Sources of Ancient Indian History : Archaeological Sources

              Sources of Ancient Indian History

Archaeological Sources : Monuments , Inscription , Coins

Literary Sources : Religious , Secular

Foreign Accounts

    Archaeological Source

Monuments : Archaeological sources which enables us to reconstruct ancient history of india is monuments.

1-Architecture : It is the best source of understanding the thought and mental processes of the people of bygone days.This development was greatly influenced by each and every movement of history.

Indian architecture was inspired by Buddhism.The Bhuddhist Stupas ,the Chaityas and the Viharas show it clearly.These architectural monuments helps us to know about the social,religious and political condition of the country at that time.

2 -Sculpture : The earliest representation of Indian sculpture is found in the Indus Valley Civilization.It has proved the existence of a civilization prior to that of the Aryans. The excavation of Taixila have given as a lot of information about the Kushans and the Gandhara school of art.It also help us an idea about the religious and cultural history of India.

3 -Painting : Another significant sources is painting that tells us much about the cultural and religious attitudes of the people of ancient india.The early paintings were dominated by the religious themes,while the beautiful painting in the caves of Ajanta and Ellora peoples love for this art.

    Inscription : Inscriptions have made a valuable contribution towards providing us with a genuine knowledge of the ancient history of India.These inscription inscriptions are engraved on rocks,stones,iron-pillars,caves and also on bronze,copper and terracotta seals.The inscriptions engraved on stones and metals supply us with an authentic information about history as they have not been tampered with in course of time and still show distinctly what was originally engraved on them.

The post-Mauryan period are divided into two groups                         1-Official      2 - Private

Official : It deal with either Prashasti or grant of lands.It was composed by Harisena and tells us about the accomplishments of Samudragupta and the Gwalior Prashasti of Bhoj and the iron-piller inscription of king Chandra.

Private : They are engraved on the images of Gods and religious buildings.These information throw light not only on the evolution of art and architecture but also useful information about the social,economic and political conditions of their period.The most important among these are the Hathigampha and the Kara inscriptions.

Coins : The coins have proved to be a great source of authentic information about Indian History.Thousands of these coins falls under two categories :cast coins and punch marked coins.The materials used for punch marked coins is gold,silver and copper while other are cast in alloys.The coin provides us with a through knowledge about the names and titles of the kings who ruled during this period.From the coins we also come to know about art and its development.The figures of gods and goddesses ,along with a lion,tiger,axe,bow and many other articles engraved on the coins.

The indo-greek coins were also made up of silver and copper and rarely in gold.The Kushanas also issues their coins mostly in gold and copper rarely in silver.