Sources

Answer : The greatest handicap in the treatment of history of ancient India, both political and cultural, is the absence of a definite chronology.

The literary genius of India, so fertile and active in almost all branches of study, was somehow not applied to chronicling the records of kings and the rise and fall of the states. Ancient India did not produce historians like Herodotus and Thucydides of Greece or Levy of Rome and Turkish historian Al-beruni. We have a sort of history in the Puranas. Though encyclopedic in contents, the Puranas provide dynastic history up to the beginning of the Gupta rule. They mention the places where the events took place and sometimes discuss their causes and effects. Statements about events are made in future tense, although they were recorded much after the happening of the events. Thus inscriptions and coins become very important to reconstruct early Indian history.

Inscriptions were carved on seals, stone pillars, rocks, copper plates, temple walls and bricks or images. In the country as a whole the earliest inscriptions were recorded on stone. But in the early centuries of Christian era copper plates began to be used for the purpose. The earliest inscriptions were written in Prakrit language in the 3^rd century BC. Sanskrit was adopted in the second century AD. Inscriptions began to be composed in regional languages in the 9^th and 10^th centuries. Most inscriptions bearing on the history of Maurya, Post-Maurya and Gupta times have been published in a series of collection called “Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum”. The earliest inscriptions are found on the seals of Harappa belonging to about 2500 B.C. and written in pictographic script but they have not been deciphered. The oldest inscription deciphered so far was issued by Ashoka in third century BC. The Ashokan inscriptions were first deciphered by James Prinsep in 1837.

We have various types of inscriptions. Some convey royal orders and decisions regarding social, religious and administrative matters to officials and people in general. Ashokan inscription belong to this category, others are routine records of the followers of different religious. Still other types eulogize the attributes and achievements of the kings and their persons. The inscriptions engraved by emperors or kings are either prosthesis composed by court writers or grants of land assigned to individuals. Among the prismatic of emperors, the most prominent are the prasharti of Samudra Gupta engraved on Ashokan pillar at Allahabad. This was prepared by his court poet, Harisena, the Hathigumpa-Prashasti inscription of king Kharavela of Kalinga. Some of the notable inscriptions are - the Nasik inscription of King Gautami Balasree, the Gwalior inscription of King Bhoja, the Girnar inscription of King Rudradaman, the Aihole inscription of the Chalukaya King PulkesinII, the Bhitri and Nasik inscriptions of the Gupta ruler Skanda Gupta and the Deopara inscription of the Sena ruler Vijaya Sen. The inscriptions which were used for the grants of lands were mostly engraved on copper-plates.

These inscriptions besides many more, of private individuals or local officers have furnished us with the names of various kings, boundaries of their kingdoms and some times useful dates and clues to many important events of history.

Thus inscriptions have been found very much useful in finding different facts of the history of ancient India. The history of Satavahana rulers is fully based on their inscriptions. In the same way, the inscriptions of the rulers of South India such as that of Pallava, the Chalukyas, the Rashtrakutas, the Cholas, and the Pandayas have been of great help in finding historical facts of the rule of their respective dynasties. Certain inscriptions found outside India have also helped in finding facts concerning the history of ancient India. One among such inscriptions is that of Bhagajakoi in Asia Minor, which was inscribed in 1400BC.

The study of coins, called numismatics, is considered as the second most important source for reconstructing the history of India. Coins are mostly found in hoards. Many of these hoards containing not only Indian coins but also those minted abroad, such as Roman coins have been discovered in different parts of the country. Coins of major dynasties have been catalogued and published.

The punched mark coins are the earliest coins of India and they bear only symbols on them. These have been found throughout the country. But the later coins mentioned the name of kings, gods and dates. The area where they are found indicate the region of their circulation. This has enabled us to reconstruct the history of several ruling dynasties, especially of the Indo-Greeks. Coins also throw significant light on economic history. Some coins were issued by the guilds and merchants and goldsmiths with the permission of the rulers. This shows that craft and commerce had become important. Coins helped transactions on a large scale and contributed to trade. We get the largest number of coins in post-Maurya times. These were made of lead, potin, copper, bronze, silver and gold. The Guptas issued the largest number of gold coins. This indicates that trade and commerce flourished during post-Maurya and a good part of Gupta times. But the fact that only a few coins belonging to post-Gupta times indicate the decline in trade and commerce in that period.

In conclusion, careful collection of materials derived from texts, coins, inscriptions, archaeology etc. is essential for historical construction. These raise the problem of relative importance of the sources. Thus, coins and inscriptions are considered more important than mythologies found in the Epics and the Puranas.

Answer : The history writing in Ancient India started with the coming of Europeans to India.

Even though Indians possessed historical works, like Rajatarangini, and Puranas, modern history writing as is understood today began with the Europeans. The modern research regarding early Indian history started in the eighteenth century because of the needs of the colonial administration set up by the British.

Initially, the Manusmriti was translated into English as the Code of Gentoo laws in 1776. The initial efforts culminated with the establishment of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784 in Calcutta. This was followed
in 1789 by the translation of the drama the Abhigyan Shakuntalam into English in 1789, and the Mahabharata’s translation by Wilkins.

