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SELECTED THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

Historical Consciousness in India

History as an independent discipline got itself established in Europe by the 18th

and 19th centuries. In the context of colonial confrontation between Europe and Asia
there was a huge rush among European scholars to collect native histories which would
offer them to understand, evaluate and even to criticize the so called 'unknown variety
of cultures'. Those colonial writers were interested to find a Herodotus or Thucidides or
Tacitus in their reading of the Eastern / Asian civilizations but failed to find any. This
made the colonial historiographers to frame an opinion that early Indian society lacked
historical consciousness. The way in which Indian texts understood the past was
through developing specific perspectives and expressing it through narratives, needless
to say historical accuracy in those narratives remained minimum.
Colonial construction of India as an ahistorical society - Eurocentric view of
History

18th century witnessed a serious search for histories of early India. European
historians trained in the discipline of history as a specific category failed to find out one,
according to their designs from the Indian cultural tradition. Therefore "Indian culture
and particularly Sanskrit articulation of Hindu culture" came to be defined therefore as
ahistorical." Most of the European scholars dismissed Indian texts as fanciful and
exaggerated narratives since the historical record existed in those texts were inaccurate
and moreover consist full of myths, legends and tales. Among the Sanskrit texts the
European scholars recognized Kalhana's Rajatharangini, a 12th century history of
Kashmir. Mac Donell remarked that "Early India wrote no history...." and Rapsan
commented, events were not systematically recorded. The European scholars went
upto the extent of saying that Indian society denied history.
A sense of the past in the context of a European Renaissance, viewed history with
evidence, cause, and effect approach along with strong chronology and a well-balanced
explanatory progression of historical events.
Attempts were made by colonial writers to give a chronology on a narrative to early
Indian history. For example, William Jones succeeded in identifying Sendracottos with
Chandragupta Maurya.
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Eurocentric view towards knowledge was of hegemonic in its content. Knowledge

was used as a tool to control natives. Therefore they argued that "colonial society had
no awareness of its past and that even this awareness had to be provided by the
colonial power".
Indian Perceptions on History
Indian perceptions on history is reflected through a sense of the past or a
consciousness of the past which is expressed in myths, epics and genealogies.
Chronicles of families, institutions and regions, and biographies of kings also speak
about a consciousness of the bygone events. Important political and social changes
also affect the compositions / historical consciousness.

The concept of Time in India

The genealogical sections in the Puranas begin with a description of the creation
of the universe along with an explanation of geography of the universe. In the Vishnu
Purana the past which deals with primary creation places in context a wide sweep of the
past. "The world was created by Vishnu and Kala (Time) was important as a causal
factor in creation. Both Kala and Purusha (primeval man) are part of Vishnu. The
symbolic measurement of time, both human and divine described in some detail
provides the basis for the concept of cosmological time. The earliest events take place
in the first time cycle of the Krita Yuga, the first of the four which constitute the larger
time cycle of the mahayuga and which are the essential components of Puranic
eschatology".

Historical Consciousness in Early India - Historical Consciousness in Vedic Text

Historical Consciousness in Early India is reflected through myths. The

importance of a myth is that "it is the self image of a given culture, expressing its social
assumptions." Satapatha Brahmana speaks about a myth related to the Great Flood.
Manu when making his morning offerings to gods finds a fish in his hands. The fish is
reared by Manu until it becomes a big one. The fish speaks about the Great Flood and
makes its intentions to save Manu and the seven sages from this danger. During the
Great Flood, the fish saves Manu and the seven sages. Through rites and rituals Manu
makes creation of sons and one daughter. The eldest son Ikshavaku, finds the
Suryavamsi lineage and the daughter Ila the Chandravamsi lineage.
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The Matsya Purana version connects the fish with the incarnation of Vishnu. In the
Rigveda the Purusha Suktam speaks about the provision of social sanctions through the
myth. The myth describes the sacrifice of Prajapati from whose body their emerge the
four varnas such as the Brahmanas (from the mouth), the Kshatriyas (from the arms of
the Prajapati), the Vaisyas (from his thighs) and the Sudras (from his feet). The story
depicts the symbolism of each bodily parts which inturn is linked to the ritual status and
function of a particular varna. It has been argued that the "evolution of varna
stratification routed in the lineage based society of vedic times."

Gathas

Towards the composition of the period of the Epics other fixed forms associated
with various pieces of literary aspects began to emerge. Gathas were eulogies
bestowed upon heroes or chieftains who protected the cattle from raids. The archetype
of such heroes is depicted in the early portions of Rigveda as Indra-Gathas. God Indra
thus came to be associated with the early hero. The hero also distributes wealth among
his kin / clan members.

