History of India -I

1. Lecture-01
 Evidence of Ancient Indian History
 Physical Features
Course Code: DHIS101

2. After this lecture, students will be able to know/understand
Sources for reconstruction of Ancient Indian History.
Physical Features of Ancient India

3. We study ancient Indian history for its importance to know
about the people who developed the earliest cultures in
India.
Their progression from nomadism to sedentary life style,
crossing the mile stones of pastoralism and agriculture.
Unity in Diversity, the interesting feature of the Indian
History.

4. WHAT ARE “SOURCES” OF
HISTORY?
• Our ancestors have left behind many things. They serve
as evidence to know the past.

5.  Indigenous sources-the sacred religious literature, mythological
literature
 Archaeological Antiquities-ancient building, monuments, coins,
inscription, work of art sculpture and numismatics
 Accounts of Foreign Travelers and
 Historical Accounts.

7. MANUSCRIPTS WERE WRITTEN THOUSANDS OF
YEARS AGO.
They were called “manuscripts” because they were written by hand. (The Latin
word “manu” means hand).
If not, what do you
think they were
written on?
Do you think
manuscripts
were written on
paper?

8. MANUSCRIPTS WERE WRITTEN THOUSANDS OF
YEARS AGO.
These books were about religious beliefs and
practices, lives of kings, medicine and science.
There were epics, poems and plays.
In which languages were these manuscripts written?

9. SOURCES OF ANCIENT INDIAN HISTORY
Literature Sources
• The Vedas (Brahmanas and Upanishads Vedangas or Upvedas
• Sutras
• The Puranas
• Chronicles
• Shastras on Politics and grammar

10. FOREIGN ACCOUNTS
Name Year Work
Fa-Hien 405-411 CE Fo-Kwo-Ki
Record of Buddhist Kingdoms
Huien Tsang 630-645 CE Si-Yu-Ki
The Records of the Western
World
Megasthenes 302-298 BCE Indika / Indica
Al-Masudi 957 CE Muruj-uz-Zahab
Ali-Kufi (Tr.) 712 CE Chachnama

11. TYPES OF HISTORICAL SOURCES:
Primary
Secondary

12. Belonging to the time of event.

13. SECONDARY SOURCE
A book about the Vedas
written in 2020 would be a
Secondary source.
Science of Light: An
Introduction to Vedic
Astrology
By Freedom Tobias Cole

14. TESTIFYING A SOURCE

15. EPIGRAPHY
 Study of the written matter recorded on hard or durable material.

16. THE VEDAS
The oldest surviving text in India.
The word Veda comes from the root vid It literally
means to know.

17. THE VEDAS
Divided into four Vedas
• Rig Veda
• Sama Veda
• Yajur Veda, and
• Atharva Veda.

18. THE VEDAS
Each Veda is again sub-divided into four parts
The Mantra-
Samhitas
The Brahmana
The Aranyaka The Upanishads

19. THE VEDAS
The texts include
Phonetic (Shiksha)
Meter (Chhanda)
Grammar (Vyakarana)
Etymology (Nirukta)
Ritual (Kalpa), and
Astronomy (Jyotisha).

20. THE VEDAS
Vedangas or Upvedas
There are six Vedangas famous as
I. Phonetics
II. Astronomy
III. Ritual
IV. Grammar
V. Etymology
VI. Metrics.

21. THE VEDAS
Sutras
The last of the Vedic
literature is the Sutras.
Text that helps us to
understand various
branches of the Vedas.

22. THE VEDAS
Sutras
Three important Sutras they
are:
I. Kalpa Sutras
II. Grihya Sutras
III. Dharma Sutras.
Provides a piece of important
information on the social and
religious life of the ancient
Indian society.

23. RAMAYANA AND MAHABHARATA
• Mahabharata which
survives today is among the
longest single poems
consists of 18 parvas (Book).
• ‘Ramayana’ and the
‘Mahabharata’ present a
clear picture of the people of
those times.

24. RAMAYANA AND MAHABHARATA
• Though these epics have been
regarded as legendary tales,
they give us abundant
information about the economic,
religious, social and political
conditions of the later Aryans.
• The Mahabharata was the story
narrated by the singers and
minstrels of the Kauravas and
the Pandavas.

25. RAMAYANA AND MAHABHARATA
Ramayana, the story of Rama.
Ramayana , the work of Valmiki
Mahabharata, the work of Vedavyasa.
Their main purpose was to recount the deeds of the
warriors.
The Vaishyas and the Sudras play an insignificant part in
the epics.
Stories indirectly throw interesting light on the political,
social, and religious condition of ancients India.

26. THE PURANAS
Mainly discusses five
topics that include
 the creation of the world,
destruction, and re-creation of the
universe,
 the periods of the various manus,
 the genealogies of god and rishis
 the history of royal dynasties.
•The Puranas were not the work of one person nor of one age.

