Jul 31, 2020

STAGES OF HUMAN EVOLUTION

STAGES OF HUMAN EVOLUTION
stages-of-human-evolution

Objectives:

This article is based on Hominid evolution. Throughout the article, an emphasis will be on the importance of fossil evidence in our ancestors.

After reading this article, we will be able to :

understand the concept and various theories of human evolution on the earth surface.

learn about the genetic relationship between humans and our primates.

Identify major fossil groups: Australopithecus, Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus, Homo-Neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens and Homo sapiens sapiens.

Introduction

The concept of creation:

There are questions that have bothered mankind for ages such as from where did we come from, when did our ancestors appear on earth? There has been numerous answers to these questions.. But common to all early ideas was the concept of creation. It was almost universally accepted that the world and all its creations- plants, insects, birds, animals and human beings-were created at the same time by some supernatural being, call it God, or whatever.

No wonder, the idea of creation was deep-rooted in almost all religious faiths and humans were considered to be the supreme creation of god

. Science, however, looks at things differently. It tries to understand and observe facts on the basis of logical explanations and evidence wherever possible.

What is evolution?

Evolution is defined as the process by which different kinds of living organism developed from earlier forms.

In other word it would define as the development of dissimilarities between ancestral and descendant population.

In the process of evolution all living organism on this earth surface witnessed certain changes in their morphology through time.

The evolution of man can be studies through its morphology by comparative anatomy of fossils and also by the comparative biochemistry of the present day humans, apes and other primates.

The fossil record of the human history, although rudimentary, has been quite helpful in determining largely what we are seeking, namely a sound history and evolution of human species. This observation is obvious if one looks at the fossil history from early primates to the present man.

Theory of Human Evolution

Different theories have been given by different scholars, scientist, Anthropologist, religious teachers regarding the origin and evolution of man. During the 18th century, scholars grew increasingly interested in biological diversity and human origins.

Theory of creationism

Before the scientific discoveries of fossils records, in the theological world the commonly accepted explanation for the origin of species came from Genesis, the first book of the Bible, wherein it is stated that God had created all life during six days of creation and this is known as the theory of creationism.

Theory of Catastrophism

According to this theory, fires, floods and other catastrophes had destroyed ancient species. After each destructive event, God had created again new contemporary spices.

Theory of Transformism/Evolution

Theory of transformation/evolution is the alternative to creationism and catastrophism. Evolutionists believe that every species arise from others through a long and gradual process of transformation, or descent with modification. Charles Darwin became the best known of the evolutionists.

In 19th century, Charles Darwin put forward the idea that humans have evolved from apes, in his book The Descent of Man.

Primate Heritage

In the 20th century a numbers of fossils remains were discovered from different parts of globe. All those discoveries gives us a good ideas on the origin of human being. As per the paleontological study the primate fossil history dates back to 60 million years i.e. to Paleocene times.

In the line of hominid evolution the major fossil record was that of Dryopithecus. Dryopithecus belongs to the sub-family Dryopithecinae which included chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans..

Trends in Human Evolution

The world‘s climate began to get cooler in five to ten million years ago, and the rain forests of Africa were replaced with savannas and open woodland. In these climatic changes evolved a new kind of hominoid of bipedal order. These new hominoids are classified as hominids-that is, of the human line. There are two major groups of hominids: the genus Homo and genus Australopithecus.

Australopithecines: The Earliest Hominins

The oldest known hominidae remains are classified as belonging to the genus Australopithecus and are found only in Africa. The first ever australopithecine fossil was found in 1924 at Taung, South Africa by famous anatomist Raymond Dart and the skull to be 2.8 million years old. Professor Raymond Dart coined the term Australopithecus Africanus.

Other Australopithecus Species (3-2 million years ago)

In 1938, a second kind of Australopithecus was unearthed in South Africa. Called Australopithecus robustus, it had massive teeth and jaws. In 1959, in East Africa, Mary Leakey discovered a third kind of Australopithecus called Australopithecus boisei Like the other australopithecines, Australopithecus Boisei was very old-almost 2 million years. In The skeleton and other similar fossils have been assigned the scientific name Australopithecus Afarensis (from the Afar Desert). In the subsequent years, three additional kinds of australopithecines have been reported.

Homo Habilis or the Handy man (Place-Olduvai Gorge,East Africa 1.8 Million years ago)
human evolution

The first fragments of Homo Habilis fossils earthed by the British paleoanthropologist and son of Louis S.B. Leakey, Richard Leakey and his team around 1960, about the same time that Boisei fossils came up. But at that time they didn‘t really provide any clue to the creature they belonged to. It was only in April 1964 that it was announced that 1.8 million year old fragments belonged to a new genus with features resembling humans more than apes was discovered. At the suggestion of Raymond Dart it was named Homo Habilis, or handy man.

The name was quite appropriate as a large collection of primitive stone tools were also recovered at the same site, indicating that Homo Habilis was indeed quite adept at making tools.

The face of Homo Habilis was flatter than that of any of the Australopithecus species and its brain size was significantly larger-680 ml-although still only half as large as the average human brain today. So Homo Habilis must have been more intelligent than any of the earlier ape-like ancestors of man. But what is more significant is that the Habilis brain was not only bigger but also more complex than the brain of any of the Australopithecus species.