Narasamsis

Narasamsis were also prasastis / stuthis on heroes who protected the jana from
raids. Generally after a raid, the wealth confiscated would be distributed among the
members of a clan. The wealth included chariots, cows / cattle, horses and slave girls.

Akhyanas and Danastuthis

"The Akhyanas commemorating rajas and heroes were the cycles of stories
recited at the time of the yajnas (sacrificial rituals)." The akhyanas served as a base for
situating the lineages of heroes who performed heroic deeds. The story of Pururavas
who in a human being and his love towards Urvasi a celestial being is narrated in the
Satapatha Brahmana. When Mahabharatha was finally combined Pururavas is no more
a human being but he is counted among the celestial beings, and not only that he came
to be regarded as an important ancestor of the Chandravamsa lineage. Information
pertaining to the lineages; transformation of single lineages into confederacies of tribes,
the changing patterns of social milieu - all these are maintained through such narratives.
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Buddhists and Jain Texts and the Changing Expressions

Historical tradition underwent meaningful changes in the post gupta period which
is partly connected to the historical changes of the early and the first millennium A.D.
The territorial extent of the states during the period was not as large as the Mauryan
and Kushana states. Changes in the agrarian relations, gradual increase in granting
lands to mutts, brahmanas, acharyas, etc. demanded new processes of authority, law,
and revenue collection in areas which earlier were either outside the state system or on
the edge of it. The supporters of Buddhists an Jain Sangha establishments responded
to this changing situations positively. Historical consciousness began to evolve linking
Buddha's and Mahavira's biographies and institutions often connecting with
contemporary political events. The Buddhists and Jain texts presented and situated
their respective chronologies based on the date of Buddha and Mahaveera.
The practice later was copied by the Saiva and Vaishnava Mutts to get royal
patronage. As an emergent counter culture Buddhist Jaina sects developed a historical
sense in their respective texts which served an exact historical purpose. The Buddhist /
Jain text recorded the evolution of their respective sects, elaborating their properties,
building, land rights etc which often revolved around authority and royal patronage.

The Ithihasa Purana Tradition, Suta Magadha Tradition

It has been argued that historical consciousness became quite obvious with the
compilation of Ithihasas and Puranas. Defining these terms is extremely difficult. But
an attempted definition by Romila Thaper observes it as "veering between the perceived
past and historicity." Until the first millennium A.D., these remained as oral tradition.
The bards used to sing the stories of the heroes who always moved from one place to
another. The bardic tradition emerged from the Sutas and Magadhas who were actually
the earliest authors of Ithihasas and Puranas. Early vedic tradition sees the Sutha as
an equivalent to the Raja and hence he enjoyed a high status. But by the time of the
compilation of Manu Dharmasastra, the Sutha had been reduced to a lower status who
belonged to a mixed caste. The Brahmanas who later claimed the authorship of
Puranas, realized the "potential value of controlling oral information on the past and
recording it in a literary form to emergent contemporary requirements".
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Vamsanucharita - Prasastis - Dynastic chronicles

The Puranic texts were transferred from Prakrit to the Sanskrit. The Puranas
present an integrated cosmic view which naturally included a view of the past and the
present. Each Purana was dedicated to a deity or a sect, and therefore it always
connected events to the emergence of an Avatara / incarnation. Vishnu Purana is an
excellent model in this regard.
Vamsanucharita stands for the compiled genealogy of all the known lineages and
dynasties upto the 1st Millennium A.D. The genealogical core in each Puranas
absorbed the earlier Katha and Akhyana tradition. The Vamsanucharita meticulously
preserved the events connected with those in authority in the past. A systematic pattern
thus emerged was kept going. Historical writing and the preservation of the historical
record thus became essential which brought out a necessity to future claims to lineage
status. When monarchy in North India evolved into a powerful political apparatus such
preserved historical records offered a strong basis for those competitors who claimed
the Kshatriya status. The dynasties whose genealogies were recorded in the Puranas
were linked with Kshatriya lineages upto the 1st Millennium B.C. But by the 1st
Millennium B.C. families of Non-Kshtriya origin also began to appear in the
Vamsanucharita portions of the Puranas.
Such major dynasties like Nandas and possibly Mauryas are said to be Sudras.
Sungas and Kanwas judged by their names, belonged to the Brahmin caste. The lessor
dynasties who did not fall into the Chaturvarnya categories dating to the early centuries
A.D. were stated to be mlechhas, sudras, panchamas etc. Explanation to such a caste
configuration is due to the inevitable degeneration of all norms associated with kaliyuga.
Although in theory kshatriyas were to preside over political power, but in practice was
often open to all Varna who possessed force and administrative control to establish a
dynasty. The legitimation through brahmanical ritual was not at all necessary since
these dynasties are described as not confronting to vedic rites.