• India is a country in South Asia whose
name comes from the Indus River.
• "India is the cradle of human race, the
birthplace of human speech, the mother
of history, the grandmother of legend,
and the great grandmother of tradition.
Our most valuable and most astrictive
materials in the history of man are
treasured up in India only! “
- Mark Twain
Sources of ancient Indian History can be described
under the following five headings:-
• Literary Sources
• Archaeological Evidence
Inscriptions
Coins
• Accounts of the Foreigners
• Upanishadas: Main source of Indian philosophy; also
called "Vedantas“
• Jaina Parisistapravana,
Buddhist Dwipavamsa and Mahavamsa contain traditions
which supply us some historical materials. Gargi Samhita , a
book on astronomy,
the grammer of Panini and Patanjali also contain materials
that help us in the recontruction of the history of the ancient
period of India.
• General Sir Alexander Cunningham is the Father of
Indian Archaeology.
• The archaeological evidence is obtained by the systematic
and skilled examination of building monuments, and
work of art.
• The discovery of India's oldest cities by Daya Ram
Shahni was the biggest achievement of Archaeological
Survey of India under Marshall.The cities discovered
were named Harappa and Mohenjodaro and the
civilisation as the Indus Valley Civilisation.
• Inscriptions are the most reliable evidence
and their study is called epigraphy .
• These are mostly carved on gold, silver,
iron, copper, bronze plates or stone pillars,
rocks temple walls and bricks and are free
from interpolations.
• Inscriptions again are mainly of three
types:- royal eulogy, official documents
like royal rescripts, boundary marks,
deeds, gift, etc. and private records of
votive, donative or dedicative type.
• The study of coins is known
as numismatics.
• Ancient Indian coins have been discovered
from which idea about the contemporary
economic condition, currency system,
development of the matallurgical art has been
obtained.
• Samudragupta's Aswamedha coins and Lionslayer coins gives us an idea of his ambition
and love of hunting.
• A great deal of our knowledge of ancient Indian
History are supplemented by the writing of
foreigners.
Example:
• Hiuen Tsang(C)
• Buddhist Records of the Western World
•
Describes the social, economic and religious
conditions of India in the 5th and 7th Century AD.
• The Vedas are divine and eternal. The
Vedas are truly considered to be the
boundless repository of “knowledge
par excellence”.
• The Vedas are known as the
Shruti literature.
• The Shruti is treated as the supreme
and ultimate authority
• Smriti means "that which is remembered,"
refers to a specific body
of Hindu religious scripture, and is a
codified component of Hindu customary
law.
• It is generally seen as secondary in
authority to Sruti. It portrays the traditions
of the rules on dharma, especially those of
lawful virtuous persons example Ramayana
• The Smriti texts have become a binding of “sacred
literature”
• It includes :
 The six Vedangas
 The Ithihasas : the Mahabharata and the
Ramayana, as well as, the Puranas [3] It is within all
of these works that the rules of dharma remain and
are passed down.
• Smriti as Tradition(. Smriti as
Tradition consists of Smriti as
memories. It is from these memories
that the rules of dharma are preserved
and passed down.)
• Smriti as Texts( refers to the notion of
Traditional Texts. These consists of
mostly the dharmasastras and are
described as literature which has been
“inspired by the smrti”. )
• The first source of dharma is Sruti: the Vedas or Revelations
whereas Smriti is the second source of authority for dharma
•
The Shruti statement is accepted as the final word whereas
the Smriti is interpreted in consonance with the Shruti.
• Shruti can not be altered at all whereas the Smriti might
undergo modifications
• Shruti is considered to be the more authoritative, in practice
whereas the Smriti texts are more influential in
modern Hinduism.