Jain literature is mostly written in Prakrit language.

 Prakrit language was a form of Sanskrit language.

 Pali language was a form of Prakrit language which was used in

Magadha.

 Most of the early Buddhist literature is written in Pali language.

 Pali language reached to Sri Lanka through some of the Buddhist

monks where it is a living language.

 Ashokan edicts had been written in Pali language.

 Mahavira and Buddha are considered as the historical personalities

(equivalent to the God). They have created Jain and Buddhist
religious ideology respectively.
Ancient Books
 The Buddhist books are called as Jataka stories. They have been
given some historical importance because they are related with the
previous births of the Buddha. There are more than 550 such
stories.

 The historic information mentioned in Jaina literature also help us

in reconstructing the history of different regions of India.

 The Dharmasutras and the Smritis were the rules and regulations
for the general public and the rulers. It can be equated with the
constitution and the law books of the modern concept of polity and
society. For example, Manusmriti.

 Dharmashastras were compiled between 600 and 200 B.C.

 Arthashastra is a book on statecraft written by Kautilya during the

Maurya period. The book is divided into 15 parts dealing with
different subject matters related to polity, economy, and society.

 The final version of Arthashastra was written in the 4th century B.C.

 Kautilya acknowledges his debt to his predecessors in his book,

which shows that there was a tradition of writing on and teaching
of statecrafts.

 Mudrarakshasha is a play written by Visakha datta. It describes the

society and culture of that period.

 Malavikagnimitram written by Kalidasa gives information of the

reign of Pusyamitra Sunga dynasty.

 Bhasa and Sudraka are other poets who have written plays based
on historical events.

 Harshacharita, written by Banabhatta, throws light on many

historical facts about which we could not have known otherwise.

 Vakpati wrote Gaudavaho, based on the exploits of Yasovarman of

Kanauj.

 Vikramankadevacharita, written by Bilhana, describes the victories

of the later Chalukya king Vikramaditya.
  Some of the prominent biographical works, which are based on the
lives of the kings are −

o Kumarapalacharita of Jayasimha,

o Kumarapalacharita or Dvayashraya Mahakavya of

Hemachandra,

o Hammirakavya of Nayachandra

o Navasahasankacharita of Padmagupta

o Bhojaprabandha of Billal

o Priihvirajacharit of Chandbardai

 Rajatarangini, written by Kalhana, is the best form of history writing

valued by modern historians. His critical method of historical
research and impartial treatment of the historical facts have
earned him a great respect among the modern historians.

 The Sangam literature is in the form of short and long poems

consisting 30,000 lines of poetry, which arranged in two main
groups i.e. Patinenkilkanakku and the Pattupattu. It describes many
kings and dynasties of South India.

 The Sangam was the poetic compilation by a group of poets of

different times mainly supported by chiefs and kings.

 The Sangam literature was composed by a large number of poets in

praise of their kings. Some kings and events mentioned are also
supported by the inscriptions.

 The Sangam literature generally describes events up to the

4th century A.D.

Foreign Accounts
 Herodotus was dependent upon the Persian sources for his
information about India.

 Herodotus in his book Histories (written in many volumes) describes

about the Indo-Persian relations.

 A detailed account of the invasion of India by Alexander was written

by Arrian.
 The Greek kings send their ambassadors to Pataliputra.
Megasthenes, Deimachus, and Dionysius were some of them.

 Megasthenes came in the court of Chandragupta Maurya. He had

written about the Indian society and culture in his book called
as ‘Indica’. Though the original work has been lost, but it had been
frequently quoted in the works of later writers.

 A book ‘Periplus of the Erythrean Sea’ written by an anonymous

Greek author who settled in Egypt on the basis of his personal
voyage of Indian coast in about A. D. 80 gives valuable information
about the Indian coasts.

 In the second century A. D., Ptolemy had written a geographical

treatise on India.

 The Greek writing about India, however, is based on secondary

sources. They were ignorant of the language and the customs of
the country and hence their information is full of errors and
contradictions.

