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Sources of Ancient Indian History 1

This document discusses the influence of geography on Indian history and culture. It begins by providing some key geographic facts about India, such as its location between latitudes 8° N and 37° N and longitudes 68° E and 97° E. It notes that India occupies 2.4% of the world's total land area and has a total area of 3,287,263 square kilometers. The document then discusses India's geographical divisions, noting that the country can be divided into The Great Mountain Wall, the Indo-Gangetic plain, the Southern Peninsula, the Great Deccan Plateau, and South India. Overall, the geography of India played a significant role in shaping the country's history and diverse regional cultures

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436 views32 pages

Sources of Ancient Indian History 1

This document discusses the influence of geography on Indian history and culture. It begins by providing some key geographic facts about India, such as its location between latitudes 8° N and 37° N and longitudes 68° E and 97° E. It notes that India occupies 2.4% of the world's total land area and has a total area of 3,287,263 square kilometers. The document then discusses India's geographical divisions, noting that the country can be divided into The Great Mountain Wall, the Indo-Gangetic plain, the Southern Peninsula, the Great Deccan Plateau, and South India. Overall, the geography of India played a significant role in shaping the country's history and diverse regional cultures

Uploaded by

mlulu
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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INFLUENCE OF GEOGRAPHY

ON

INDIAN HISTORY AND CULTURE


Occupies –
2.4% of total area
of world.

7th largest country

Total area-
32,87,263 sq kms
8 N & 37 N latitude – 68 E & 97 E longitude

Extends over
2,933 km from east to west & 3,214 from north to south
7,516.5 kms
• Name - Name Bhaarat is called for the region ruled
by king Bharat.
• Location-
8 N & 37 N latitude – 68 E & 97 E longitude

• Size - India has 1,847,454 square miles

• Boundaries

• Population
• Geographical divisions of India
- The Great Mountain Wall
- The Indo-Gangetic plain
- The Southern Peninsula
- The Great Deccan Plateau
- South India
Understanding Indian History
History is the study of past events. It helps us to understand those
processes that enabled the early humans to successfully conquer their
environment and develop the present day civilizations. It is not just a study of
battles and kings as is normally understood by some. It is an analysis of society,
economy and cultural trends over a long period as reflected in available
sources. A historian tries to evaluate different situations over a long period and
asks questions as to why certain events happened and what was their impact
on society at large? Every new evidence or a fresh interpretation of existing
evidence by different scholars helps in enriching our knowledge about the past.
A historian differentiates between fact and fiction. However, myths which are
based on oral tradition of a society may contain memories of past happenings.
The historian’s job is to ascertain the fact through cross checking of different
historical evidence.
In this presentation you will learn how India’s ancient past was constructed
with the help of large varieties of historical evidence and their interpretation
sources
A systematic and thorough study of a subject depends on the
sources available for its study.
To what extant one is able to present his study of a subject in a
systematic and logical way depends on the nature and volume of
sources at his disposal.
This applies to the study of ancient Indian history also.
There is abundance of source materials to make a proper and
scientific study of ancient history of India.
But before making use of source materials it is imperative to
decide what to include in and what to exclude from it.
It is also necessary that sources be classified and categorized in a
scientific way and every category of sources is given the
importance it deserves.
This will make the study more scientific and logical, minimizing
the element of bias.
The Art of Historical Inquiry

Inquiry:
A close examination of something,
in order to search
for information or truth.
By the end of this topic:
• You will know what a source is.
• You will know the difference between a primary and a
secondary source.
• You will understand how a historian uses a source to
gain information.
• You will have some idea about how to analyze a source.
• You will be able to see the information that can be
gained from a picture source
What are Historical Sources?
• An historical source is something that tells us about
History. It is evidence.

– It may be a document, a picture, a sound recording, a book, a film,


a television program, or an object.
• Can someone give me an example of a type of document?

• 2 main types of historical sources:


Primary Sources and Secondary Sources

Primary source - something that originates from the past


Secondary source - something that has been written (or made)
recently, about the past
What have we learned?
• Primary Source Analysis
– How do historians approach a primary source?
– What questions do they ask the primary source?