From the shape of the skull and the marks of its inner surface, brain specialist have identified a specific area in the Habilis brain similar to what is known as Barca‘s area in the human brain, which is essential for speech.

This means that, although Homo Habilis had a brain only half as big as the human brain, it probably had the capability of uttering a few simple ―words‖, but not much. The appearance of Homo Habilis marked a quantum jump in the human evaluation process. Australopithecus Robustus and Australopithecus boisei which came before it were mare apelike, living an exceedingly primitive life, without articulate speech, with poor tools and weapons and probably surviving on a meatless diet. In which heralded not only the beginning of speech, but also the all important advantage of stone tools.

From the kind of stone tools found at Habilis sites one thing became clear, Homo Habilis was intelligent enough to gather the right kind of stone for making tools from places as far as 10 to 15 Km away and then shape them carefully in to various forms.

From the way the tools were shaped by hand by flaking, one can tell that the first human like tool makers were right handed. They were possibly our earliest ancestors known to eat meat. The fossils sites also give an impression of group activity and some sort of social organization. Some scientists even conjecture that Homo Habilis saw the beginning of ritual and folklore typical human endeavors.

. Like all primates Homo Habilis subsisted mainly on a diet of plant parts such as fruits and barriers and also roots and tubers which they dug up using pointed bones and also stone tools. In addition, the diet also included raw meat which they probably scavenged from the kills of other carnivores. Although they were more enterprising than the earlier apes

, Homo Habilis in all probability made their homes in the trees to escape from carnivores.

We know this from their skeletal remains: they reveal that Homo Habilis had long arms well adapted to tree climbing. From the study of fossils remains, other interesting facts about Homo Habilis have come to light.

Patterns of tooth growth indicate that the family life at Olduvai was more like that of an ape than of humans. They indicate that Habilis children grew up nearly twice as fast as children of modern humans. This would also mean that our early ancestors would have been young adults by age 12, parents in their teens, and become old by the time they turned 30.

Homo Habilis with much greater brain power and stone tools must have had a wider choice of food than the more primitive Australopithecus Boisei.. Records show that after the global freeze about 6 million years ago the climate had warmed up again. But, around 2.5 million years ago temperature dropped again bringing in a little of ice age.

It was during this period, it is now believed, that the early ancestors of man split into two diverging branches. One branch leading to Australopithecus Robustus and the other to Homo Habilis, which subsequently led towards modern humans.

By the time Homo Habilis died some 1.5 million years ago, a new, more advanced human ancestor had appeared on the scene. Named Homo erectus or the upright man, this large brained ancestor of ours was a true wanderer. It would become the first early humans to leave the cradle of the African continent and spread around the world.

Early Tools

The oldest obviously manufactured tools were discovered in 1931 by L. S. B. and Mary Leakey at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania along with the fossils record of the species Homo habilis.

This site gave the tools their name-Oldowan pebble tools. The oldest tools from Olduvai are about 1.8 million years old. Still older stone tools have been found in Ethiopia, Congo, and Malawi.

Stone tools consist of cores and flakes. The core is the piece of rock from which flakes are removed; the core can be worked to become a tool itself..Homo Habilis being capable of using his hand was the first species in the line of human evolution to manufactured stone tools for his sustenance. This species is popularly known as the handy man.

Homo Erectus: The Erect Man(1 million years ago)
Homo-Erectus

In the last decade of the nineteenth century an unusual fossil discovery was made in the island of Java in South-East Asia , it would be known as Java Man .. Forty years later, in China, a young paleontologists, named W.C. Pei, found a similar skull cap and it would be known as peking man.. The fossils of Peking man were less than 1 million year old. Today, of course, we know about both Java man and Peking man belonged to the same species Homo Erectus,

In facial appearance, Homo Erectus was not much different from its predecessor, homo Habilis.. But what distinguished it from its predecessors was its rather large brain, with a volume close to 1000 cc, compared to 680 cc for Homo Habilis and 1,350 cc for modern humans. With its larger, more complex brain

, Homo Erectus certainly had better intelligence than its predecessor and must have developed intellectual curiosity none of its predecessors was endowed with. it may even have had some capability of speech. We can tell about the higher intelligence of Homo erectus from the variety of advanced stone tools and weapons found at the excavation sites.

Evidence from china and elsewhere where charcoal has been found at several sites suggests that Homo Erectus also know how to control fire and cook food. This may have been open of the factors that led to a reduction in teeth size in later human ancestors, because chewing cooked food needs less force than chewing n raw meat or uncooked food.

The Great Exodus and Aftermath( Homo Erectus )

The larger brain capacity may also have endowed Homo Erectus with an urge to venture out beyond its immediate neighborhood in search of new pastures.

Another factor that may have made Homo Erectus move out of Africa could be population pressure due to increasing numbers at the few favorable locations

Hunting and foraging skills and substantially improved capability of exploiting the environment, Homo erectus may not have faced much difficulty in moving into a new unexplored territory. And so, with Homo erectus began the big exodus out of Africa, about 1 million years ago.

