TABLE OF CONTENTS
☛ Sources of Indian History
☛ Literary Evidence
1. Religious Literature
2. Cosmic Literature
☛ Vedas - Vedic Literature
☛ Rigveda
☛ Yajurveda
1. Krishna Ayurveda
2. Shukla Yajurveda
☛ Samaveda
☛ Atharvaveda
☛ Upanishads
☛ Aranyak
☛ Puranas
☛ Memories
☛ Details of Foreign Travelers
☛ Writers of Greece and Rome
☛ Herodotus
☛ Tesius
☛ Dimacus
☛ Dionysius
☛ Pliny
☛ Ptolemy
☛ Perilips of the Erythraean Sea
☛ Stories of Chinese Travelers
☛ Fahyan
☛ Huansang
☛ Shungyun
☛ Itsing
☛ Accounts of Arab Travelers
☛ Alberuni
☛ Suleiman
☛ Alamsudi
☛ Archaeological Evidence
☛ Record
☛ Currency
☛ Memorial
☛ Sources of Indian History
The sources of Indian history are mainly divided into three parts.
1. Literary Evidence
2. Details of Foreign Travelers
3. Archaeological Evidence
☛ Literary Evidence
Under this, the materials obtained from literary texts are studied. There are two types of literary evidence
1. Religious Literature
2. Cosmic Literature
☛ Religious Literature
★ Brahman and non-Brahmin texts are studied under religious literature.
★ Vedas, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas and Smriti texts have been included under Brahmin texts.
★ The works related to Buddhist and Jain literature are studied under the non-Brahmanical literature.
☛ Vedas - Vedic Literature
★ The Vedas are the oldest religious texts of India, the author of which is considered to be Maharishi Krishnadvaipayana Ved Vyas.
★ We get all the important information from the ancient times of India from the Vedas.
The Vedas are four-
1. Rigveda
2. Yajurveda
3. Samaveda
4. Atharvaveda
All these four Vedas are collectively called Samhita.
☛ Rigveda
★ The Rigveda is the oldest composition of the entire Aryan race. According to scholars, the Rigveda was composed by the Aryans in Punjab.
★ Rigveda is the oldest of the four Vedas, consisting of 10 mandalas, 8 ashtaks, 10600 mantras and 1028 hymns.
★ The second and seventh mandalas of Rigveda are the oldest and the first and tenth mandalas are the last.
★ The ninth mandala of Rigveda is also called Soma Mandala.
★ Gayatri Mantra is mentioned in Rigveda itself.
★ The first mention of the varna system is mentioned in the Purushasukta of the tenth mandala of the Rigveda.
★ There are five recognized branches of Rigveda – Shakala, Ashvalayana, Mandukya, Shankhayan and Vashkal.
☛ Yajurveda
★ In this Veda, the rules and regulations of Yagyas are mentioned.
★ Yajurveda is such a Veda which is written in both verse and prose.
★ The reader of Yajurveda is called Adhwaryu.
★ This Veda has two parts-
1. Krishna Ayurveda
2. Shukla Yajurveda
☛ Samaveda
★ The Samaveda, considered the father (original) of Indian music, contains a collection of mantras to be sung on the occasion of Yagya.
★ There are a total of 1549 hymns in Samaveda. Of these, only 78 hymns are new, the rest have been taken from the Rigveda.
★ In this Veda, there are mainly mantras of praise of the sun.
★ There are three main branches of Samaveda - Jaiminiya, Ranayaniya and Kauthum.
☛ Atharvaveda
★ The description of superstitions and thoughts of human beings is found in Atharvaveda. In this Veda, descriptions of witchcraft, disease prevention, marriage, captivity, Brahmin knowledge, religion, social loyalty, medicine and many other subjects are found.
★ In this Veda there are 20 mandalas, 731 hymns and 5987 mantras.
This is the fourth and last Veda and this Veda has been composed by "Atharva Rishi".
★ The only Brahmanical text of Atharvaveda is Gothapa.
☛ Upanishads
★ The literal meaning of the Upanishad is "to sit near. It contains a collection of prevailing philosophical ideas regarding the soul, the Supreme Soul and the world.