27. THE PURANAS
The ancient volumes of the Hindus written in Sanskrit.
Contain the most systematic record of the Indian
historical tradition.
Eighteen in number and each of them is divided into five
parts.

28. THE PURANAS
Among eighteen Puranas, Vishnu Purana, Vayu
Puranas, Brahma Purana, Bhagavata Purana, and
Matsya Purana have great significance from the
historical point of view.

29. THE PURANAS
• Important data on ancient political history.
Accounts of mountains, rivers, and places
Useful for the study of historical geography.
Also reflect the interaction of Brahmanical and non-
Brahmanical culture, traditions and the emergence and
development of Hindu religious practices.

30. CHRONICLES
A genuine chronology in the true
sense of the word was written in
the 12th century AD. by Kalhana
in ‘Rajatarangini’. It presents an
authentic history of Kashmir.
Other chronicles of Gujarat like
‘Ras-Mela’ and ‘Kirti-Kumudini’ of
Nepal also help us to go through
the history of India.

31. SHASTRAS ON POLITICS AND GRAMMAR
On politics, Kautilya’s
‘Arthashastra’
Regarded as the greatest work of
this period.
• Reconstruction of the history of the
Mauryas from the 4th to the
3rd century BC.

32. SHASTRAS ON POLITICS AND GRAMMAR
Deals with the principles of
administration and explains the duties
and rights of a king and his relations
with his council of ministers.
Throws light on social and economic
institutions governed by law and order.
A clear picture of a successful
government has been drawn in it by
Kautilya.

33. SECULAR LITERATURE
Includes various religious texts and Sangam literature

34. RELIGIOUS LITERATURE
• The religious books of the Jainas and Buddhists discuss
historical persons and events.
• Early Buddhist text was written in Pali, divides into:
• canonical
• non-canonical texts.

35. RELIGIOUS LITERATURE
The canonical portions reflect the state and affairs
in India during the time of Buddha.
The non-canonical literature deals with the stories of
the previous births of Buddha, called Jatakas.

36. RELIGIOUS LITERATURE
Jatakas throw the light on the social and economic
conditions of the period between the 5th and 2nd century
BCE.
Non-canonical throws light on the Birth of Buddha.

37. JAINAS LITERATURE
Written in Prakrit.
Offer information regarding the history and doctrine of
Jainism, the life stories of the saints called Tirthankaras,
the monks, and nuns in the Sangha.
Aspects of the cultural history of their times.

38. THE LITERATURE OF ARTHASASTRA
An important law book of Kautilya.
Provides rich material for the study of ancient
Indian polity and economy especially during the age
of the Mauryan.

39. THE LITERATURE OF ARTHASASTRA
The Sanskrit grammatical works begin with
Astadhyayi of Panini.
Much information about the Janapadas & includes
the work of Bhasa, Sudraka, Kalidasa, and
Banabhatta.

40. OTHER IMPORTANT LITERATURE
The work of Kalidasa comprises Kavyas and
dramas.
The most famous astronomical work of
Kalidasa is Abhijinanashakuntalam,
Aryabhata’s Aryabhatiya,
Varahamihira’s Brihatsamhita.

41. SANGAM LITERATURE
The earliest literature of South India represents
by a group of texts in old Tamil.
Collectively known as Sangam’s literature.
Besides, it is work for over three to four
centuries.

42. SANGAM LITERATURE
Poets in colleges patronize by the chiefs and kings
compile the literature.
Comprises about 30,000 lines of poetry arranged in
eight anthologies called Ettuttokai.
Sangam literature is a major source of data for the
social, economic, and political life of the people living
in the deltaic Tamil Nadu in the early Christian
centuries.

43. FOREIGN ACCOUNTS
Herodotus
• Dependent upon the Persian sources for
his information about India.
• His book Histories (written in many
volumes) describes about the Indo-Persian
relations.
• A detailed account of the invasion of
India by Alexander was written by
Arrian .
Arria
n

44. FOREIGN ACCOUNTS
• Foreign sources are the accounts or
records of foreign writers.
Particularly, the Roman and the
Greek writers have written much
about India and her people.
• The Greek, Roman, and Chinese
visitors have left behind data on
how they saw India. Megasthenes

45. FOREIGN ACCOUNTS
Megasthenes
• The Indika of Megasthenes, who
came to the court of Chandragupta
Maurya has been preserved only in
fragments but these fragments
furnish valuable information on the
administration, social classes, and
economic activities in the Maurya
period.

