Sources of Medieval Indian History


The Sultanate era and the Mughal era were called the Middle Ages. There is no shortage of history books in the Middle Ages. That is why literary material is more important than archaeological material in the Middle Ages. Historical Elements of the Sultanate There are two types (i) Literary Elements and (ii) Archaeological Evidence.


Main Sources of Medieval Indian History
Main Sources of Medieval Indian History


 Literary material is again of two types


(A) Contemporary Historical Literature: Contemporary Historical Literature: In the historical book Minhaj-us-Siraj 'Tabaqat-i-Nasiri' Zia-ud-din Barani's 'date-i-Firuzshahi', Samasuddin Siraj Afik's 'date-e-Firuzah'. Amir's cousin. Historians such as Isami can be mentioned. Provincial history can be traced from the books 'Riaz-us-Salatin' by Sikander-bin-i-Rasidi, Ghulam Hussein Saleem, etc. These books provide information about the society, economy and the life of the people.
           

(B) Foreign Tourist Details [Accounts of Foreign Travelers]: Ibn Batuta's name is notable among the tourists of the Sultanate period. His account provides many details of contemporary political, social and economic life. Other notable names are Marco Polo, Niccolo Conti, Abdur Razzak, Nunez Paiz, among others.

Archaeological Evidence

Archaeology is of little importance in composing the history of the Sultanate period, but the script helps in writing the history of some regions, such as Bengal, Bahmani, Gujarat. A lot of information is available from the coins of Iltutmis, Balban, Alauddin Khalji and especially Mohammad-bin-Tughlaq. Architecture, sculpture, and art represent the cultural excellence of the Sultanate period.

The historical epitome of the Mughal era was originally a history book and the history books of this era could be divided into three sections;

1) Government-friendly, and entrepreneurial history: Akbar Naama 'and Ain-i-Akbari', composed by Abul Fazal, the president of Akbar, fall into this category.


2) Neutral Historical Essay: Among the neutral historians, the names of Khwaja Nizamuddin Ahmed, Badawoni, Ferista, Abdul, Hamid Lahori, Kafi Khan are notable.

     
3) Autobiographical works: Among the biographical works, Babur's 'Tuzuk-i-Babri' Jahangir's 'Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri' and Gulbdan Begum's 'Humayun Nama' are notable. Overseas tourists have collected valuable material from the history of Ralph Fitch, Bernier, Taverney, Manucci, and Sir Thomas Row.


Wikipedia.org
Academacia.com