Sources of Ancient Indian History:
Que. “While using the accounts of foreign writers, historians must distinguish between statements based on hearsay and those grounded in perceptive observations.” Elaborate with examples. [UPSC-2014]
Approach:
(1) Give a brief background about the given statement.
(2) Mention the elaboration on this principle with examples to illustrate its significance.
(3) Conclude on balanced footing.
Introduction:
From ancient times various traders, travellers, pilgrims, settlers etc came to India covering vast distances over land and water. Therefore, many references to India are found in foreign texts. The accounts of these foreign writers have become an important Source to know about our part. However, many times these foreign writers used to write things.
The task of historians when using the accounts of foreign writers is indeed multifaceted, requiring careful discernment between statements based on hearsay and those grounded in perceptive observations.
Here, we’ll elaborate on this principle with examples to illustrate its significance:
(1) Megasthenes in his “Indica” and other Greek writers like Shabe, Arian etc. wrote that there was no slavery in the Mauryan empire. However, this was not the case; the presence of slaves is indicated by Buddhist literary sources and also by the Arthashastra.
(2) Megasthenes mentioned that Indian society during the Mauryan period consisted of seven classes; Philosophers, Farmers, Herders, Artisans, Soldiers, Overseers, Councillors. He failed to realise the difference between various varnas & the professions followed by them. Being a foreigner he failed to understand the Mauryan social system.
(3) Faxian in his book “Gaoseng faxian Zhuan” A Record of Buddhist kingdoms- says that Buddhism flourished during the Gupta period. But other sources tell us that during this time Brahmanism was the main religion and Buddhism was not so popular.
(4) Al Biruni in his ‘kitab-ul-Hind’ writes about the people in the Indian subcontinent. He says that people were haughty & didn’t share their knowledge with others, especially with foreigners. But the presence of various universities Nalanda & Takshila where people from different parts of the world, negates this point.
(5) Indica of ktesias (4th century BC) is also full of bizarre stories about India, collected by the author while living in Persia as a Royal physician. Thus, these were not based on reliable first-hand experiences.
(6) Marco Polo’s Travels in his accounts of travels to the East, Marco Polo described the existence of unicorns in India. However, this assertion was likely based on hearsay and misunderstandings of local fauna. Historians have since recognized that Polo’s claim was not rooted in firsthand observation or reliable sources.
(7) Herodotus, often considered the “Father of History,” included various anecdotes and mythological elements in his works. For instance, he recounted the tale of giant ants in India that dug for gold. These stories were likely based on secondhand accounts or legends, and modern historians approach them with skepticism.
Conclusion:
Thus, while using foreign accounts historians must be very careful and should distinguish between statements based on hearsay and those grounded in personal experience, between perceptive observation and cases where the writer got things completely wrong. But despite these shortcomings the accounts written by these foreign writers prove to be an important source of history as they often describe those considered by native writers as mundane. Being foreigners they wrote about the society and cultural practices with a different point of view which makes the understanding of that period more nuanced.