They spread far and wide as fossil evidences from China, South-East Asia and from the Narmada Valley in India show. Surprisingly, no definitive fossil evidence of the presence of Homo Erectus has been found in Europe.

When populations of Homo Erectus began to move out of Africa about 1 million year ago, they carried their improved knowledge of tool making with them which was crucial for their survival in an unknown, hostile environment.

As they spread across Europe and Asia, they improved their tool-making techniques-broad flakes gave way to narrow blades.

Besides improved tool making, Homo Erectus migrant brought in a different kind of change. Faced with unfamiliar environments in their new homes, they rapidly evolved area-specific adaptations which helped them cope more successfully with the new environments.

.Homo Erectus pushed the hominin range beyond Africa-to Asia, Europe and Eurasia , as evidenced from the discoveries of fossils record from China and Indonesia in the east besides Africa. Homo Erectus first arose about 1.6 million years ago and is believed to have lived for at least 600,000 years at a time when the transition to Homo sapiens took place.

The fossil finds of Homo Erectus indicate several first happenings in human history. For the first time man became from being an opportunistic scavenger to a cooperative and big game hunter.

For the first time he had come to know the use of fire. From being a mere stone scrapper, he became a systematic tool maker. There is evidence to indicate that he had home bases of campsites from where he operated.

.Homo Erectus fossils found for the first time from outside Africa, in Eurasia. Homo erectus variously named as Pithecanthropus, Sinanthropus and Atlanthropus, first appeared during the Pleistocene interglacial period.

The later populations of Homo Erectus were known as cave man or ape man.

The fossil evidence did suggest that Homo Erectus was very clever as compared to the apes but dull as compared to the modern man.

. Tool of Homo erectus

Two specific skills of Homo Erectus make them special from all his predecessors: i) skills as an efficient tool maker ii) skills as a cooperative game hunter.

According to historians both the skills could be associated with the larger brains they had. The tools made by Homo Sapiens were more polished than those of their immediate ancestors. The Homo Erectus Species was the real author of lower Paleolithic age. Stone tool making industry can be said to fall into two categories:

Big Game Hunting

The most important event that led to the evolution of modern man is his transition from being a hunter-gatherer to that of a big game hunter. During the middle Pleistocene times there were huge herds of very large mammals. Bones of such large mammals were found associated with the human fossil finds and the contemporary fossil tools.

Initially the big game hunting was probably not carried out on a large scale and might have been cooperative venture. It could be true that although the hunting was a cooperative venture, Homo Erectus could not have detailed any specific plan in advance because of the lack of communication skills. But the cooperative venture served one big purpose namely it enabled the formation of multi-family groups and socializing tendencies.

In other words, big game hunting could have been the reason for the development of different social roles for males and females. This means the division of labour was being established and the role of female was getting confined mostly to child bearing and rearing children along with gathering of vegetal matter and slow game.

The big game hunting brought certain changes in the physical structure of the human beings. Man hunted the animals during the day time. This meant that the hard work of chasing and killing animals had to be done in the hot sun. Selection during these times favoured individuals that lost the metabolic heat faster than their fellow individuals. During these times possibly man had lost the thick hair of body and developed a high density of sweat glands in the skin. Man could effectively evaporate and cool all over the body.

Invention and Use of Fire

Another tool that Homo Erectus has learnt to use was fire and in fact man had multiple uses for fire. It is not very clearly known how man had learnt to tame the fire but he understood that it was a source of warmth at a time when the thick hair from the body was being eliminated.

Man also found use in fire in scaring of large carnivores. With a generalized tooth row that he was now developing, it became important for him to soften the tough meat and vegetables.

Fire was also used to harden the pointed wooden stakes so that it is converted into a spear.

Finally, fire also contributed to the development of social behaviour.

The era of Homo erectus should have probably come to an end some 275 thousand years ago, but by that time all those salient characters that are found in modern man had come to be established in Homo erectus.

It has not been possible for the paleontologists and anthropologists to determine precisely the time of transition from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens although the first fossils of Homo sapiens were at least 300,000 years old.

opithecine period, is joined by Asia and Europe during the Homo Erectus and Homo Sapiens periods of hominind evolution.

Recent discoveries, along with reinterpretation of the dating and the anatomical relevance of some earlier finds, are filling in the gap between Homo Erectus and archaic Homo Sapiens.

Archaic Homo Sapiens (300,000 to 28,000 B.P.) encompasses the earliest members of our species, along with the Neanderthals (130,000 to 28,000 B.P.) of Europe and the Middle East and their Neanderthal-like contemporaries in Africa and Asia.

. Homo sapiens first appeared in the fossil record between 200,000 to 300,000 years ago. There are only slight physical differences between Homo Erectus and Homo Sapiens and the transition between the two species is obvious from the earliest known groups of Homo Sapien, the Neanderthal man.

Whereas Homo Sapien is characterized by a large and round brain case, smaller brow ridges and a more pronounced chin as compared to pithecanthropus, Neanderthals were more or less intermediate

The Neanderthals:

The first Neanderthal was found in 1856 in a German valley called Neander Valley-tal is the German word for valley. Scientists had trouble interpreting the discovery. It was clearly

human, yet different enough from modern people to be considered strange and abnormal.

There have been numerous subsequent discoveries of Neanderthals in Central Europe and the Middle East.