★ Upanishad is the last part of Vedas hence it is called Vedanta.
★ There are total 108 Upanishads.
★ The famous national sentence "Satyameva Jayate" is taken from Mundkopanishad.
☛ Aranyak
★ This is the last part of the Brahmanical texts in which philosophical and mystical subjects are described.
★ They were created to be taught in the Aranyas i.e. in the forests. That is why he was called Aranyaka.
★ In Aranyaka, instead of sacrifices, knowledge and thinking have been given priority and thus these are philosophical works. From these, the Upanishads developed over time.
★ The main Aranyakas – Aitareya, Shankhayan, Taittiriya, Brihadaranyaka, Jaimini and Chondogya.
★ Vedangas: Vedangas were composed to understand the Vedas better - education, astrology, grammar, verses, kalpa and nirukta. All these were helpful in the correct pronunciation of the Vedas and performing sacrifices.
☛ Puranas
★ The authors of the Puranas are believed to be Lomaharshak and his son Ugrashrava.
★ The number of Puranas is 18, it was compiled in the Gupta period and historical genealogy is also found in it.
★ Matsya Purana is the oldest and most authentic Purana.
★ Ramayana: This epic was composed in Sanskrit language by Maharishi Valmiki around 2nd century AD. Initially there were 6000 verses in Ramayana which later became 24000 verses. Ramayana is also called Chaturvinshati Sahasri Samhita.
★ Mahabharata: This is an epic composed by Maharishi Vyasa in about the 4th century. Initially it had 8800 verses which was called Jaisamhita, after that the number of verses in it increased to 24000 and it came to be called Bharat.
★ Later on, when the number of verses in it increased to 100000, it was called Mahabharata or Shatasahastri Samhita.
★ The earliest mention of Mahabharata is found in the Ashvalyana Grihasutra.
★ Sutras: This literature was composed around the 6th century BC. Sutra texts are also called kalpas.
★ Kalpasutra: Such sutras in which rules and method are rendered are called kalpasutras.
☛ Memories
Smritis emerged after Vedanga and Sutras, it is also called Dharmashastra.
Manusmriti is the oldest memory.
☛ Cosmic Literature
★ Historical, semi-historical texts and biographies have been mentioned under this. Which helps a lot in knowing Indian history.
★ The Arthashastra composed by Chanakya (Kautilya) gives information about the history and governance of the Maurya period.
★ Rajatarangini composed by the Kashmiri poet Kalhan is the most important of the historical works.
★ Mudrarakshas composed by Visakhadatta, Katha Saritsagar composed by Somadeva, Brihatkathamanjari composed by Kshemendra are important sources of Mauryan history.
★ The Sangam literature gives information about the early history of South India.
★ The Mahabhashya by Patanjali and the Malavikagnimitram by Kalidasa are important sources of Shunga history.
★ Information about the history of the Chalukyas of Gujarat is obtained from the Rajasekhar's Prabandhakosh.
★ Important information about the Yavana attack on India is obtained from the Gargi Samhita.
★ Among the historical biographies, Ashvaghosha's Buddhacharita, Banabhatta's Harshacharita, Vakpati's Gaudavaho, Vilhan's Vikramankadev Charit, Padmagupta's Navasahasanka Charit, Hemachandra's Kumarpal Charit, Jayanak's Prithviraj Vijay etc. are notable.
☛ Details of Foreign Travelers
★ The social and political condition of India is revealed from the description of foreign travelers.
★ The details of foreign travelers are divided into three parts-
1. Writers of Greece and Rome
2. Accounts of Chinese Travelers
3. Accounts of Arab Travelers
☛ Writers of Greece and Rome
☛ Herodotus
It is called the father of history. In his book Historica, it has mentioned the relation of India to Persia in the fifth century BC, but its details are based on legends and rumours.
☛ Tesius
This was the royal doctor of Iran. It had obtained all the information regarding India by Iranian officials. Its description regarding India is unbelievable due to its full of amazing stories. Among the writers who came to India with Alexander, the accounts of Niyaks, Anesikrats and Aristobulus are more authentic and reliable.
