HISTORIC SOURCES

Literary and Archeological

 MEANING OF HISTORICAL
SOURCES
Sources which help us in reconstructing the past history , are
called historical sources .
These sources are as important to the students of history as a
surgical instrument to a doctor.

-Punjab has been the cradle of India’s rich culture and

civilization . The excavations at Harappa and Mohhenjodaro
brought to light the birth and development of an acient urban
civilization in Punjab.

-The land of Punjab also saw the outburst of the Vedic Literature
in it’s myriad forms. The vedas- The Rigveda , The Sama Veda ,
The Yajur Veda and The Atharva Veda throw a flood of light on
the ancient history of Punjab .
 RELIGIOUS LITERATURE
i. The Vedic Literature : The major portion of the Vedic
literature , the earliest literature in the world , came into being
in the land of Punjab . This literature rose and developed in the
course of a long period , roughly between 1200 B.C. and 300
B.C. and was handled down from generation in oral tradition .
- Vedic literature may be divided as under :
1. Vedas
2. The Brahmanas and the Aryanyakas
3. The Upnishads
4. The Sutras
5. The Vedangas
6. The Smritis
7. The Epics
8. The Puranas
1. Vedas : The four vedas are Rigveda , Yajurveda , Samaveda and
Atharvaveda . The Rigveda has 10 chapters and 1028 Suktas . The Yajurveda
, the Samaveda and Atharvaveda were composed on later on. The Yajurveda
lays down the procedure of performance of sacrifices . The Samaveda has 75
hymns awhich are original and the rest in the included from the Rigveda .
The hymns are sung at the time of sacrifice . The Atharveda compoed by
Sage Atharva deals with medical science. Edas gives us a lot of information
about the social and religious life of Aryans who settled in the Punjab.

2. The Brahmanas and the Aranyakas: These books contains the

commentaries from the Vedas to the priests in society and hermits in the
forsests. The important Brahmanas works are Aitareya and Kanshitki of the
Rigveda , the Shatapatha of the Yajurveda , the Panchavimsha and Jaiminiya
of the Samaveda and the Gopatha of the Atharvaveda . The Aitareya and part
of the Shatapatha were composed in the Kuru-Panchala country . While the
Panchavimsha was written mostly on the Sarasvati – Drishadvati Doab . The
Aranyakas books meant to be studied in the forest, deal with the mysticism
and symbolism.
3. The Upnishads: The word ‘up’ means near and ‘nishad’ means to sit. While sitting at the
feet of gurus , the disciples acquired knowledge about soul , God , creation of the universe
and the transmigration of soul. They are store-house of Indian philosophy . The main
Upnishads are : Iish , Kain , Katho , Prashan , Mandukya , Mundak , Aitreya and Taitriya.

4. The Sutras : The Sutras are divided into three parts namely Kalap Sutra , the Grih Sutra
and Dharam Sutra.

5. The Vedangas : They are six namely Shiksha , Kalpa , Vyakarn , Nirukta , Chhand and
Jyotish .

6. The Smritis : The Smritis were composed by Manu , Vishnu , Narad , Yagyavalkya ,
Brihaspati and Prashar.

7. The Epics : The Ramayana and the Mahabharta are two epics . The Ramayana was
composed by Maharishi Valmiki and the Mahabharta was composed by Sage Ved Vyasa. The
two epics throw the light about the spread of Aryans in India.

8. The Puranas : The Puranas are 18 in number . But from the historical point of view , the
Bhavishya , Vayu , Mastya, Vishnu, Brahmana and Bhagwat Purana are important.
ii. The Buddhist and Jain Literature . The Tri-pitakas are the most
important Buddhist scriptures written in Pali language . Pitakas means basket ,
so Tri-pitakas means three baskets of Buddhist knowledge . Dipvansha and
Mahavansha , the Buddhist scriptures , were written in Ceylone in Pali
language . Lalit Vistar is a biographical sketch of Lord Buddha. Divydaan and
Manju Sri Mulkalpa were composed in Sanskrit . Malindapanha was written in
Pali by Bhikshu Nagasena.

The important Jain scriplures are : 12 Angas , 12 up-Angas , 10 Prakaran , 6

Chhed Sutra , Nandisutra , Anis Yoga Sutra and Mula Sutra etc. The Jain work
‘Parishishat Parva’ written by Hem Chandra is most important of all, ‘Bhadra
Bahu Charit’ throws light on the life of Chandra Gupta Maurya.
 SECULAR LITERATURE
We have secular literature in the shape of Grammar , History ,
Politics , Biographies of kings, imaginative and gossip literature
. Panini’s ‘Ashtadhyayi’ contains references to certain kings and
republication states. Patanjali in ‘Mahabhashya’ gives a useful
account of the invasions on the Punjab by the Greeks .
Arthashastra was written was written by Kautilya famous as
Chankya , the prime minister of Chandra Gupta Maurya.