, Neanderthals man again faced extreme cold as the Wurm glacial began. To deal with that environment, they wore clothes, made elaborate tools, and hunted reindeer, mammoths, and woolly rhinos.

The Neanderthals were stocky, with large trunks relative to limb length that minimizes surface area and thus conserves heat

. Another adaptation to extreme cold was the Neanderthal face, which has been likened to a Homo erectus face that has been pulled forward by the nose. This extension increased the distance between outside air and the arteries that carry blood to the brain and was adaptive in a cold climate.

Neanderthal man was distributed all over Europe, Asia and Africa. Their cranial capacity was larger than that of modern man.

Neanderthals are known for their fine tool industry, the Mousterian industry in which the hand axe was slowly replaced by various tools. With prominent eyebrow ridges, they had a receding forehead and the cranial capacity was greater than that of modern man averaging about 1450 C.C. The teeth and jaws were large and heavy as compared to modern man and he had a receding chin. Indications are that he had a powerful neck musculature, robust limb bones and a skeleton more adapted to higher levels of activity and stress. Anatomy of the hand indicated a powerful grip. The stature was 1.5 meters and he was a cave dweller. Culturally Neanderthals appeared to be more advanced.

They had the habit of burying dead ones with reverence as was evidenced by the presence of flowers in the burial centers. This group was biologically very successful and consisted of a homogeneous and widely distributed people.

The Homo Sapien Sapien: Cro-Magnon Man

homo-sapiens-sapiens

Modern humans, Homo Sapiens Sapiens appeared in fossils some 33 thousand years ago. The first fossil was discovered from the Cro-Magnon shelter in France and hence the fossil was known as Cro-Magnon man.

Subsequently many such fossils were known from France, Italy and Middle East

. All such fossils exhibited reduced brow ridges, steep forehead, high rounded cranial vault, short face and pronounced chin. Being bulky, they were not as tall as Neanderthals. Structurally the Cro-Magnon man had a lot of resemblance to modern Europeans.

Fishhooks and harpoons confirm an increased emphasis on fishing. One could obtain in fossils long thin blades of various types. Further, Cro-Magnons had a taste for art. They made beads, carved statues and even engraved pictures. The cave paintings made by these men are a record of their aesthetic sense.

Their burials were ceremonial and gave an indication of their cultured life. It could be said that with the appearance of Cro-Magnon, the modern human, the morphological evolution of humans is more or less complete and any further progress is relate to culture and language.

A significant shift in the pattern of human activity has occurred beginning about 10,000 years ago. This shift manifested itself in various aspects of his life. For instance, there was a shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture. There was a shift in the tool making process also. From the Paleolithic age which was marked by making stone tools, he began to make his implements first in bronze and then in iron.

And beginning 5,000 years ago special occupations developed, the cities began to be formed and the development of various aspects of culture such as writing, history, wealth, leisure, science and arts took place. This can briefly be the evolution of modern humans.

CONCLUSION:

In this article we reconstruct certain aspects of human evolution based on the scantly fossil evidence that is available. The fact of evolution was known before Darwin and Wallace.

Humans, apes, monkeys, and prosimians are primates.

Anthropoids include humans, apes, and monkeys. The great apes are Orang-utans, gorillas, and chimpanzees. The African apes—chimps and gorillas—are our nearest relatives

. The human evolutionary history can be traced back to 60 million years that is to the cretaceous age of the Palaeocene times.

. Based on fossil evidence it is observed that the hominid lineage separated from the australopithecines some 3.5 million years ago.

The australopithecines became extinct with Australopithecus Robustus and Australopithecus Boisei.

The hominid lineage passed through different stages such as Homo Habilis and Homo erectus before the modern man evolved.

A race of modern human species the Neanderthals were possibly the connecting link between Homo Erectus and Homo Sapiens.

The first Homo Sapiens Sapiens, the Cro-Magnon man possibly represented the transition between the Neanderthal man and the modern man.

The process of evolution is still continuing. It may be happening that still human being is under the process of biological evolution but owing to our short life span we are unable to observe. We are only observing the evolution of mankind in the cultural part, where it still evolving.

Key word:

Australopithecus Afarensis: Early form of Australopithecus(3.3–3.0 m.y.a.);

Archaic Homo Sapiens: Early Homo sapiens, consisting of the Neanderthals of Europe and the Middle East, the Neanderthal-like hominins of Africa and Asia, and the immediate ancestors of all these hominins; lived from about 300,000 to 28,000 B.P

Australopithecines: Varied group of early hominins.

Hominid: A member of the taxonomic family that includes humans and the African apes and their immediate ancestors.

Hominin: A member of the human lineage after its split from ancestral chimps, gorillas.

Homo habilis: Term coined by L. S. B. and Mary Leakey; immediate ancestor of H. erectus; lived from about 2.0 to 1.7 m.y.a..

. Neanderthals: Members of an archaic H. Sapiens group that lived in Europe and the Middle East between 130,000 and 28,000 B.P.

Oldowan: Earliest (2.5 to 2.0 m.y.a.) stone tools; first discovered in 1931 by L. S. B. and Mary Leakey at Olduvai Gorge.