What’s great is that


“using primary sources
allows us not just
to read about history,
but to read history
itself.”
Study the source
• CONTENT:
• Describe what you see in detail to each other .
• CITATION:
• Who created the text?
We
• When wascall these
the text created?the 6 C’s.
• CONTEXT:
• What was going on in the when the text was created?
• CONNECTIONS:
If we get in the habit of asking ourselves these
• Can6 questions when
the source be looking
linked to otheratthings
historical
you already know or have
sources – we will begin to
learned about?
• THINK like Historians! world
COMMUNICATION:
• How does the source express point-of-view?
– Circle or highlight words or images that provide EVIDENCE of emotion.
• CONCLUSION:
• How does this source contribute to our understanding of history?
Sources of Ancient Indian History
Greek
Literary Sources Archeological Sources
Chinese
1. Epigraphy
Indigenous Foreign Accounts 2.Numismatics
sources Muslim 3.Monuments

Religious Secular
literature Literature
Panini's –Ashtadhyayi
Kalhan’s – Rajtaranrini
Kalidas- malvikagnimitram,
Kautilya’s- Arthashastra
- Abhigyan Shakuntalam
The Hindu Literature:
- The Rig-Veda, The samveda, The Aturavaveda, The Yajurveda
- Veedangas, Upavedas, Epics, The Puranas
The Buddhist Literature
- Tripitakas - Viney pitak, Suta pitak, Abhidham pitak.
Its were written After Budda’s death
- Jatakas, Deepvansha, Mahavansha
Jain Literature: 12 Angas
Introduction to Historical Sources
Sources are essential for writing the history of
Ancient India. The chief among these are:
Literary Sources and Archaeological sources.
Literary Sources
1. Indigenous sources
2. Foreign Accounts
Indigenous sources
A. Religious literature
B. Secular literature
A Religious Literature
I. The Hindu Literature
II. The Buddhist Literature
III Jain Literature
I. The Hindu Literatur
• The Vedas: The oldest Brahmanic literature is veda
- The Rig-Veda, The samveda, The Aturavaveda, The
Yajurveda

• The Rig-Veda: There are10 Mandals, 1028 Sukta and 10580


Richas
Rig-Veda emphasize the importance of work of priest
• The samveda: a lyrical work has 1549 or 1810 slokas
Samaveda deals with duties of priest and it is lyrical composition
• The Aturavaveda: a valuable source to know about political,
social and family-life in later Vedic period.
• The Yajurveda: It has prescribed various methods of
sacrifice(Yagya)
The Vedangas and Upvedas
6 important Vedangas are
 Siksha - pronunciation
 Kalpa - rituals
 Vyakarana- grammer
 Nirukta - etymology
 Chanda - measurement
 Jyotisha - astronomy
Upvedas deal with
Ayurveda (Medicine)
Dhanurveda (war)
Gandharvaveda (music)
Silpaveda(architecture)
The Epics

• The Ramayana and the Mahabharata


• The Ramayana written by Valmiki is said to be a
poetic legend based on mythology
• The Mahabharatha which consist of 18 parvas
(sections) contains about 100,000 verses. This is
an encyclopedia of history, morals and
religion.
Puranas

• These are legends connected with epics


and law books. They are 18 in number e.g.
The Vishnu Purana, The Vayupurana,
Matsya and Brahmanda puranas
Laws of Manu
• Also known as Manu Dhramshastra in Sanskrit
• It comprises of 2684 couplets arranged in
twelve chapters.
• It is the earliest of law book.
• The laws of Manu forms the foundation of the
court of law in India under the name of Hindu
law.
• The book makes a distinction between varna
and jatis
II The Buddhist Literature
• Tripitakas - Viney pitak, Suta pitak, Abhidham pitak.
Its were written After Budda’s death
• Jatakas, Deepvansha, Mahavansha

III Jain Literature


• 12 Angas,
• 12 Upangas,
• 10 prakaran,
• 6 Chhed sutra
B. Secular Literature:
• Kalhan’s - Rajtaranrini
• Kautilya’s - Arthashastra
• Panini's - Ashtadhyayi
• Chand Bardai's - Prithvi Raj Raso
• Vishakhdatta's - Mudrarakshasam
• Kalidas - malvikagnimitram,
- Abhigyan Shakuntalam
• Harshvardhan - Ratanavali,
- Priyadarshika,
- Nayananda
Accounts of Foreign Travelers
1. Greek - Megeshenese – Indica (a reliable source for the
history of Chandragupta Maurya )
- The periplus of Aritheran Sea
- Writings of Ptalamy

2. Chinese - Fahien : so-kuvo-ko


- Hieun-Tsang (Yuvan Chwang) : su-yu-ki
Writings of I-ching

3. Muslim - Sulaiman, Al-beruni


Tibet- Taranath - History of Buddhism
II ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOURCES:
Archaeology is the study of the material remains of
the Past

• Numismatics – Study of coins


• Epigraphy - the study of Inscriptions
• Monuments and Buildings
• Weapons and tools
• Sculpture and Painting
• Remains and excavations
• Conclusion:
The scholars have been able to construct
the history of ancient India on the basis of
the available literary and archaeological
sources.

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