2. How Indian History is Constructed

Material Remains

• Though the ancient Indians left innumerable material remains such as stone temples in South and brick monasteries in East, but a major part of these remains lies buried scattered all over the country.
• Even in the excavated mounds, ancient remains have been preserved in varying proportions. In dry climate of Western UP, Rajasthan and North Western India antiquities are found in better state of preservation as compared to moist and humid climate of middle Gangetic basin and in deltaic regions.
• It is only in the phase of burnt brick structures or stone structures that impressive and large scale remains are found in moist and alluvial areas.
• Some people in south India buries along with the dead, their tools, weapons, pottery and other belongings in the graves, which were encircled by big pieces of stone. These structures were called megaliths.
• Material remains recovered are dated using radio-carbon method and history of climate and vegetation is known through pollen-analysis.
• The nature and components of metal artifacts are analysed scientifically and animal bones examination enables us to find whether the animals were domesticated and points out the uses they were put to.

 

Coins

• Ancient coins were made from copper, gold, silver and lead.
• Coin moulds were discovered in large numbers in Kushan period i.e. First three Christian centuries. The use of such moulds in the Gupta period almost disappeared.
• Earlier coins contain a few symbols, but the later coins mention the name of kings, gods and dates.
• Coins also throw significant light on economic history, some were issued by the guilds of merchants and goldsmiths with the permission of rulers showing that crafts and commerce had become important.
• A large number of post-Maurya coins were discovered made of lead, potin, copper, bronze, silver and gold. The Guptas issued the largest number of gold coins.
• Coins also contain religious symbols and legends which throw light on the art and the religion of the time.

 

Inscriptions

• The study of inscriptions is called epigraphy and study of the old writing used in them and other records is called palaeography.
• The earliest inscription were recorded on stone but even in later period continued in south India on a large scale even as the copper plates began to be used for this purpose in the early centuries of the Christian era.
• The earliest inscriptions were recorded in Prakrit language but later both Sanskrit and Prakrit were used.
• Most inscriptions of Maurya, post-Maurya and Gupta period have been published in a series of collections called Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum.
• The Harappan inscriptions seem to have been written in a pictographic script, the Ashokan scripts were engraved in Brahmi script, written from left to right.
• Some are inscribed in Kharosthi script written from right to left. However the Brahmi script prevailed in whole country except in Northwest and Afghanistan where Aramaic and Greek were used for Ashokan inscriptions.
• The oldest inscriptions are not deciphered so far only upto Ashokan inscription are deciphered that too in1837 by James Prinsep, an employ of East India Company in Bengal.
• Some inscriptions convey royal orders and decisions regarding social, religious and administrative matters as most Ashokan do, some are votive records of the followers of Jainism, Buddhism, Vaishnavism, Saivism etc. And some are eulogies of kings and conquerors and some are donative records.
• The grants of lands, revenues and villages to monks, temples, monasteries, priests and officials were mostly engraved on copper plates in Prakrit, Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu etc.

Literary Sources

• Although ancient Indians knew writing as early as 2500 B.C., our manuscripts are not older than 4th century A.D. Written on birch bark and palm leaves in India and sheep leather and wooden tablets in Central Asia where the Prakrit language has spread from India.
• The religious literature of Hindus includes the Vedas(Rig (1500-1000 B.C.) and the others(1000-500B.C.)), the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, the Puranas etc.
• Of the epics, Mahabharata is older in age, originally consisted of 8800 verses and called Jaya Samhita then raised to 24000 verses known as Bharata and the final compilation brought the verses to 100000 verses and came to be known as Mahabharata or the Satasahasri Samhita.
• The Ramayana originally consisted of 12000 verses and later raised to 24000 verses and was composed later than Mahabharata.
• Domestic rituals connected with birth, naming, sacred thread investiture, marriage, funerals etc. Grihyasutras and big public sacrifices meant for princes and men of substance belonging to the three varnas are laid down in the Srautasutras.
• There are Sulvasutras which prescribe various kinds of measurements for the construction of sacrificial altars marking the beginning of geometry and mathematics.
• The earlier Buddhist texts were written in Pali language spoken in Magadha and South Bihar compiled in 2nd century B.C. In Sri Lanka.
• Each birth story of Buddha is called Jataka.
• The Jaina texts are written in Prakrit and were compiled in 6th Century A.D. In Vallabhi, Gujarat.
• There are also the works of Bhasa, Kalidasa(Abhigyan Shakuntalam) and Banabhatta (Harshacharita).
• There are Tami Texts found in corpus of the Sangam Literarture produced in a literary assembly called sangam compiled in first 4 Christian centuries.

 

Foreign Accounts

• The Greek visitors mentions Sandrokottas (identified with Chandragupta Maurya), a contemporary of Alexander The Great who invaded India in 324 B.C.
• The Indica of Megasthenes, who came to court of Chandragupta Maurya furnish valuable information not only about the administration but also about social class and economic activities.
• The Periplus of the Erytherean Sea (80-115 A.D.) and Ptolemy's Geography (150 A.D.) written in Greek provide valuable data about ancient geography and commerce.
• Pliny's Naturalis Historia (first century A.D.) was written in Latin and tells us about trade between India and Italy.
• Chinese Traveller Fa-Hsien came in beginning of 5th century A.D. Describes the social, religious and economic conditions of the Guptas while Hsuan Tsang came in second quarter of 7th century A.D. Presents a similar account of India in age of Harsha.

 

Historical Sense

• Ancient Indians are charged with the lack of historical sense as they didn't write history as it is done now or as done by the Greeks.
• The author of Puranas were not unaware of the idea of Change, which is an essence of history. The Puranas speak of 4 ages called krita, treta, dwapara and kali. Each succeeding age is depicted as worse.
• Indians display considerable historical sense in biographical writings started with the composition of the Harshacharita by Banabhatta in the 7th century.
• But the best work was that of Kalhana in the Rajatarangini or 'The Stream of Kings' in 12th century. It is a string of biographies of the kings of Kashmir, and can be considered to be the first work which possesses several traits of history as it is understood in our times.