The greatest push to the Indological studies was given by F. Max Muller. The Revolt of 1857 was a great eye opener. It was strongly realized in Britain that it badly needed a deeper knowledge of the Manners and social systems of an alien people over whom it had to rule. Similarly, the Christian missionaries wanted to find out the vulnerable points in the Hindu religion to win converts and strengthen the British Empire. To meet these needs, scriptures were translated on a massive scale under the editorship of Max Muller.

In these volumes, the western historians made certain generalizations about the nature of the ancient Indian history and society. It was said that the Indians lacked a sense of history. Further, Indians were used to the despotic rule. The caste system was considered to be the most vicious form of social discrimination. Indians had never experienced feelings of nationalism or any king of self-government. Such was the view of the western scholars.

The first systematic history of ancient India was prefaced by Vincent Smith in the form of Early History of India in 1904. His book based on primary sources gave emphasis on political history. His approach was core imperialist and haughty. He emphasized the role of foreign invasions and Alexander’s invasion took half of the space of his book. India was presented as a land of despotism which did not experienced political unity till the establishment of the British rule.

In sum, the British interpretations of the Indian history served to denigrate Indian character and achievements and justify colonial rule. However, most of the generalizations were either false or grossly exaggerated. They could serve as good propaganda material for the perpetuation of the despotic British rule. Their emphasis on Indian traditions of one man rule could justify the system which vested all powers in the hands of the Viceroy.

All this was naturally challenged by the Indian scholars, who had received western education. They were irked by the colonialist distortions of their past history and at the same time distressed by the contrast between the decaying feudal society of India and the progressive capitalist society of England.A band of scholars took upon the mission to reconstruct ancient Indian history in such a manner as to make a case for social reforms, self-government, and in doing so most of themes were divided by the ideas of Hindu revivalism.

But many scholars like Rajendra Lal Mitra adopted sound approach and wrote a book on Indo-Aryans. Others tried to prove that in spite of the peculiarities, the caste system was not basically different from the class system based on the division of labour. Ramakrishna Bhandarkar and Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade emerged as two great dedicated scholars who pieced together varied sources to reconstruct social and political history of the country. R.G. Bhandarkar wrote the History of the Satavahanas and the History of Vaishnavism. V.K. Rajwade wrote the History of the Institution of Marriage.

Pandurang Vaman Kane, a great scholar, wrote the History of the Dharmashastra. Similarly, Roychoudhari focused on political history and so did D.R. Bhandarkar, an epigraphist who wrote a book on Asoka. K.A. Nilkanta Sastri followed the same approach in his book, A History of South India. Until 1960, political history attracted the largest number of Indian scholars.

British Historian, A.L. Basham, a Sanskritist by training questioned the wisdom of looking at ancient Indian from the modern point of view. His writings show deep interest in the materialist philosophy of heterodox sect. His book Wonder that was India is a systematic survey of the various sects of ancient Indian culture and civilization.

Basham’s book marks a shift from political to non-political history. The source shift is evident in D.D. Koshambi’s An Introduction to the Study of Indian History. Koshambi justified a new trail in Indian history. This treatment is materialist in approach. He presents the history of ancient Indian society, economy and culture as an integrated development of relations of productions.

During the last twenty five years there has been a sea change in methods and orientations of those who work on ancient India. They lay greater tress on social, economic, and cultural processes. They compare archaeological and anthropological evidences.

Unfortunately a few Indian writers magnify the role of religion, and believe that everything good and great originated in their country. This does not bode well for history writing on ancient India. There is a need to be more balanced and critical in history writing to pass correct judgments to future generations. Only then can one have an objective view of early history of India.

Answer : It refers to the texts of four Vedas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads. The four Vedas are Rigveda, Samveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda. The Rigveda is the earliest of them, which may be as­signed to circa 1500-1000 B.C. This is the most accepted text of the Aryans that is necessary for collecting information of the Early Vedic people. It consist of 1017 or 1028 Hymns or Suktas which have been divided into ten mandalas or chapters according to the names of the Rishis and the sub­ject-matter. The chapters from second to ninth are the earliest mandalas while first and tenth mandalas were added to them later. The Samveda Samhita means the ‘Book of Chants’ that consists of 1549 or 1810 hymns to be sung at the time of the Soma sacrifice by a special class of Brahmanas known as Udgatris.

The book that gives the pro­cedure for the performance or sacrifices is the Yajurveda Samhita. There are two main texts of this Veda - the Shukla Yajurveda and the Krishna Yajurveda. The former contains only hymns while the latter is a commentary in prose in addition to texts. The Atharvaveda contains charms of magic to control demons and spirits have been given in the Atharvaveda. The Brahmanas are named as the Satapatha, the Panchavis, the Aitreya, the Gopath, and the Shri Tandya Mahabrahman etc. These books contain a beautiful picture of social, religious and economic developments of the Later Vedic age. The ancient philosophical knowledge is preserved in Upanishads. There are 108 Upanishads written by different sages and saints between 800 and 500 B.C.