Elements of Ancient Indian History [Sources of Ancient Indian History]
1) Literary Elements [The Literary Elements]: Essays on contemporary historians and other literary works are the literary elements of history. The credibility of the literary material remains doubtful, as there is a chance of misleading information or involuntary information being served.
2) Archaeological Evidence: Archaeological material, such as ancient inscriptions, coins, architectural sculptures, and historical ruins, are the archeological elements of history. The reliability of archaeological material is high, because there is almost no chance of misleading information.
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| Sources of Ancient Indian History |
3) Literary material is mainly divided into two parts:
(i) indigenous literature [Indigenous Literature of ancient times] and (ii) foreign literature [Accounts of foreign Travelers]
Native literature can also be mainly divided into four categories
A) Sacred literature: - Most of the ancient Indian texts are based on religion. Among the Hindu scriptures, Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Buddhist scriptures, Tripitaka and Jataka, and Jain scriptures, Kalpasutra and Appendix Parbhan are notable. From various monuments such as 'Narada Smriti', 'Jupiter Smriti', 'Manusmriti' one can get a sense of the socio-economic information of ancient India.
B) Secular Literature:- The books written on the subject of law, science, astronomy, grammar etc. are called secular texts of ancient India. Among these, Kautilya's 'Economics', Panini's 'Ashtadhyaya', Patanjali's 'Mahashvashya', Vas's 'Dreambhasabdatta', Shudrak's 'Mrinchakatikam' are particularly notable. Much of the history was collected from plays like Visakhaddatta's' Mudrakshaks', Kalidas' Veteran Shakuntalam and Malbikagnitram.
C) Biography: Among the biographies of various kings of ancient India, 'Harshcharit' composed by Banabhatta, 'Ramcharit' by Sandhakar Nandi, 'Bilakhan' by Bikhamankadevacharit, composed by Bakpati and 'Gaudhabha' are notable. These biographies are mainly written by the king's servants, and they are guilty of prejudice.
D) Regional History: - Among the local or regional texts written in Kashmir, Rajasthangini, Ramsalangi, Rasmala and Kirti Koumudi, Sinhalese anecdotes of the island, and Mahabangsh, and Rajasekhar are specially mentioned.
Foreign Details [Accounts of foreign Travelers]
Many valuable elements of the history of ancient India are collected from the accounts of foreign tourists and pilgrims. There are three categories of foreign tourist details.
A) Greek Description: The unidentified identity of Megasthenes' Indica is written by a Greek sailor, 'Periplus of the Erythrian Sea', with the geography of Ptolemy, Pliny, Quintus, Curtius, Eriban, Plutarch, Diodorus, and the works of Greek and Roman writers particularly memorable.
B) Chinese Travels: In the Gupta period, the details of Hui-sung and It-Singh are particularly significant during the period of Fah-hee-yeon, Harshvardhan.
C) Arab tourist details: Among the Muslim tourists are the names of Al-Arabuni's 'Tahqak-i-Hind' and the names of Al Masudi, Al Biladuri, Suleiman and Hasan Nizami.
Archaeological Evidence is divided into three main categories
(i) Inscription (ii) Coins and (iii) Architectural and sculpture or ancient ruins:
(i) Inscriptions: - Inscriptions engraved on stone, copper, iron, bronze and terracotta indicate the present political, socio-economic and religious way of life. For this reason the script is called the living document of history. With the change of the language and the discourse of the literature over time, the script is always unchanged or the information is unlikely to be distorted.
The Inscription can also be divided into two parts
Indigenous Inscriptions: Brahmin, Kharosti, Tamil, Pali, Sanskrit, Prakrit etc. The main contents of ancient Indian scripts written in many languages were the conquest of the kings of India, royalty, lands, rule, religion, political events, trade and commerce. Among the inscriptions of ancient India, the inscriptions of Ashoka are most notable. Besides, the story of the victory of Samudragupta is told from Allahabad Prasathi, a disturbed Hari ।en. Kalingaraj Kharbel's 'Hatigumpha Lip' Pratiharaja Bhoja 'Gwalior Prashati' Vijay Sen's 'Deopara Lip' Chalukya Raj II Pulkeshi's 'Ihole Lipi' Shakakshatrap Rudraman's 'Junagad Lipi' are notable. Harappa and Mahenjodaro's script has not been read to date. For the history of the dynasties, the Cholas, Cholas, Chalukyas, Rajkuts, Bakatakas, etc., had to depend on the script. Historian Vincent Smith, Dr. Ramesh Chandra Majumder, has put the script in the forefront as a major historical material.
B) Foreign scripts: [Foreign Inscriptions] Scripts from foreign regions, such as Asia Minor, Cambodia, Champa, Yadav Island, Greece and Persia, have a history of cultural and commercial relations of ancient India with these regions.
(ii) Coins: The name and sal-date of the king are known from the coin. The spread of trade and the excellence of metallurgy can be learned through currency. A clear picture of the king's qualities can be seen through the image on the coin. For example, the music of Samudra Gupta can be traced to the music played by the harpoon. The stories of the Bacterial, Greek, Shock, and Kushan kings can be learned from the currency. A coin is one of the most important elements in the history of the Seven Kingdoms. Since the fall of the Gupta Empire, the importance of currency as a historical element has declined somewhat.
(iii) Architecture and sculpture or ancient ruins [Monumental Evidence]: Silent witnesses to the history of ancient city's ruins, monuments, temples, architecture, sculptures, etc. Had the ruins of Harappa, Mahen-jo-Daro not been discovered, an invaluable chapter in the history of India would have remained unknown to us. Sachi, Nalanda, Ajanta, Elora, Taksashila etc. find many unknown information. Debris from Southeast Asia can be traced to the spread of colonies and cultures outside India.
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