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Labels: World history

Jul 26, 2020

SOURCES OF ANCIENT INDIAN HISTORY

Sources of ancient Indian history.

This article deals with the various sources of ancient Indian history such as archaeological, literary and foreign accounts. It gives vital information regarding the social, political and economic life of people in ancient times.

The study of ancient Indian history is very significant due to several reasons. It tells us about how,when and where people developed the earliest culture in our country. It also tells us our ancestors started agriculture and led a settled life.

By studying these sources we came to know about how they adopted farming, spinning metalworking, weaving and so on. How they clear forest ,founded villages, cities and finally large kingdoms.

The main purpose of history is to throw light on the past and this could be achieved through the discovery and study of historical sources.

Topic to be covered.

Sources of ancient Indian History.

1-Archaeological sources

A-Excavation

B-Exploration

C-Epigraphy

D-Numismatics

2-Literary Sources

Primary literary sources

Secondary literary Sources

Secular literature

Religious literature

Veda literature

Smriti literature

Sutra literature

Upaveda

Epics

Purans

Buddhist literature

jain literature

Sinhal literature

Scientfic Literature

Ancient astrology and astronomy

Mathematics

Physics

Chemistry

Sangam literature

3.Foreign Accounts

A-Greek

B-Chinese

C-Arab

Classification of sources.

According to historians like RC Majumdar Indians were adverse to writing history and its main reason is lack of historical data. Still archaeologists and Scholars rely on different sources of Indian history in order to understand the life on Indian people.

The sources of ancient Indian history can be studied under the following three categories.

Archaeological
Literary
Foreign account
Archaeological sources

Archaeological sources.

The study of materials, remains of past ,human life and activities is called archaeology. These include sculpture ,monuments, coins and other rafts. It can be classified under the following categories.

Excavation
Exploration
Numismatics
Epigraphy

Excavation.

Excavation Can be horizontal(where the digging involves a large surface area) or vertical (where the digging involves) small surface area.

Excavation is done by careful recording,mapping ,photography, labelling and preservation of artefacts. Excavation Is very important because excavation is destructive ,otherwise no one except the excavator will know what was discovered at the site.

Exploration.

Exploration is another important technique through which historians explore the sites carefully.

Sites can be explored by careful examining what lies on the surface or they can be excavated i.e dug. Sites are excavated to uncover their stratigraphic sequence.

Numismatics(study of coins):

Numismatics are important to determine chronology, property ,territorial extent ,religion and relation with neighbouring countries and dynasties.

Coin alone tells us the history of sakas,kushans,scythians,parthians and Bactrian Greeks. Coins are an index of the economic condition of a country. Through coins Gupta Kings prove their prosperity and high artistic sense.

Panch mark coin is the earliest coin of India.(about 4th century BC). It is silver or copper pieces-square or rectangular in shape

From the 2nd century BC Greek influenced the style of Indian coinage. From the 1st century A.D. Kushan Kings issued gold and copper coins with obverse had the figure that King offered a sacrifice ,reverse had deities of all religions of the time.

In the 4 century A.D Gupta Kings issued coins of an improved standard-contained legend in Sanskrit. coins give name of the kings who used them and show them in various posters eg. Samudragupta sitting on a couch and playing a lyre or performing horse sacrifice.

In 6th century AD with the Humans invasion there was marked debasement of coinage. In 10 the century A.D disbursement overcome when elegant coins were issued by the Sahi kings of Gandhara.this kind of coinage also immitiate by Muslim conquerors.

Epigraphy.
Inscription

The study of inscription is called epigraphy. and the study of old writing used in inscription and other old records is called palaeography. Inscriptions were carved on seals,rocks ,stone pillars, copper plates and temple walls and bricks or images. They give information about the religious practices, beliefs and rituals of a particular civilization.They also give information about administration,code of law, regulation, public accounts, treasure list, it's commercial agreement, honor and privileges and historical record,tomb etc.

The manuscripts are written on soft surfaces like birch bark, Palm leaf and paper etc. They became fraggle in a course of time and were frequently required to be copied and at the time of copying some irrelevant additions were made and some errors occurred therefore they are not considered as a reliable source of information about history.

Types of inscription.

Commercial( seal of Indus valley)

Magical( inscription on the amulets)

Eulogistic

Religious and administrative

Votive

Literary

Commemorative

Inscription in ancient India.

The epigraphic studies started in the late 18th century in India.

The Harappan seals depict the earliest system of writings however they have not been deciphered.

The Ashokan inscriptions are claimed to be the earliest form of system of writing. Ashoka's inscriptions are found written in four scripts Greek, Aramaic,Kharoshthi and Brahmi.

Kharosthi script was used in the Pakistan region which is written from right to left and evolved on the alphabet system of the Indian languages.

Brahmi script was used for the rest of the Empire. Brahmi script was adopted by the successor of Ashoka.

Greek and Aramaic script inscription bilingual of Ashoka was found at kandhar.

The inscription of Ashoka had been recorded in different years of his Reign and are known as edits because there in the form of Kings order or desire.

Junagarh Rock inscription of Rudra Daman was written in the mid of 2nd century. It was an early example of an inscription written in Sanskrit. However Sanskriti became prominent during the Gupta period.

