Someone has said well “Sources are to a student of history what instruments are to a surgeon.” There appears to be a lack of historical writing in the modern sense as far as ancient India is concerned. However, this is compensated by the availability of a host of archaeological and literary resources.
Sources of Ancient Indian History
The ancient people of India had sufficient knowledge of the art of writing. They had written books of high standard on various subjects. But there is no such book on the basis of which may be gain to complete knowledge of a regular and continued history of that period. In the absence of the availability of such literature scholars have gone so far as to say that ancient has no history at all.
Sad commentary by Alberuni
Alberuni has commented upon the nature of the Indian writers and layman about history in a very adverse way. He remarks that, “The Hindus do not pay much attention to the historical order of the things, they are very careless in relating chronological succession of their kings and when they are pressed for information and are at a loss not knowing what to say, they invariable take to tale-telling.” This is a very sad commentary on the approach of the Indians towards historical problems but unfortunately it is a partial truth if the whole truth Dr. Ishwari Prasad reacts very sharply and says “It has often been said in a rather damaging way that India has no history.”
Dr. Ishwari Prasad has very much condemned the out-right declaration of certain enthusiast that there was a paucity of records in the ancient India which has caused tremendous difficulty in the way of the historians to collect information of historical nature. It is, no doubt, a fact that the prolific pen of the Indian writers in the historical approach towards the human problems, but it does not altogether sound a fact that no historical event or personality has been recorded in the ancient literature of the country.
Certain monuments, coins and inscriptions as sources of Ancient History of India
It is a fact that we have no Herodotus of whom we can boast as a great historian in the remote past, but there are innumerable books, predominantly of religious nature, which have sight reference to historical events and personalities. Besides the written sources there are certain monuments, coins and inscription which throw light upon the historical facts of those far off days. Though no definite historical book is available but much can be reconstructed with the help of this literature and the tongueless archaeological sources that have come to light. Referring to the importance of Agra buildings, Dr. Bansari Prasad Saxena has remarked that I all the books about the Mughal period are burnt and a historian is required to sit in front of the Taj, he would be able to write the history of the period giving as vivid a description as any book can. What is true for the Agra monuments and buildings, is equally true for all the ancient monuments, inscriptions and coins. The only difficulty that has baffled the writers is that the language of the period is not very easy to decipher but persistent efforts have succeeded a great deal and much has been reconstructed to prove, beyond any shadow of doubt, a well connected and quite reliable history of the remote past.
Sources of ancient period of Indian History
The sources of ancient period of history can be divided into two main headings :-
Literary Sources
- The traditional Literature
- The Foreign Writings
Read here about > Literary Sources of Indian History
The Archaeological Source
- Inscriptions
- Coins
- Monuments and Buildings
Read here about >Archaeological Sources of Indian History
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