th examples the Literary sources for the study of the
2. Describe with examples the
Medieval India.
Answers
Literary sources are divided into three categories; religious, secular and foreign accounts.Literary sources inform us about the political, social , economic , religious and cultural life of our ancestors. Most of the ancient manuscripts are religious in nature. Besides the religious literature there also exists a vast body of secular literature on the subject of mathematics, medicines and science. Many learned people were traveling around the world during the ancient and medieval period. These people were making account of what they saw in these foreign territories. For instance, Greek , Roman and Chinese travelers came to India and they left behind accounts of things that they saw.
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The word “medieval” comes from the Latin words medius and aevum, which means “middle age”. Therefore, when a period is called medieval it means that period which is in the middle of human history. Indian history is divided into three periods, Ancient period, Medieval period and Modern period. The medieval period in India is further divided into the early medieval period (647-1200 CE) and the later medieval period (1200-1700 CE). The medieval period in India saw far-reaching changes in all fields- political, social,cultural and economic.
The medieval period of Indian history is taken to extend from 647 to 1700 CE, i.e., It started with the death of Harshvardhana’s death in 647 CE and declined when the Mughal Empire started breaking up and the British began establishing their power in India in 1700 CE.