Reconstruction of Early Indian history
to hardly possible without the help of
inscriptions and coins! Discuss.
Answers
Answer:
plant body that is not differentiated into stem and leaves and lacks true roots and a vascular system. Thalli are typical of algae, fungi, lichens, and some liverworts.Ancient India did not produce historians like Herodotus and Thucydides of Greece or Levy of Rome and Turkish historian Al-beruni. We have a sort of history in the Puranas. Though encyclopedic in contents, the Puranas provide dynastic history up to the beginning of the Gupta rule.
They mention the places where the events took place and sometimes discuss their causes and effects. Statements about events are made in future tense, although they were recorded much after the happening of the events. Thus inscriptions and coins become very important to reconstruct early Indian history.
Inscriptions were carved on seals, stone pillars, rocks, copper plates, temple walls and bricks or images. In the country as a whole the earliest inscriptions were recorded on stone. But in the early centuries of Christian era copper plates began to be used for the purpose. The earliest inscriptions were written in Prakrit language in the 3rd century BC. Sanskrit was adopted in the second century AD.
Inscriptions began to be composed in regional languages in the 9th and 10th centuries. Most inscriptions bearing on the history of Maurya, Post-Maurya and Gupta times have been published in a series of collection called “Corpus Inscription Indecorum”.
The earliest inscriptions are found on the seals of Harappa belonging to about 2500 B.C. and written in pictographic script but they have not been deciphered. The oldest inscription deciphered so far was issued by Ashoka in third century BC. The Ashokan inscriptions were first deciphered by James Prince in 1837.
We have various types of inscriptions. Some convey royal orders and decisions regarding social, religious and administrative matters to officials and people in general. Ashokan inscription belong to this category, others are routine records of the followers of different religious. Still other types eulogize the attributes and achievements of the kings and their persons.
The inscriptions engraved by emperors or kings are either prosthesis composed by court writers or grants of land assigned to individuals. Among the prismatic of emperors, the most prominent are the prasharti of Samudra Gupta engraved on Ashokan pillar at Allahabad. This was prepared by his court poet, Harisena, the Hathigumpa-Prashasti inscription of king Kharavela of Kalinga.
Some of the notable inscriptions are – the Nasik inscription of King Gautami Balasree, the Gwalior inscription of King Bhoja, the Girnar inscription of King Rudradaman, the Aihole inscription of the Chalukaya King Pulkesinll, the Bhitri and Nasik inscriptions of the Gupta ruler Skandia Gupta and the Deopara inscription of the Sena ruler Vijaya Sen. The inscriptions which were used for the grants of lands were mostly engraved on copperplates.
These inscriptions besides many more, of private individuals or local officers have furnished us with the names of various kings, boundaries of their kingdoms and sometimes useful dates and clues to many important events of history.