The Aihole inscription of Chalukya King pulakeshin 2 describes adynastic genealogy and achievements.

The Gwalior inscription of bhauja also gives a full account of his predecessors and their achievement.

pillar in inscription of Allahabad describe the achievements of Samudragupta. It is also known as the Prayag inscription written by Harisena.

Inscriptions provide us valuable evidence of the political, social and economic condition for the people and the country which they belong to.

Manuscript

Literary sources

Literary sources are obtained from the various texts that are composed in ancient India,it includes literature of vedic Sanskrit ,pali,prakrit and other liertaure along with other foreign accounts.the literary sources can be categorizedinto primary and secondary sources as well as religious and secular source.

Primary sources

primry sources are the original evidence of certain events ,object,person or works. They enable student and researchers to get as close as possible to the actual events.The information in primary sources has not been analyesd,summerised or interpreted,which gives you the opportunity to do so yourself.

Secondary Sources

A secondary source interprets,analyse and /or explains primary sources.

Ex-Literature review,Books ,documenataries etc.

Secular literature

secular literature in the text that did not focus on religion: epics ,stories, poems, plays,etc fall under this category.The epics Mahabharata and Ramayana are secular literature.

Secular text of Ancient India.

Text. Author

Geography Ptolemy

Historica Herodotus

Indica Megasthenes

Fo-kyo-ki Fa-Hein

Si-yu-ki- Hiuen Tsang

HammerMahakavya Nayachandra suri

Brihat Katha Kosh Harisena

Mitaksara Vijnanesvara

Hitopodesha Narayan Pandit

Charaka Samhita Charaka

Panchasiddhantika Varahamihira

Prahlada charita Hema Saraswati

Nighantu Dhanvantari

Prithviraj Vijaya Ayanaka

Nava sashanka charita Padma gupta

Kumar pal charita Jayapal

Harsha charita- Banabhatta

Gaurvaho Vakpati

Vikramakadevcharita Bilhana

Abhijnasakuntalam Kalidas

Malavikagnimitram- Kalidas

Priyadarshini/Ratnabali Harshavardhana

Mudraraksha- Vishakhadatta

Asthadhayayi- Panini

Prithviraj Raso Chand Bardai

Mrchhakatika- Sudraka

Dashakumaracharita Dandin

Ramcharita- Sandhyakar Nandi

Arthashastra Kautilya

Kathasaritsagara Kshemendra

Religious literature.

Most of the Literature that can be used as a source of ancient Indian history are Hindu, Buddhist or Jain religious literature. Religious literature Included the Vedas,vedangas,the Upanishadas and Buddhist text like various jatakas.

Vedas

Vedas are the oldest form of Sanskrit literature and religious text on Hinduism.It is also called Shruti literature. They are divided into four Samhitas.

Rig Veda- it is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns

Sam Vedaa - they are Vedas of melodies and chants.

yajur Veda - it is primarily Vedas of a prose mantra for worship rituals

Atharva Veda- it is knowledge about procedure about everyday life.

Vedic literature is classified into four main text types.

Samhitas (Mantra,benediction)

Aranayaka(text on rituals,ceremonies and sacrifice)

Brahmana(commentaries on rituals ceremonies)

Upanishads(text discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge)

Smriti literature

Smrithis sacred literature based on human memory as a distinct form of Vedas ,which are considered to be Shruti or the product of divine relation. Smriti literature elaborates, interprets and qualifies Vedic thought but being derivative,is considered less authoritative than the vedic Shruti .

Sutra literature

After Vedic literature sutras are most prominent source of information about ancient history they known as Sutra because they are written in the form of Sutra.Sutras are considered as a divine revelation

It is divided into three categories

Srauta Sutra deals with the rituals of great sacrifice of agni,Soma and animals. Attached to it is the sulva sutras, the oldest books on Indian geometry containing instruction for measurement and construction of the complex Vedic fire altars.
Grihya Sutra deals with domestic ceremonies and sacrifices to be performed by the house holder.
Dharmasutra deals with the laws ,manners and Customs of people in general constitutes the foundation of the dharmashastra.

Dharma Shastra.

Dharmashastra is a Sanskrit test and honoured in Hindu religion. It is composed in poetic verses and is part of Smriti.

Buddhist literature.

Initially passed through oral tradition by monks which were later written in the form of manuscripts and translated into other languages as Buddhism spread.

Tripitak (three basket ):

it can be categorised as

Vinayapitaka(book of discipline)-It is concerned with monastic discipline.There are six Vinayak that survive,they included Theravada,Mulasarvastivada,Dharmagupta,Mahasanghika,Sarvastivada,Mahisarika.
Sutta pitaka (It is sutra related to Budhha and his close companions)-It contains over 10000 sutras related to Budhha and his companions.It has five sections.These are Digha Nikaya,Majjhima Nikaya,Samyutta Nikaya,Angutara Nikaya and Khuddaka Nikaya.
Abhidhamma pitaka( it is a philosophy and doctrine of Buddhism)

Jatakas -jatakas are folklore literature also called jatakamala in Sanskrit.it comprises 547 poems.
Milinda panho( questions of Milinda)- it is a dialogue between meander and Buddhist monk Nagasena.
Mahavamsam( great Chronicle)- it is a Pali Epic poem. It is the world's longest unbroken historical account.
Mahavastu (Great event )-it deals with the miracles and early lives of Buddha.
Buddha Charitra- it deals with Buddha's life.