 Many Chinese travelers visited India as Buddhist pilgrims from time

to time; three important pilgrims were −

o Fa-Hien (Faxian) − visited India in 5th century A.D.

o Hiuen-Tsang (Xuanzang) − visited India in 7th century and

o I-Tsing (Yijing) − visited India in 7th century.

 Hiuen-Tsang had given valuable account about Harshavardhana and

some other contemporary kings of Northern India.

 Fa-Hien and Hiuen-Tsang traveled many parts of the country and

they have given an exaggerated account of Buddhism during the
period of their visit.

 Hiuen-Tsang mentioned Harsha as a follower of Buddhism while in

his epigraphic records, Harsha mentions himself as a devotee of
Siva. Such contradictions may be considered due to the fact of
multi-religious nature of Indian rulers, which might confuse a
foreigner.

 AI-Biruni gave important information about India. He was Arab

scholar and contemporary of Mahmud of Ghazni.
 AI-Biruni studied Sanskrit and acquired knowledge of Indian society
and culture through literature. Therefore, his observations are
based on his knowledge about Indian society and culture, but he
did not give any political information of his times.

Archaeological Sources

 The archaeological sources played an important role in constructing

or/and reconstructing the history of a region.

 The archaeological source of Indian history is only about two

centuries old.

 The archaeological source enhanced our knowledge about our past

and also provided important materials, which we could not have
been obtained otherwise.

 Up to 1920, Indian civilization was considered to have begun about

6thcentury B.C. However, the excavations at Mohenjodaro,
Kalibangan, and Harappa prove its antiquity to be of 5,000 B.C.

 Prehistoric artifacts found in the excavations have shown that

human activities had started here as early as about two million
years ago.

 Epigraphy and Numismatics are the important branches of the study

of history, which has greatly enhanced the knowledge of India's
past.

 Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions and Numismatic is the study

of coins, medals, or paper money.

 Coins are an important numismatic source that tells us about the

Indo-Greek, Saka-Parthian, and Kushana Kings.

 Inscriptions of Ashoka and Samudragupta provide valuable

information about social and political status of the people of that
period.
  The study of these inscriptions reveals the world about Ashoka's
views on dharma (religion) and conquests of Samudragupta.

Archaeological Monuments
 The temples and sculptures display an architectural and artistic
history of the Indians from the Gupta period up-to recent times.

 During the Gupta period, the large caves

i.e. Chaityas and Viharas were excavated in the hills of Western
India.

 The Kailasa Temple of Ellora and Rathas at Mahabalipuram have

been carved out of rocks from outside.

 The excavations of the cities of Mohenjodaro and Harappa prove the

antiquity of Indian culture and civilization, which are more than two
thousand years old.

 The historic sites such as Kalibangan, Lothal, Dholavira, and

Rakhigarhi are the contemporary of Mohenjodaro and Harappa
civilizations.

 The Harappan civilizations cover the area of Gujarat, Maharashtra,

Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh (in India).

 The Dark Age of Indian history was the period between 1500 and
600 B.C. This is known as Dark Age because not much is known
about this period.

 The archaeological discoveries of Black-and-Red Ware, Painted

Grey Ware, Malwa, and Jorwe cultures have filled the chronological
gaps as well as covered the geographical extent.

 Some of the important points that Archaeological discoveries

display are −

o Indians had domesticated sheep and goat and started

agriculture about 8,000 years ago and Iron metal came in
regular use about 1,600 B.C.

o The tradition of rock paintings in India is proved to be more

than 12 thousand years old.
 o Tools and remains found in the Kashmir and Narmada valleys
show that the human activities started in the subcontinent as
early as two million years ago.

Inscriptions
 The inscriptions are the most important and reliable sources of
Indian history.

 Inscriptions are the contemporary documents those are free from

later interpolations as it is impossible to add something to it at a
later period. Therefore, it comes in the original form as it was
composed in and engraved.

 The manuscripts were written on soft materials like birch bark,

palm leaf, paper etc. They became fragile in a course of time and
were frequently required to be copied and at the time of copying,
some irrelevant additions were made and some errors tend to creep
in. Therefore, they are not considered as a reliable source of
information about history.

 The script of the inscriptions also helps the historian in many ways.

 The Harappan seals depict the earliest system of writings, however,

they could not be decoded yet.