☛ Megasthenes
This was the ambassador of Seleucus Nicator, who came to the court of Chandragupta Maurya. He has mentioned about Mauryan society and culture in his book 'Indica' salt.
☛ Dimacus
This was the ambassador of the Syrian king Antiochus I, who came to the court of Bindusara.
☛ Dionysius
This Egyptian king Ptolemy II was the ambassador of Philadelphus, who came to the court of Ashoka.
☛ Pliny
He wrote a book called 'Natural Historica' in about the first century AD. It mentions about Indian animals, plants, minerals etc.
☛ Ptolemy
He composed a book called 'Geography' around the 2nd century AD (150 AD).
☛ Perilips of the Erythraean Sea
This book was composed by an unknown author in about 80 AD, who came on a trip to the Indian Ocean at that time. It mentions the trade goods and ports of India.
☛ Stories of Chinese Travelers
Chinese travelers were very prominent among foreign travelers. The writings of Chinese travelers provide important information about Indian history.
☛ Fahyan
This Chinese traveler came to India around (375-415 AD) in the court of Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya). It has mentioned the society and culture of Madhya Pradesh in its article, in which the people of Madhya Pradesh have been described as 'happy and prosperous'. He studied Buddhist texts for 15 years.
☛ Huansang
It came to India around 629 AD at the time of Harshavardhana. Lived here for about 16 years and studied at Nalanda University. It gave the title of Shiladitya to Harshavardhana and its book is 'Si-u-ki'.
☛ Shungyun
It was a Chinese writer who came to India in 518 AD. It had collected the attainments of Buddhism in its three-year journey.
☛ Itsing
It came to India at the end of the seventh century. In his article, he had mentioned Nalanda University, Vikramshila University and the Indian situation of his time.
☛ Accounts of Arab Travelers
Important information of Indian history is obtained from the works of Arab Muslim writers Hasan Nizam, Al Masoodi, Suleiman, Alberuni, Al Wila Durari, Nizamuddin and Farishta.
☛ Alberuni
It was born in 973 AD in Khwarism (Khiwa). Alberuni's full name was Aburehan Muhammad Ibd Ahmad Alberuni. Alberuni came to India with Mahmud of Ghaznavi. He had good knowledge of Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit. He composed the book Tahqeeq-e-Hind (Discovery of India), which describes the then conditions of Indians.
☛ Suleiman
Information about Pratihara and Pala kings is obtained from its compositions.
☛ Alamsudi
He wrote a book 'Murooraj Jahab' in which a living depiction of the then Indian society is found.
☛ Archaeological Evidence
There are three types of evidence under archaeological evidence - inscriptions, currency and monuments.
☛ Record
★ The study of records is called epigraphy.
★ Inscriptions were carved on stone pillars, pillars, walls, postures and copper plates.
★ The oldest inscription is the Bogazkoi inscription of Central Asia.
★ The first mention of Bharatvarsha is found from the Hathi Gumpha inscription of Kalinga King Kharavela.
★ The Mandsaur inscription gives information about the categories of silk weavers. The first evidence of the practice of Sati is found from the Eran inscription (wife of General Bhanu Gupta).
★ The evidence of the development of Bhagavata religion is found from the Vesnagar (Vidisha) Garuda pillar inscription of the Yavana ambassador 'Holiodorus'.
☛ Currency
★ Information about ancient Indian history is also available from the coins minted by the ancient kings.
★ The oldest coins are also known as Punch Marked Coins, in texts they are also known by the names of Karshapan, Purana, Dharan, Shatman etc.
★ Most of the hammered coins are pieces of silver with various figures inscribed on them.
★ First of all, the work of writing articles on coins was done by the Yavana rulers.
★ The proof of the existence of the republics of ancient India is found only from the currencies.
★ From the coins of Kanishka we get evidence of his being a follower of Buddhism.
★ A coin of Samudragupta playing the veena gives evidence of his being a lover of music.
★ Roman coins have been found from Arikamedu near Puducherry.
☛ Memorial
The monument includes old temples, sculptures, buildings, etc., from which we get information about the religious, social and economic conditions of different eras. The temple building style of North India is called 'Nagar', the temple style of South India is called 'Dravid' style and the mixture of both the styles is called 'Vesar style'.
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