The Gupta Age witnessed the flourishing of Sanskrit literature

in all its branches . Kalidas , the Indian Shakespeare , wrote
Malvika Agni Mitram , Vikramo – Urvashi , Abhijyana ,
Shakuntlam , Raghuvansha , Meghdoot and Ritu-Samhar ,
Shudraka wrote Hasha – Charita and Kadambri . Harsha wrote
three plays, the Ratnavali , Priyadarshika and Nagananda.
Writings of Foreigners .
Writings of foreigners are a very valuable source of the ancient history of the
Punjab supplementing the purely Indian sources to a great extent.
Accounts of Greeks, Persiants and Romans , Travellers from Greece and Iran have
left their impresions about the Punjab and the North-West India. Some of them were
based on hearsay , while some of them are written after personal observation in
India itself . Very few such records have remained intact . Only a few fragments of
such record have remained intact . Only a few fragments of such records and
protions quoted by later writers are available. Yet they are very useful as they
supplement the evidence Indian sources.Herodotus Skylax and Ctesias were the
early Greek writers who wrote about India before Alexander’s invasions.
Selecus , a successor of Alexande , after his defeat in the hands of
Chandra Gupta Maurya sent Magesthenese wrote Indica ,
indicating the political , social , economic and cultural life
during Chandar Gupta Maurya’s period .
Chinese Travellers.
Fa-hein, Hieun-Tsang were the prominent Buddhist scholars who
visited India during ancient times. Fa –hien visited India during
Chandra Gupta 11’s period and depicted in his writing about the
social , economic , religious and political condition of that period
. Ieun-Tsang was the second Chinese traveller who visited India,
during the region of King Harsha and wrote his work Si-yu-ki.
The third Buddhist traveller to visit India was It –Sing . He came
to India in the 7th century A.D.
Tibetan Travellers.
Taranath Lama was a famous Tibetan traveller . His work, ‘History of
Buddhism’ gives us useful information about Buddhism. His works
Tangyur and Kangyur are important from historical point of view.
Accounts of early Muslim Writers.
Among the early Muhammedan writers useful for ancient Punjab history ,
the most important is Alberuni’s work Tahiqiq -1-Hind (Enquiry into India) .
Alberuni , who accompained Mahmud on his Indian expeditions , undertook
a through study of Indian literature and his work has been described “as a
marvel of well –digested erudition .” He gives a faithful picture of Indian
life and society in about 1000 A.D. Another Arabian writer who came to
India much earlier was Suleman Saudagar . His short account of the North –
West India is helpful to the historian but does not deserve much attention.
 ARCHELOGICAL SOURCES
Archeological sources help us to construct the history of
ancient Punjab . The archeological sources are more
trustworthy and help us in testifying and authenticating the
sources gathered from other sources .

The archeological sources are mentioned below:

1. Inscriptions.Inscrpitions are the most important reliable

source of historical studies . According to R.C. Majumdar .
“The inscriptions , being contemporary records of a reliable
character , have helped us most. They have furnished u with
the names of the kings . Sometimes , together with their dates
and other necessary particulars, they have recorded many
important events of history .”
2. Coins. Coins are also a valuable source for constructing the history of the
ncient Punjab . They generally contain short legends about the kings and their
dynasties. The area where they are found indicate the region of their
circulation. So as far as the early Punjab history is concerned , the coins have
been our mot important source of knowledge about the Indo-Greek , Indo-
Parthian and Indo-Bacirian dynasties who ruled over parts of the Punjab and
the North-Western Frontier in the period from the second century B.C. onwads
. The fact that for several centuries , the Greeksruled over the North –West
Frontier and the Punjab is established through their coins.
3. Monuments. The ancient monuments like buildings , pillars , temples,
stupas amd chaityas give us a lot of useful information about the religious
beliefs of the people , dress and ornaments , deties, modes of worship and help
us in determining the chronology of events. There are several monuments
available in the region of ancient Punjab in the shape of temples and Buddhist
stupas which help us to construct the history of this area.

4. Sculptures and paintings . Several figurines of terracota and bronze have

been found during the excavations from the places in Punjab connected with
Harappan culture. Gandhiara school of Arts which flourished in this region
provides us many sculptures and paintings to know about the people’s beliefs ,
tastes and practices.
5. Excavations: The archeological survey carried out by the experts
in the Punjab and othe parts of India has gven valuable data for the
reconstruction of the history of the Punjab. The excavations at
Harappa , Mohenjodaro and Taxila have given very reliable historical
facts which were so far unknown to this world. Many ruins of the
Indus Valley Civilization have been discovered at other places such as
Kotla Nihang Khan (near Ropar) , Ucha Pind Sanghol in Fatehgarh
Sahib district , Banwali in Hissar District , and Sukengdor on the east
coast of Baluchistan.
 CONCLUSION
The brief review of the sources of the ancient history of the Punjab
shows that there is sufficient material on which the history of this
period can be reconstructed .
There is , however , one great difficulty , that is the absence of a
sinfle uniform era. There are 30 different eras used in the Indian
annals eithout reference to any proper era .
Secondly , the scholars have not been able to know the starting
date of a majority of events .

Thus we can surmise , though we have insufficient historical

material , as the ancient Punjabis lacked historical sense and
history was curiously mixed with philosophy , myth and religion
that it was difficult to find out the truth from the untrue. Still, the
scholars have been able to construct the history of ancient Punjab
on the basis of the available literary and archeological sources.
THANK YOU

-NIKITA KASHYAP
ROLL NO. : 11641