 The Ashokan inscriptions are claimed to be the earliest one of the

systems of writing. Ashoka’s inscriptions are found written in four
scripts.

 Kharoshthi script was used in Pakistan region, which is written

from right to left and is evolved on the Varnamala (alphabet)
system of the Indian languages.

 Brahmi script was used for the rest of the empire from Kalsi in the
north in Uttaranchal up to Mysore in the south.

 Palaeography is the study of development of the scripts.

 The epigraphic studies started in the late 18th century.

 Brahmi script was adopted by the rulers after Ashoka and continued
for succeeding centuries.
 The Brahmi script kept modifying century after century, which led
to the development of most of the scripts of India, including Tamil,
Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam in the south and Nagari, Gujarati,
Bangla, etc. in the north.

 The modifications in the letters of the script have made it possible

to ascertain the time period in which the inscription was written.

 In 1837, James Prinsep completed the chart of Ashokan alphabets.

 The inscriptions of Ashoka had been recorded in different years of

his reign and are known as edicts because they are in the form of
the king's order or desire

 The edicts of Ashoka prove that he (Ashoka) was a benevolent king

concerned with the welfare of not only his subjects, but also of the
whole humanity.

 Inscriptions of the Indo-Greeks, ‘Saka-

kshatrapas’ and ‘Kushanas’ adopt Indian names after two or three
generations. These inscriptions illustrate that they were also
engaged in social and religious welfare activities like any other
Indian kings.

 Junagarh Rock inscription of Rudradaman was written in the mid of

2ndcentury A.D. It was an early example of an inscription written in
Sanskrit; however, Sanskrit became prominent since the Gupta
period.

 Pillar inscription of Allahabad describes the achievements of

Samudragupta.

 The epigraphs of the Gupta period started trends of giving the

genealogy of kings with the account of their conquests and
achievements. This became a trend of the subsequent dynasties to
give a list of their predecessors and mention mythology of their
origins.

 The Aihole inscription of the Chalukya king Pulkeshin-II describes a

dynastic genealogy and achievements.

 The Gwalior inscription of Bhoja also gives a full account of his

predecessors and their achievements.
Numismatics
 Numismatics is considered as the second most important source for
reconstructing the history of India after inscriptions.

 Coins are mostly found in the hoards while digging field or

constructing a building, making a road, etc.

 Coins found in systematic excavations are less in number, but are

very valuable because their chronology and cultural context can be
fixed precisely.

 Earliest coins are known as the punch-marked coins. They are made
of either silver or copper. In addition to this, some gold punch-
marked coins were also found, but they are very rare and their
authenticity is doubtful.

 The Indo-Greek coins were also made up of silver and copper and
rarely in gold.

 The Kushanas issued their coins mostly in gold and copper, rarely in
silver.

 The Guptas issued their coins mostly in gold and silver but the gold
coins are numerous.

 The punch-marked coins that bear (only) symbols on them are the
earliest coins of India. Each symbol is punched separately, which
sometimes overlap the other.

 Punch-marked coins have been found throughout the country,

starting from Taxila to Magadha to Mysore or even further south.
They do not bear any inscription or legend on them.

 The Indo-Greek coins depict beautiful artistic features on them. The

portrait or bust of the king on the observe side appear to be real
portraits and on the reverse, some deity is depicted.

 The information about Saka-Parthians kings also came through their

coins.

 The Kushanas issued mostly gold coins and numerous copper coins,
which are found in most parts of north India up to Bihar.
 The Vima Kadphises coins bear the picture of Lord Siva standing
beside a bull illustrate the Indian influence from the very beginning.

 The king calls himself Mahesvara i.e. devotee of Siva in the

depiction on coins. Kanishka, Huvishka, and Vasudeva etc. all have
this depiction on their coins.

 Kushana coins depicted many Indian gods and goddesses along

with many Persian and Greek deities.

 The Guptas had succeeded Kushanas in the tradition of imprinting

coins. They completely had been Indianized their coinage.

 The kings are portrayed engaged in activities like hunting a lion or

rhinoceros, holding a bow or battle-axes, playing a musical
instrument, or performing Ashvamedha yajna.