name the type of literacy sources
Answers
Answer:
Archeology,Historical places,Old books.
Answer:
Literary Sources:
1. Religious Literature:
History is not a record of only the rulers. It is mostly an account of the people’s life and living. The literature of every time is like a mirror of that time. Mental and social conditions of the people are known from literary sources.
The Religious Literature of India is too vast. It includes the Vedas, the Upanishads, the great epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata, and the Puranas of the Hindus. These are like mines of information about religious beliefs, social systems, people’s manners and customs, political institutions, and conditions of culture.
The religious writings of the Jainas and the Buddhists are also enormous. They include the Jatakas and the Angas etc. While dealing with religious subjects, they also write about historical persons and political events. Contemporary economic and social conditions are vividly known from these sources.
2. Secular Literature:
There are many kinds of secular or non-religious literature. The law-books of ancient India known as Dharmasutras and Smritis belong to this group. They contain code of duties for kings, administrators, and people. They also contain rules regarding property, and prescribe punishments for murder, theft and other crimes.
Kautilya’s Arthasastra is a famous work. It not only speaks of the State and polity, but also of socio-economic system. Authors like Patanjali and Panini, though they wrote Sanskrit grammar, also described some political events. The dramas of Kalidasa, Vishakhadatta, and Bhasa give us useful information about the people and society.
There were some historical writings too. Bana wrote Harshacharita or the Life of Harsha. Bilhana wrote about Vikramaditya. Kalhana’s Rajatarangini was a historical text of great value. It is an account of the history of Kashmir. It presents the career of the Kings in chronological order. Chand Bardai wrote Prithviraj Charita. There are many other biographical works and chronicles which contain historical information.f
Explanation:
3. Accounts of Foreigners:
From very ancient times, foreigners visited India. Some of them left valuable accounts of their travels or visits. Ancient Greek and Roman historians also wrote about India from their knowledge and information. All these foreign accounts prove useful for writing history.
We know of Chandragupta Maurya’s victory over the Greeks from the Greek accounts. They mentioned him as Sandrokottas in their writings. The Greek ambassador Megasthenes stayed in the court of Chandragupta Maurya and wrote his famous work Indika. Unfortunately this work was lost. But fragments from it were preserved in the quotations by other Greek writers. But even those brief accounts are regarded most precious to know Mauryan polity and society.
From works such as Ptolemy’s Geography, we know of India’s ports and harbours. From Pliny’s work we know of trade relations between Rome and India. These writers wrote in early centuries of the Christian era. The Chinese traveler Fa-Hien left valuable accounts on the time of the imperial Guptas. Hieuen Tsang, who is described as the ‘Prince of Pilgrims’ wrote details about the India of the age of Harsha. Another Chinese, Itsing, visited India in 7the century A.D. His accounts contain the socio-religious condition of those days.
Travellers from the Islamic world also visited India. Al Beruni who came at the time of Mahmud of Ghazani studied Sanskrit himself. His writings on ‘Hind’ give useful information.
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.