Ancient India Assignment

Name: AKANSHA Katiyar

SECTION: A
Roll No. 319

Q. What are the SOURCES OF ANCIENT INDIAN HISTORY

in the period of your study?

The information derived from literary sources and corroborated by

archaeological evidence helps us to form a complete picture of our ancient
times. The sources for the reconstruction of ancient Indian history can be
studied under two broad headings (for up to 600 BCE) namely
(1) Literary sources
(2) Archaeological sources

Literary sources include information compiled in the written form and used to
expound the quintessence of the ancient past. There are very scarce literary
sources available for the study of the period before 600 BCE which mainly
include the Vedas and Dharmasutras.
The Vedas are categorized into four- Rig Veda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and
Atharvaveda. Rig Veda is the only indigenous source for reconstructing the
history of the Rig-Vedic Aryans. Hindus believe that the texts were received by
scholars direct from God and passed on to the next generations by word of
mouth. Vedic texts are sometimes called shruti, which means hearing. For
hundreds, maybe even thousands of years, the texts were passed on orally. Each
Veda has four parts which are arranged chronologically. The Samhitas are the
most ancient part of the Vedas, consisting of hymns of praise to God. The
Brahmanas are rituals and prayers to guide the priests in their duties. The
Aranyakas concern worship and meditation. The Upanishads consist of the
mystical and philosophical teachings of Hinduism. Talking about the
Dharmasutras, they were still in the stage of compilation during this period and
are a part of Vedanga Literature and Dharmashastra Corpus which discusses
about the rights and duties of the people at different stages of life.
As there is very little that historians could study and unearth through literary
sources, analysis of archaeological evidences becomes significant which
include material remains used to examine the past. In the upcoming course,
there lies a brief description about some cardinal archaeological sources from
Palaeolithic to the period till 600 BCE including evidences of artefacts, bones,
seeds, pollens, burials, seals, sculptures, monuments and inscriptions.
Several human fossils have been unearthed which date back to about the
Palaeolithic period. Some important ones include the skull cap of a Homo
erectus woman discovered by Arun Sonakia at Hathnora in 1982. V.S.
Wakankar also found an adult man’s mandible at Bhimbetka, Madhya Pradesh.
These bones could be used to determine the biological characteristics of the
people in the past and also to examine their food habits.
Various artefacts have been found majorly including bone and stone tools.
Some of the major sites include Bhimbetka, Attirampakkam and Belan Valley
where stone tools (like handaxes) dating to lower Palaeolithic have been found.
This might be used to conclude by archaeologists that these people practiced
hunting. Also, at Paisra, eight postholes have been found which according to
Upinder Singh marked places where wooden posts had been dug into the ground
to support thatched huts. Patne has remains (stone tools) from lower
Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic period indicating constant occupation of
the site by the humans. Kalpi is also an important site where various vertebrate
fossils, stone tools and bone tools have been found. At Muchchatla Chintamani
Gavi Caves and Kurnool Caves tools made of animal bones dated to Upper
Palaeolithic have been found indicating hunting was important than foraging.
Also there have been evidence of art (including cave paintings, figurines, bas
reliefs, impressions and engravings) from the different periods. Some important
examples include decorated ostrich eggshells and perforated beads from Patne
dating to Palaeolithic period. As per Upinder Singh, at Bhimbetka there are
642 rock shelters, nearly 400 of which have paintings, gravings and bruising
dating to Mesolithic Period. At Mundigak, a Terracotta figurine of a humped
bull was found in phase 3 of period 1. According to a few scholars, evidence of
art shows that these people showed appreciation of an abstract form and also
had leisure time to engage themselves in creation of some very beautiful art
pieces which require great skills, efforts and time.
Pottery includes articles made of clay. There is evidence of pottery at Mehrgarh
in Period 1B dating to the Neolithic Period. Some other important pottery may
include – the Harappan Pottery, pottery found at Mundigak throughout period 1
and that of Mahagara etc. Romila Thappar says “Pottery is a clue to locating
Harappan sites, but it is likely to have been made, after a fashion in many local
areas.” This suggests that the people might have started cultivating and felt the
need for storing the surplus. There is also some evidence of hearths from the
Neolithic Period. Hearth is usually the floor of a fireplace. At Burzahom, stone
hearths have been found suggesting that people also lived in the open place,
probably during summers.
Analysis of pollen studies related to Didwana and Sambhar in Rajasthan has
indicated a marked surge in cereal-type pollen in this particular area in c. 7000
BCE. According to Upinder Singh this, along with discovery of some tiny
charcoal pieces, may indirectly suggest the clearance of forests and the
beginning of agriculture. However, no food producing sites of such an early
period have been found in the area. Burials (with deliberately buried dead
bodies) have been found at various sites. Romila Thappar mentions of the
megalithic burials (some of which were very elaborated) found at megalithic
sites, such as Hallur, Maski Brahmagiri etc. This gives rise to an argument
about their believe in the afterlife. Nevertheless, these burials help us to
understand that there might have been some kind of social stratification because
of which some burials consisted of ornaments and various other luxurious
material whereas others did not.
The most important aspect of archaeological source is the large number of
excavated ruined cities where in lie a large number of monuments. The
following are the important excavated cities and towns of ancient India, Rajgir
(ancient Rajagriha), Nalanda, Bodh Gaya, certain parts of Pataliputra etc., in
Bihar, Peshawar, Taxila etc., in North-western Frontier Province and the
Punjab; Ujjain, Sanchi etc., in Madhya Pradesh; Langhnaj in Gujarat; Mathura,
Varanasi, Kausambi, Ahichchhatra, Hastinapur etc., in U.P.
Special mention may be made here of the pre-Aryan civilization of Indus
Valley, excavated partly in Mohenjo-Daro and Chanhu-daro in Sind, and partly
in Harappa in the Punjab during the later phase of British rule in India. With
extensive excavations in post-independent period, sites have been discovered in
a large area consisting North-Western India, Rajasthan and the Deccan.
Mehrgarh excavations deserve a special mention since Mehrgarh, located on
the bank of the Bolan river, is the only known Neolithic settlement in the Indian
subcontinent, attributed to approximately 7000 B.C.

Seals were earlier used for trade consisting of plant or animal motifs or
imprints. The Harappan seals are of great significance. According to R.S.
Sharma 2000 Harrapan seals have been found, and majority of them carry short
inscriptions with pictures of the one- horned bull, the buffalo, the tiger etc.
Sculptures which were made through carving wood or metal also come under
archaeological sources. According to Romila Thappar, in Harappan culture
sculptures in stone and bronze have been found, but in sporadic locations not
indicating an assembly of images in a temple.
Apart from the above-mentioned archaeological sources, certain other materials,
such as cave temples and monasteries, pillars, potteries, tools and implements
etc. also provide us authentic information on socio-economic, religious and
cultural aspects, and to a lesser extent on the political aspect of ancient Indian
history. Yet it will take a long time to complete the entire archaeological
excavations as Indian sub-continent is the treasure-house of archaeological
information due to its long history of civilization. 

Thus, it can be concluded by saying that although archaeological evidences

become predominant for studying the period before 600 BCE but the
significance and need of the literary sources cannot be neglected for studying
the past human societies. Both these resources are paramount for examining and
analysing the past and are complementary to each other.
 bibliography

[1] A History of ancient and early medieval India: From the Stone Age to the
12th Century, Upinder Singh
[2] Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300, Romila Thappar
[3] Ancient India: A History Textbook for Class XI, R.S. Sharma
[4] www.bbc.com