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.

1. Archaeological

2. Literary

3. 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.

1. 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

1. 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.

2. Grihya Sutra deals with domestic ceremonies and sacrifices to be performed by the house holder.

3. 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. 

1. 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)

2. Jatakas -jatakas are folklore literature also called jatakamala in Sanskrit.it comprises 547 poems.

3. Milinda panho( questions of Milinda)- it is a dialogue between  meander and Buddhist monk Nagasena.

4. Mahavamsam( great Chronicle)- it is a Pali Epic poem. It is the world's longest unbroken historical account.

5. Mahavastu (Great event )-it deals with the miracles and early lives  of Buddha.

6. 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.

1. Davannayoga-(philosophical doctrine)

2. Ganitanuyog-(it deals with mathematics, Geography astronomy etc)

3. Charankanauyog-( deals with the principles of conduct and observance)

4. 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.