46. FOREIGN ACCOUNTS
Ptolemy
• The periplus of the Erytherean
Sea written by anonymous
Greek and Ptolemy’s Geography
provides valuable data for the
study of ancient geography and
commerce.
• Pliny’s Naturalis Historia, which
relates to the first century was
written in Latin. It says about
the trade between India and

47. CHINESE TRAVELERS
Fa-Hsien
Fa-Hsien was the first Chinese pilgrim,
who visits India in 399 A.D. and remain
in India up to 413 AD.
Describes the social, religious, and
economic conditions in India during the
age of the Guptas.
In his accounts, mentioned the
administrative functions of the Gupta’s
period.

48. CHINESE TRAVELERS
Hiuen-Tsang
Hiuen-Tsang who came in the
second quarter of the 7th century
presents similar data of India in
the age of Harsha.

49. CHINESE TRAVELERS
Yuan-Chang
travels almost all parts of India for 18
years i.e., from 626 to 644 AD.
famous as the ‘Prince of Pilgrims’.
In his famous book, ‘Si-Yu-Ki’, provides
a lot of details on the living standard
of ancient India. And helped us to
determine the extent of Harsha’s
empire.

50. THE IMPORTANCE TO STUDY ANCIENT INDIAN
HISTORY
Study of ancient Indian history is important because of the fact that
the knowledge of ancient Indian history is the pre-requisite to
understand the language, religion, culture, and civilization of India.
Also important in understanding the origins of different races such as
Dravidians, Aryans, Greeks, Sakas, Kushanas, Huns, Turks, etc.

51. SUMMARY
The ancient Indian history is well-known from various sources.
These sources include texts, inscriptions, coins, literature, foreign
travelers, etc.
They play an important place, particularly because in the past there
was no printing press and there was no system of recording events with
the viewpoint of any historian.

52. SUMMARY
The sources of ancient Indian history are the pre-requisite to
understand languages, religion, culture, and civilization of India.
Understanding the origins of different races such as Dravidians,
Aryans, Greeks, Sakas, Kushanas, Huns, Turks, etc.
History demands devotion to truth.
Historians construct history from various sources to present the truth
of the past to the men of today and the future.

53. PHYSICAL FEATURES
 Indian subcontinent comprises six countries (as shown in the image
given below) namely −
 Afghanistan,
 Pakistan,
 Nepal,
 India,
 Bhutan, and
 Bangladesh.

54. GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISION
 The geographical boundaries of Bharatavarsha are demarcated by −
 The Himalayas in the north;
 The Pamir plateau and Sulaiman Kirthar ranges in the western and north-western side;
 The Bay of Bengal in the east and Arabian Sea in the west; and
 The Indian Ocean in the south.
 The physiography of the subcontinent can be studied under the three
following parts −
 The Himalayas,
 The Indo-Gangetic-Brahmaputra plain, and
 The Deccan plateau.

55. THE HIMALAYAS
 The Himalaya is about 2,400 Km long (from east to west) and about 250 to
320 km wide (north to south).
 The Himalaya touches Afghanistan in the west to Myanmar in the east.
 There are about 114 peaks (of Himalayan Mountain Range), which are more
than 20,000 feet high.
 Some of the highest peaks (of the Himalaya) are −
 Gauri Shankar or Mount Everest (it is the highest mountain peak in the world),
 Kanchanjanga,
 Dhaulagiri,
 Nanga Parvat, and
 Nanda Devi.
 The Himalayas form a barrier against the foreign invasions from the north.
 The Khyber and Bolan passes were well known since the ancient time.
Khyber Pass was popular as the ‘gateway to India.’

56. THE INDO-GANGETIC-BRAHMAPUTRA PLAIN
 The great plain lies to the south of the Himalayas. It covers more than 255 million hectares fertile
plain area.
 The great plain is formed by the rivers originating from Himalaya.
 The Indus, the Ganga, and the Brahmaputra are the three major river systems.
 The ancient River Saraswati and its tributaries used to flow through the northern plain area. The
stream of Saraswati had flown through the states of Haryana, Punjab, and Rajasthan.
 The Indus River has five tributaries (flowing from east to west), namely −
 The Sutlej (Satudri),
 The Beas (Vipasa),
 The Ravi (Parushni),
 The Chenab (Asikni), and
 The Jhelum (Vitesta).
 The river Sutlej was (once) a tributary of the lost river Saraswati, but changed its course.
 The Brahmaputra originating from the eastern part of the Lake Manasarovar in the Kailasa Range
(of Himalaya) flows eastward through the plateau of Tibet. Before entering India, its name is
‘Tsangpo.’
 The Brahmaputra enters in India and from here, it is called as the Brahmaputra. It passes through
Assam and Bengal and joins the eastern most mouth of the Ganga i.e., Padma.
 Originating from the Gangotri glacier, the River Ganga flows through the India and Bangladesh and
finally debouches into the Bay of Bengal. It is the most sacred river of India.

57. CONTINUE