In 1817, James Mill, a Scottish economist and political philosopher, published a

massive three-volume work—A History of British India. In this, he divided Indian history
into three periods – Hindu, Muslim and British. This periodization came to be widely
accepted.

We try and divide history into different periods to capture the characteristics of time and
its central features as they appear to us.

Moving away from British classification, historians have usually divided Indian history
into ‘Ancient’, ‘Medieval’ and ‘Modern’.

One important source of Indian history is the official record of the British administration.
The Britishers believed that the act of writing was important. Every instruction, plan,
policy, decision, agreement and investigation had to be clearly written up.

By the middle of the nineteenth century, along with the spread of printing, multiple
copies of these records were printed as proceedings of each government department.

The practice of surveying also became common under the colonial administration.

These records tell us what the officials thought, what they were interested in, and what
they wished to preserve for posterity. These records always help us understand what
other people in the country felt, and what lay behind their actions.

As printing spread, newspapers were published and issues were debated in public.
Leaders and re¬formers wrote to spread their ideas; poets and novelists wrote to
express their feelings.

History is about the changes that occur over time. It is about the finding out of how
things were in the past and how things have changed in the present. As soon as we
compare the past with the present we refer to time, we talk of ‘before’ and ‘after’.

If someone asks you when people began to drink tea or coffee, you would fail to answer
this question. It is because people did not begin drinking tea on a one fine day, they
developed the taste for it over time. Thus, you can only refer to a span of time, an
approximate period over which particular changes became visible.

Still, we have enough reason why we associate history with a string of dates. There was
a time when history was an account of battles and big events. It was about rulers and
their policies. Historians wrote about the year when a king was crowned, the year he
married, the year he fought a particular battle, etc. For such events, specific dates were
fixed.
How do we determine that a particular set of dates is important? The dates we select,
the dates around which we compare our story of the past, are not important on their
own. They became important because we focus on a particular set of events as
important.

The histories written by British historians in India, the rule of each Governor-General
was important. These histories began with the rule of the first Governor-General Warren
Hastings and ended with the last Viceroy Lord Mountbatten.

James Mill was a Scottish economist and political philosopher. In 1817, he wrote a
three-volume book, A History of British India. In this he divided Indian history into three
periods-Hindu, Muslim and British.

We divide history into different periods in order to capture the characteristics of a time,
its central features as they appear to us. So the terms through we periodise, i.e.
demarcate the differences between periods, become important.

Mill was of the opinion that all Asian societies were of the lower level of civilisations than
Europe. According to his telling of history, before the British came to India, Hindu and
Muslim despots ruled the country. Religious intolerance and caste taboos dominated
the social life of Indian people. British rule, as Mill thought, could civilise India.

The British were absolutely prejudiced in classifying the Indian history. So the British
classification of the Indian history cannot be justified. It is because a variety of faults
existed simultaneously along with Hindus and Muslims in these periods.

Apart from the British classification, historians have divided Indian history into ancient,
medieval and modern. This division to has problems. It is a periodisation that is
borrowed from the West where the modern period was associated with the growth of all
the forces of modernity such as science, reason, democracy, etc. Medieval was the
term used to describe a society where these features of modern society did not exist.
But the features of modern period were not visible in India during the British rule. Many
historians, therefore, refer to this period as colonial.

The British established their control over India and made it a colony.

Colonisation is a term that refers to a process in which one country subjugates another
and thus brings political, economic, social and cultural changes.

Historians use different sources in writing about the last 250 years of Indian history. One
important source is the official records of the British administration. The British believed
that the act of writing was important. Easy instruction, plan, policy, etc. had to be clearly
written up. The British also felt that all important documents and letters needed to be
carefully preserved. So, they set up record rooms attached to all administrative
institutions. Specialised institutions like archives and museums were also set up to
preserve important records.

The practice of surveying also became common under the colonial administration.

By the early 19th century detailed surveys were being carried out to map the entire
country.

In villages, revenue surveys were conducted.

From the end of the 19th century, Census operations were held at the interval of every
ten years. It prepared all the detailed records of the number of people in all the
provinces of India, noting information on castes, religions and occupation.

All these are official records. These records do not always help us understand what
other people in the country felt and what lay behind their actions.

To know about these things we have diaries of people, accounts of pilgrims and
travellers, autobiographies of important personalities, etc.

All these sources were produced by those who were literate. From these we will not be
able to understand how history was experienced and lived by the tribals, and the
peasants, the workers in the mines or the poor on the streets.

Historian: One who writes about the events of the past, i.e. how things were and how
they changed.
Debate: Discussion on an important topic of public interest.

Periodisation: Ponding any event into periods.

Ancient: Very old.

Medieval: It refers to the period in which features of modem society did not exist.

Colonization: Colonization is a process in which one country subjugates another and

Subjugation: Gaining control over a country.

Calligrapher: One who is specialised in the art of beautiful writing.

Survey: The act of examining and recording the measurements, features etc. of an area
of land to prepare a map or plan for it.

Archives: A place where historical documents or records of a government, an

1782 – First map produced by James Rennel.

1817 – James Mill published a massive three-volume work, A History of British India.

1920 – The National Archives of India came up.

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