Jain literature

They are commentaries of various Jain aesthetics divided into Digambar literature and Svetambara literature. Agmas are Join texs based on discourses of the Tirthankar. Jain literature Can be divided into four categories.

Davannayoga-(philosophical doctrine)
Ganitanuyog-(it deals with mathematics, Geography astronomy etc)
Charankanauyog-( deals with the principles of conduct and observance)
Dharmakathanauyog-( it contains stories, informations, tables arts,literature, history etc)

Important Jain work Bhagwati Sutra and prabandha Chintamani of marutunga.

Sinhala literature

Sinhala literature includes literary sources written in Sri Lanka. Most famous are the Dipavamsa and mahavamsa.it is believed that Dipavamsa Must had been written in fourth century and mahavamsa in 5th century BC. They have provided a lot of valuable information about the advent of Buddhism to Sri Lanka from India. It also contains information about King Ashoka that he killed his 99 brothers before ascending the throne.

Scientific literature

Scientific literature has also contributed in knowing about our Ancient History. it includes various subjects such as astrology,mathematics,physics etc.

Ancient astrology and astronomy.

Ancient Indian astrology was highly influenced by Greek astrology Brahamihira ,the famous astronomer of Ancient India had respectfully mentioned ' Yavanacharyas' contribution made in astrology. In ancient India there were 5 astrological treatise-paitamaha,Vasistha,Surya,Paulista,and Romak Siddhanta. Varahamihira was influenced by hellenistic astrology(Romaka and Paulista)Brihat Samhita mention'Yavana' as father of astrology.

Mathematics.

The first Indian text explicitly dealing with mathematics are the shulva sutras during Sutra period 600 to 400 BC. The Vedic Aryans were aware about the knowledge of the decimal system but the evidence of use of this system with the numerical figure has been found in panduscript (3rd and 4th century BC).

Baudhayana examples of geometric knowledge or Rekha ganita are to be found in the shulva sutra of Baudhayana (800BC)and Apastamba (600BC) which describe techniques for the construction of ritual altars during Vedic period. This theory of mathematics is parallel to Pythagoras and euclidean geometry. Baudhayana was the founder of the value of √2.

Aryabhatta.

Aryabhatta in his book stated that Earth is round and rotates in its own axis. He discovered algebra. He has given the true value of π that is 3.1416 which is authentic today. His most important contribution was finding the value of sin functioning between 0 to 90° angles and area of triangle. The Jyotish path of Aryabhattaya also deals with astronomical definition ,method of determining the true position of planets ,movement of sun and moon.

Brahmagupta. (7th century)

Brahmagupta had knowledge about the solution of a positive and a negative numerals,square root and cube root.he also propounded the concept of negative number and the area of cyclic quadrilateral. He is known as the father of modern algebra.Mahaveer and Bhaskar were some of the great mathematicians who came after Aryabhatta.

Bhaskar 1

He was contemporary of brahmagupta. He expanded on the trigonometric equation provided by Aryabhatta and like Aryabhatta he correctly assessed pi( π)as an irrational number. His most famous contribution was his formula for calculating the sine function which was inaccurate. He wrote a contemporary on 'Aryabhattayam' named Aryabhattaya Bhashya.

Bhaskar 2

His most famous work is Siddhanta Shiromani. It is divided into four parts-Lilavati,Bijaganit Grihaganita,Goladhyaya. The idea of perpetual motion is the most important portion of Siddhanta Shiromani.He has Explained the gravitational theory in Lilavati .Sheikh Faizi (1857AD )translated Lilavati into Persian during Mughal period.

Physics and Chemistry

The theory of atomic structure is the most important theory of Physical Science. The evidence of this could be seen since the Buddha's age. The contemporary of Buddha 'Pakudhakachchayan' described the four eternal elements earth,water,fire and air. Akash was added as the fifth element by jains.

In ancient India chemistry evolved as an auxiliary branch of Medical Science. Nagarjuna was a great scholar of chemistry.

Medical science.

The Atharvaveda mentions 2 types of medical technique i- skin technique or magical healing technique ii-medicine technique.

In the 6th century BC( contemporary of Buddha) two main universities were Takshila and Varanasi. Atreya was the main teacher of Medical Science in Takshila. Jeevan was the court physician of a Bimbisara. He was a student of the Taxila and traveled to Ujjain (Avanti)and Kampilya.

Sushruta and Charak were the physicians in ancient times. Charak propounded the law of uniformity of nature .His work is charak Samhita based on Atreya's medical principles. He propounded the philosophy of a professional ethics about medical practitioners which resembles the hypocrites law of Medical Science and is a moral guideline. He discovers surgery and many surgical equipment. Amravati was the major Centre for learning Ayurvedic science in the 2nd century BC.

Indian Medical System

Indian Medical Science was based on three basic principles-Kapha(phlegm)pitta(bile), vayu(air). Their balance makes a man healthier.Indian Medical Science was very much developed during ancient times and they had knowledge about Chaulmoogra,a medicine used in leprosy.They had knowledge about giving of birth, osteology, ophthalmology, toxicology and rejuvenative medicines.

