Question

Name the literary sources for study of ancient Indian history

Answer 1

Indian Literary Sources

The ancient Indian literature is mostly religious in nature.

The Puranic and Epic literature are considered as history by Indians, but it contains no definite dates for events and kingdoms.

The effort of history writing was shown by a large number of inscriptions, coins, and local chronicles. The principles of history are preserved in the Puranas and Epics.

The Puranas and epics narrate the genealogies of kings and their achievements. But they are not arranged in a chronological order.

The Vedic literature contains mainly the four Vedas i.e. Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda, and Atharvanaveda.

The Vedic literature is in a different language called as the Vedic language. Its vocabulary contains a wide range of meaning and is different in grammatical usages. It has a definite mode of pronunciation in which emphasis changes the meaning entirely.

Answer 2

Literary and Archaeological records are the two main categories that give evidences of Ancient Indian History.

The literary source includes literature of Vedic, Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, and other literature along with other foreign accounts.

The archaeological source includes epigraphic, numismatic, and other architectural remains.

The archaeological explorations and excavations have opened the great landscapes of new information.