Sources of history

Topic: Studying Indian History: Sources, Dating and Historiography · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 4 "Timeline and Sources of History"; Class 7, Ch 7 "The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity"

Meaning

A source of history is any place, person, text or object that tells us something about a past event or period. Sources are only raw material. They become history when a historian reads them, compares them and writes the story, so knowing the kinds of sources and who studies them is the starting point of all history writing.

Explanation

What counts as a source

• A source can be:
• a place, such as an excavated site;
• a person, such as someone who remembers or reports an event;
• a text, such as a book or chronicle;

• an object, such as a coin, pot, bead or tool.

• Class 12 Part 1, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns" puts the main sources for early India into four families:

• inscriptions (writing cut into stone, metal or pottery);
• coins;
• texts;

• visual material (sculpture, paintings, seals).

• A source does not explain itself. Somebody must read it, check it against other sources and decide what it means.

The specialists: who studies which source

• Geologist: studies the earth's physical features, such as soil, mountains, rivers and seas.
• This shows where stone for tools came from and where rivers once flowed.

• It also helps explain why people settled in one place and not another.

• Palaeontologist: studies fossils (remains or marks of plants, animals and humans kept inside layers of soil or rock).

• Fossils help us measure the very long time before writing existed.

• Anthropologist: studies human societies and cultures, from the oldest times to today.

• By watching how living communities use similar tools or pots, the anthropologist helps guess how old objects were used.

• Archaeologist: studies objects dug out of the ground, such as tools, pots, beads, figurines, bones, burnt grains and bricks.

• Objects come out in layers. The layer an object lies in tells us its relative age, meaning whether it is older or younger than objects in other layers.

• Epigraphist: studies ancient inscriptions.

• The work has three steps: read the script, understand the language, then work out what the ruler wanted people to believe.

• Numismatist: studies coins.

• Coins can carry a ruler's name, title, image and sometimes a date.

• They also show the quality of the metal, the trade routes, and how far a kingdom's money travelled.

• Historian: studies and writes about the past using all these sources together.

• The historian is not just one more specialist. The historian puts all the findings side by side and decides what the whole picture is.

The jigsaw method (Class 6, Ch 4 "Timeline and Sources of History")

• Think of sources as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
• Pieces may match. Two different sources say the same thing, so we can be more sure.
• Pieces may clash. A text says one thing and a coin says another. The historian must choose which to trust and explain why.
• Some pieces are missing. They rotted away, were melted down or were never written.
• So every account of the past has gaps.

• An honest historian says so openly.

• This is why historians check several sources. One account shows only one point of view.

How sources have grown over time

• New sciences (last ~50 years):
• Ancient climate studies: past rainfall, river flow and dry spells. These help explain why some settlements grew and others were left empty.
• Chemical analysis: shows what a pot, bead or metal object is made of. This tells us where the raw material came from, and so who traded with whom.
• Archaeo-botanists: study charred (burnt) grains and seeds to find out which crops people grew and ate.
• Archaeo-zoologists (zoo-archaeologists): study animal bones. Cut marks show which animals were eaten. The types of bones show which animals were kept, hunted or used for work.

• Archaeogenetics: studies the DNA of ancient populations using molecular genetics. It can suggest where groups came from and how they moved and mixed. The field is new, so its results are often revised.

• Recent centuries:

• For the last 2–3 centuries, newspapers become a major source.

• For the last few decades, electronic media (radio, television and digital records) are added.

• The historian's problem changes over time.

• For the Harappan period, there are too few sources.
• For the twentieth century, there are too many, and the historian must sort through them.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: this is a method concept. It applies to every period, from prehistory to the present day.
• James Prinsep (epigraphy): he deciphered (worked out how to read) the Ashokan inscriptions in 1837. [3][4]
• Before 1837, Ashoka was known mainly from Buddhist chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Mahavamsa and Dipavamsa, and from the Divyavadana and Ashokavadana. [4]

• So Prinsep's work turned a half-legendary king into a historical emperor whose own words are on record. [3]

• Brahmi script: it appears as a fully formed script in the 3rd century BCE. Its best-known use is on Ashoka's rock edicts. [5]

• Archaeological Survey of India (ASI):
• It was set up in 1861 by Sir Alexander Cunningham. [2][6]
• It was dissolved in 1865 and later revived as a separate department. Cunningham became Director General in February 1871. [2][6]
• In 1868, Cunningham wrote a memorandum defining archaeology as the study of architecture, sculpture, coins and inscriptions. [2]

• Today the ASI employs archaeologists, conservators, epigraphists, architects and scientists. It works through Circles, Museums, Excavation Branches, a Prehistory Branch, Epigraphy Branches, a Science Branch, a Horticulture Branch, a Building Survey Project, Temple Survey Projects and an Underwater Archaeology Wing. [2]

• Lesson: rebuilding the past is team work inside a government organisation, not the work of one scholar alone.

Don't confuse with

• Epigraphist vs Numismatist: an epigraphist studies inscriptions. A numismatist studies coins. Matching questions often swap the two.
• Palaeontologist vs Archaeologist: a palaeontologist studies fossils preserved in rock or soil layers. An archaeologist studies human-made objects and remains dug out at a site, such as tools, pots, beads and bricks.
• Archaeo-botanist vs Archaeo-zoologist: the archaeo-botanist studies charred grains and seeds (plants). The archaeo-zoologist studies animal bones.
• Source vs History: a source is raw material, such as a coin or an inscription. History is the account a historian writes after comparing many sources.

Prelims Hooks

• Palaeontologist = fossils. Epigraphist = inscriptions. Numismatist = coins. Archaeogenetics = DNA of ancient people, studied through molecular genetics.
• ASI: founded in 1861 by Sir Alexander Cunningham, dissolved in 1865, revived with Cunningham as Director General from February 1871. [2][6]
• Cunningham's 1868 memorandum defined archaeology as the study of architecture, sculpture, coins and inscriptions. [2]
• James Prinsep deciphered the Ashokan inscriptions in 1837. Before that, Ashoka was known from the Mahavamsa, Dipavamsa, Divyavadana and Ashokavadana. [3][4]
• Brahmi appears fully developed in the 3rd century BCE, best seen in Ashoka's rock edicts. [5]
• The ASI's specialised branches include an Underwater Archaeology Wing and a Prehistory Branch. [2]

Mains Points

• History is built by many disciplines working together.
• Geology explains the landscape. Palaeontology and the archaeo-sciences explain plants, animals and people. Archaeology supplies objects. Epigraphy and numismatics supply dated written records.

• The historian puts it all together. An answer that treats "sources" as only texts leaves out most of the evidence.

• New discoveries keep changing our picture of the past.

• Prinsep's 1837 decipherment moved Ashoka from religious legend into recorded political history. [3][4]

• New sciences such as climate studies, chemical analysis and archaeogenetics now answer questions about diet, trade and migration that texts cannot. Their results depend on models that change, so they should be used as supporting evidence, not final proof.

• Method and institutions shape what we know.

• Sources can match, clash or go missing, so historians need clear rules for deciding which source to trust. This is what separates history from myth.
• The ASI began in the colonial period under Cunningham. That origin shaped which sites were dug first and which questions were asked. Modern Indian archaeology has inherited both that infrastructure and its bias in choosing sites. [2][6]

Related concepts

• Archaeology
• Numismatics
• Archaeo-botany
• Underwater archaeology
• Literary sources
• Oral tradition
• Hagiography
• Kalhana
• Rajatarangini
• Indica of Arrian

Read more

• Who reconstructs the past