Sources for study of Ancient Indian History
1. Indian literature is partly sacred and partly secular. As regards to the sacred literature, reference can be made to the Rigveda, Samveda, Yajurveda and Athirveda. Out of four, Rigveda is one of the most ancient one and gives a lot of information about the history and political system of Aryans. The 'Brahmanas' are a prose commentary on the Samhitas or vedic hymns. The Aranyakas and the Upanishad consist of philosophical meditations of the learned sages on God, soul and the world.
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| Ancient Indian Texts |
They gave us a picture of religious thought of Aryans. There are six Vedangas, namely-Phonetics, astronomy, grammar, ritual, metrics and etimology. The Vedangas aimed to help the understanding of vedic texts. In the course of time, special schools of thought came into existence for a systematic study of the various branches of vedic knowledge. These schools introduced special texts known as the sutras: Kalpasutra, Grihyasutra, Srautrasutra, Dharmasutra and Sulvasutra.
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Next to Vedas, there are two great epics- Ramayan and Mahabharat, which are most famous books in Sanskrit literature. They have been used by dramatists, poets and story-tellers. The Brahmashastras like, the Smritis of Manu, Yajnavalkya, Vishnu, Brahaspati, Narada etc. also gives lot of information about the Hindu society. They lay down rules according to which Hindus were to conduct their lives.Punishment was also provided for the breach of those rules.
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| Numismatics |
The Puranas are valuable to the historians as a source of Political history on account of their geneology. It is very important from the point of view of history of religion. It gives us insight into all aspects and phases of Hinduism- it's mythology, ideal worship, it's love of god, it's philosophy, superstitions, it's festivals and ceremonies and i's ethics. The Puranas came into existence during last thousand years according to western scholars. The Puranas are 18 in number, but all of them are not equally important for historical purposes. As sources of history, we largely depend on Vishnu Purana, Vayu purana, Matsya purana, Brahma purana and Bhavishya purana.
Every Purana deals with topic-namely Sarga, Pratisarga, Vamsha, Manvantara and Vanshhaharita. The Puranas start with the rulers who trace their origin from the Sun and the Moon. The Puranas can be used for the purpose of building of history of ancient Indian geography. We came across the names of many cities which existed in their times. The distances between the various cities mentioned in the Puranas can also be determined approximately from the information contained in the Puranas.
The Puranas help us to know in many cases the old names of cities, rivers and mountains. The Puranas form an important portion of religious literature of Hindus. It gives us the ancient history of India.
However, it cannot be denied that, there are certain serious short-comings in the Puranas. History is mixed up with fables and folklore. The legends in the Puranas are religious and not historical. Some of the things given in Puranas are based on hear-say and not taken from reliable sources. At some places, the various Puranas give conflicting accounts.
2. Buddhist Literature
The Buddhist literature gives us a lot of information. It throws light on many topics which are not dealt by Brahmanical writers. The Buddhist literature is found in 2 languages, namely-Pali and Sanskrit. The Pali canon divided into three pittakas(groups)-Vinaya pitaka, Sutta pitaka and Abhidhamma pitaka. The Vinayapittaka contains disciplinary rules and regulations for leading a monastic life. The Suttapittaka is a summary of teachings of Buddha. It is the most important of of Pittakas.
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| Buddhist Literature |
The Abhidamma pittaka consists of texts and deals with doctrines of Buddha in a scholastic manner. The dammapada is a collection of 423 sayings of Buddha. The 'theragatha' is a collection of poems composed by monks. The 'therigatha' is a collection of poems composed by nuns. The poems are of very high standard. The 'Buddhavamsa' is a collection legends depicting 24 lives of Buddha. The 'Jatakas' deal with the previous births of Buddha. These Jatakas belong 2nd or 3rd cent. BC.
3. Jain Literature
Jain literature contains a lot of historical information. The 'Mudrarakshasa' of Vishaka dutt gives story of Chandragupta and Chanakya. It explains how the Nandas were overthrown and Chandragupta became the king of Magadh. The 'Arthashastras' of Kautilya contains a lot of information, regarding system of administartion. It not only gives detailed information regarding system of administration, but also gives us an idea of the social and religious life of the people. Patanjali's 'Mahabhasya' and Panini's 'Ashtadyayi' are works on Sanskrit grammar.
The two dramas of Bhasa- Swapnavasavadatta and Pratidnya yaugandharaya gives us important information about the political condition in India in the tie of king Pradyot of Ujjain. Bana wrote 'Harshacharita' or life or Harsha in prose. This book is useful to study the political history, economic, social and religious life of the people of 7th century.
4. Archaeology
Archaeology has contributed a lot to the history of ancient India. Archaeology covers inscriptions, Numismatics and monuments. The inscriptions are of great value. They are engraved on stones and metals of writing, followed at a time of when they were actually inscribed. The character of their script enables us to understand it's age. Location can also through some valuable light.
Some specimens/examples are of inscriptions that are found on the Harrappan seals. These seals have not been deciphered as yet. And it is difficult to know it's content. However, they are very likely to contain names of dieties which are represented by the animals.
The animals represented on the amulets are Buffalo, Bull, Elephant, Goat, Hare, Human figure, Monkey, Rhinoceres, Short-horned bull and Tiger. Some dieties represented by them are moon, yama, Indra, Brahma, Durga and Shiva. Religious inscriptions deals with religious and moral matters.
Ashoka's eddicts are an example of administrative inscriptions. The Sohgaura copper plate inscription is an example of pure administrative material.
5. Numismatics
A study of the Indian coins enlightens as regarding the history of India. The coins are of various meals: Gold, silver and copper. They gave us names of kings who ruled at various times in different parts of country. Coins mention the years in which they were issued. The discovery of large number of Roman coins in India confirms the fact that, there was a trade between India and Roman empire.
That also refers to the economic prosperity of India, and the seen going activities. The figures of various kings appear on the coins. From them we get an idea regarding the head-dress of the kings. The hobbies of rulers can also be known from their coins. The Gupta coinage refers to their zeal(enthusiasm) for Hinduism. The earliest coins of India have only figures or symbols and no legends. After the Greek invasion of India, the practice of writing names of kings on the coins was started.
6. Monuments
The ancient monuments like, building, statues of stones or metals, terracotta, ornamental fragments, pottery etc. gives us a lot of useful and reliable information. The excavation of the sites of the old towns like, Harrappa, Mohenjo-daro and Taxila has given a lot of information. It is after the discovery of of Indus valley civilisation that we began to talk of a civil in in India, prior to that of the Aryans. The excavations at Taxila throws light on the Kushans.
A study of the sculpture found from there gives us an idea of Gandhara school of art. The digging of the old sites of Pataliputra gives us some information regarding the old capital of the Mauryas. The temples of Deogadh in Jhansi and Bhitargaon near Kanpur, throws light on artistic activities of Gupta. The engravings of Sarnath gives us information regarding Buddhism and Ashoka.
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