Some important work on science in ancient India

Name of author. Text

Baudhayana. Sulva sutra

Aryabhatta. Aryabhatiya

Varahamihira. Brihat Samhita

Brahma Gupta. Brahma Bhuta Siddhant

Sushruta. Sushruta Samhita

Patanjali. Yoga Sutras

Hasti Ayurveda. Palkapya

Upavedas

We have four vedas or subsidiary vedas brief information about them is given below.

Ayurveda which deals with medicine related with Rig Veda. Dhanurveda which deals with Art or Warfare related to Samvida.Gandharva Veda which deals with art of music related to Yajur Veda which deals with architecture ,related with Arthavaveda.

Epics

Epics are long poems derived from an ancient oral tradition narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or past history of a nation.

Some of the important epics of India.

Mahabharat - it was written by sage vedvyas. It was based on the struggle between Pandavas and Kauravas in greater India. It is the longest epic of India which has 110000 couplets in 18 sections.
Ramayan - it is a Sanskrit epic about Lord Rama which was written by sage Balmiki.it has 96000 verses.
Panchatantra- it was written by Vishnu Sharma. It is a legendary collection of short stories.

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The Sangam age lasted from 1st century A.D to 3rd Century A.D. The Tamil sangam was an Academy of poets, bards who flourished in different places under the patronage of Tamil Kings. Poems of Sangam literature were composed by Tamil poets. These Poems were later collected into various anthologies.

The sangam literature is one of the main sources used for documenting the ancient history of Southern India. It mentions many kings and princes. It is considered by Tamil people as the golden era of Tamil language and literature. Three main dynasties of the Sangam age who ruled Tamilakam were Pandya,chola and chera the velir. As per tamil sources the father of Tamil literature is Agastya.

First Sangam was held at Madurai which was attended by Gods and legendary sages but no literary work of this Sangam is available.
The second Sangam was held at Kapadapuram but all the literary works perished expectTolkappiyam.
The third Sangam was held at Madurai and was attended by a large number of poets who produced voluminous literature.

Sangam literary works.

Tolkappiyam is written by Tolkappiyar.It is a work on Tamil grammar.

Ettutogai or eight anthologies consists of eight works.

Patty patty or ten idylls consists of ten works.

Pathinenkilkanakku contains 18 works dealing with ethics and morals.

Silappadikaram provides information about sangam polity and society.

Foreign accounts
Herodotus

Other from archaeological and literary sources, foreign writers and travelers left valuable information about ancient India.

Greek

Important people who contributed in this regard are Herodotus,megasthenis and Ptolemy.

Herodotus was dependent on Persian sources for his information about India. in his book The histories written in many volumes describe the Indo Persian relations. A detailed account of invdedetaia of India by Alexander was written by Arrians.

Kings had sent ambassadors to Patliputra. Megasthenis,Deimachus and Dionysius were some of them.

Megasthenis came in the court of Chandragupta Maurya.He had written about Indian society and culture in his book indica.Though the original work has been lost,but it had been frequently quoted in the works of later writers.

A book periplus of earthen sea written by an anonymous Greek author who settled in Egypt.It gives valuable information about the Indian coasts.

In the 2nd century A.D Ptolemy had written Geographia,in which a geographical treatise on India was given by him.

the Greek writing about India ,however, is based on secondary sources. They were ignorant of the language and custom of the country and hence their information is full of errors and contradictions.

Chinese

Many Chinese Monks made long and arduous overland Journeys to India crossing mountains ,plateaus and desert in order to collect authentic manuscripts of Buddhist text, met Indian monks and visited places of Buddhist learning and pilgrimage.

Fa-Hien

His Travels extends from 399 to 414 CE. He visited India during the rule of Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya).His journey is described in his travelogue as the Record of Buddhist kingdoms. He wrote Fo-kyo-ki.

Hiuen-Tsang

He visited India during the reign of Harshvardhan. He attended Buddhist council and wrote si-yu-ki or the record of Western Worlds.

Yijing:

Yijing another 7th century Chinese Traveller lived for 10 years in the monastery of Nalanda. Accounts written by these pilgrims throw light on the history of Buddhism and various other aspects of their time.

Arab

Arab Scholars initially related on Greek works but men like Jaihani,Gardizi and Al Biruni developed their own independent critical point of view. Abu Rohan Or Al Biruni a native of Khwarizm( in modern Turkmenistan)was one of the greatest intellectuals of Early medieval Times. Only 40 out of the 80 books he wrote have survived.

Al Biruni travel to India to satisfy his curiosity about the land and its people and to study their ancient text in the original language, his Tahqiq-i-Hind covers a large number of topics including Indian script,science ,Geography ,astronomy ,astrology philosophy ,literature ,beliefs customs ,religious ,festivals ,rituals, social organisations and laws. Al Biruni helped modern history and identify the initial year of Gupta Era.

The Tahqiq-i-Hind state that the Gupta began 241 years after the beginning of the saka era.The saka era began in 78 CE.Gupta era began 319_320 CE.

Labels: Indian history

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Jul 31, 2020