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Ancient Indian History Lecture 2: Sources of Ancient India (Part 1) | History Optional 2023-24 – Transcript
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- Historians divide sources used to uncover the past broadly into archaeological sources and literary sources.
- Historical sources can be further categorized into primary sources and secondary sources.
- Literary sources in the context of India are broadly divided into indigenous sources and foreign sources.
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all right welcome now as we had discussed yesterday the first topic inent to cover is the sources of ancient Indian Now sources that historians use to uncover the past may be divided broadly into two categories one of them
is archaeological sources which represent the physical remains of the past and the other are the literary sources which are the written texts left by the previous
aric we can include those physical remains which were created by previous cultures and civilizations they are found through Explorations and expirations in the form of archaological Mounds which may consist of buried structures
HS of artifacts such as poy coins ornaments weapons agricultural implements other tools Etc or maybe even some Graves containing grave Goods
okay so Mounds these are heaps of Earth which have been left behind bys graes and gra GRS Etc then we have a variety of artifacts such as ornaments
weapons and tools that we can find then apart from this orical evidence stud coins study of coins is known as M
matics inscriptions study of inscriptions is known as igraphy then what other kind of archaological material is relevant to uncover the past bones of animals and humans right so
fossilized bones may be important then decayed vegetative material right such as decayed plants or grein or seeds Etc so fossilized
creative material important fabric very good fragments of fabric or clothing as a whole that may be left behind what else built structures such
as monuments like ports palaces temples MOS tombs madrasas other structures pleasure Resorts Bridges ramp Parts Etc or Co sculpture in the form of Idols or non idolic iconic
sculpture what else paintings done especially on Monument walls or the walls of caves Rock paintings Etc what else the natural dwellings that prehistoric people used to dwell in such as rock shelters or
caves right archeological sources archeological sources discover to Explorations or excavations what do they represent they represent the physical remains of the past and they are a very important source of reconstructing history literary sources on the other hand in
the context of India may be broadly divided into two groups indigenous sources and foreign sources or the accounts left
behind by Foreign visitors or foreign Travelers right foreign sources categories sources could be divided foreign literature left behind by Chinese Travelers foreign literature left behind by Arab Travelers and foreign literature
left behind by Breo Roman Travelers right indigenous literature may be subcategorized into secular and
religious literature religious literature in Ancient India primarily associated with which three important faiths Hinduism Aran and brahmanical literature Buddhism and
jism secular literature scientific literature example brah or the samita Etc all these are scientific
literatures then works of your literature such as various plays ramas epics poems Etc then
literature of a chronical variety that is the accounts of the Deeds of various Kings and other important personalities biographies of non-religious personalities such as harita or viand charita oruo Etc so biographies
then works on other non-scientific secular subjects such as law or poity or Administration such as the AR shastra or Niti shastra so political treatises
and works which deal with the expression of art the method of of production of art the way in which athetic sensibilities should be shaped Etc right work such as the Kamas Sutra or the N shastra right cultural
Works Etc okay so this is a superficial survey of the different kinds of sources that are avail aailable to recreate Indian historians rely primarily on these two types of sources to learn about Indian past
now historical sources may also be divided into two other categories primary
sources and the other is known as secondary sources what are primary sources those archaological and literary Works which belong to the same period
that the historians are studying for example the edicts of Ashoka they belong to the period of Ashoka and were directly associated with it another example literary example yes har charita right written by
banabhatta banabhatta was a contemporary of harsharan and had a regular audience with he was an eyewitness to the various developments that took place during haran's re right and this kind of source is known as a primary source sources which are
contemporary to the period of study in a sense they represent a firsthand account of the development as they were
happening okay secondary sources sources sources that are derived from primary
sources in most cases they are non-contemporary to the period of study
for example B sorry bery wrote a work known as the fahi in which he has written about the achievements and administrative polic policies of not only fosa tlak but many other great Sultans of Delhi including balban ilesha Alin Ki and Muhammad bin tlak also so