2.Literary Sources and Non-Literary Sources

Literacy Sources:-

Literary sources are the information gathered in written forms that
explain the essence of ancient culture. Sources incorporate information like journals, letters, books, and investigative reports in impression, automated, and visual compositions.

There are three kinds of literary sources namely religious, foreign, and secular accounts. Literary sources remind us of our ancestor’s social, political, economic, cultural & religious activities. In nature, most of the ancient manuscripts are religious. In addition to religious literature, there is a huge volume of secular literature on maths, science, and medicine. In ancient and medieval times, many educated individuals traveled around the globe.

Religious Literature :-

Texts about a religious tradition are referred to as religious literature. A collection or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, rituals, laws or commands, moral behavior, spiritual aspirations, and the establishment or maintenance of a religious community sets them apart from literary texts.
The Vedas are the most significant ancient Indian texts that have religious themes. Most other texts do as well.

They are assigned to c. 1500–500 B.C.
The Vedas are four in number. The Rig Veda mainly consists of prayers.
The other three, Sama, Yajur and Contain prayers, rituals, magic, and mythological
stories.
The Upanishads contain philosophical discussions on Atma and Paramatma.
They are also referred to as Vedanta.

Jain Literature:-

Depending on the time period, area, and supporters, Jain literature was also written in a number of other languages besides Prakrit and Ardha Magadhi. They wrote in Tamil in South India during the Sangam Era.

Brahmanical literature:-

Brahmana uses poetry-based commentary or critical analysis to elucidate the Vedic literature. It can be broadly classified into Vedangas and Aranyakas.

Secular/Non-Religious Literature:-

Literature in the secular sphere addresses topics other than religion.
For instance, the poems Madura Vijayam and Amuktamalyatha, written by Gangadevi and Krishnadevaraya, respectively, provide us with information about the people and events connected to the Vijayanagara Empire. The bravery of the Rajput Kings is portrayed in Chand Bardai’s Prithviraj Raso.

The theme of this category of literature is not religion.
They specify the penalties for offenders of theft, homicide, adultery, etc. The Manu Smriti contains the oldest legal texts.
It served as the foundation for the Hindu code of law and was the first book that the British translated.
The Kautilya Arthasastra offers a wealth of information for researching Mauryan Indian politics and economy.
Grammar reference books such as Panini’s Ashtadhyayi are helpful when reconstructing the past.

Non-Literary Sources:-

Inscriptions:

Permanent writings engraved on hard surfaces like terracotta, metal, or stone are called inscriptions. Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions. Stone was used to write the first inscriptions. Usually, they serve as a record of the accomplishments, pursuits, and opinions of the people who had them engraved. Thus, we come across inscriptions that exalt the exploits of monarchs or make reference to gifts given by both sexes for religious reasons.

Coins:

The term numismatics refers to coin studies. The most common metals used to make ancient coins were copper, silver, gold, and lead. The earliest coins discovered in India were known as punch-marked coins because they bore specific symbols. The Gupta emperors produced some of the most amazing gold coins. Since coins were a means of exchange, they can tell us a lot about economic history. With the consent of the kings, certain guilds or associations of traders and artisans produced coins.

Archaeology:

The Harappan period’s excavated sites display the design of the settlements, the shape of the homes, the kinds of tools, and implements that the people used, as well as the types of cereals they ate. Some people in south India were buried beneath large, weighty stones along with their tools, weapons, ceramics, and other possessions. Megaliths are the name given to these tombs. We can discover more about the lives of those who inhabited the Deccan and southern India prior to the third century BC by excavating them.

Account of Foreign Travellers:

Foreign narratives can be used to enhance indigenous literature. Greek, Roman, and Chinese explorers and diplomats, as well as occasional pilgrims seeking religious knowledge, visited India. They have left a record of what they observed.

Some important travelers:

Texts about a religious tradition are referred to as religious literature. Their compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, rituals, laws, ethical behavior, spiritual aspirations, and the establishment or promotion of a religious community sets them apart from literary texts.

Megasthenes (Greek)
Fa Hien (China)
Hiuen Tsang (China)

The RAMAYANA and MAHABHARATA as Sources:-

The epic, generally attributed to Maharishi Valmiki, tells the story of Rama, a mythological prince of Ayodhya city in the kingdom of Kosala, and was composed in Amritsar, Punjab.

❖ The epic follows Rama’s fourteen-year exile to the forest, urged by his father King
Dasharatha at the request of Rama’s stepmother Kaikeyi.

❖ It has about 24,000 verses (mainly in the Shloka/Anustubh meter), separated into
seven Kas, the first and seventh of which are later additions.

❖ Aside from Buddhist, Sikh, and Jain translations, there are several Ramayana variants
in Indian languages.

Ramayana Versions:-

The Ramayana, like many oral epics, has several versions. The Ramayana recounted in north India, for instance, differs significantly from that maintained in south India and the rest of Southeast Asia. In Indonesia, Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam, and the Maldives, there is a rich oral storytelling tradition centered on the Ramayana.

❖ Ramayana – Buddhist version
❖ Ramayana – Jain version

Mahabharata:-

One of ancient India’s two Sanskrit epic poems is the Mahabharata (the
other being the Ramayana).

The Mahabharata is regarded by Hindus as a work of history as well as a commentary on dharma, or the Hindu moral code. It also provides important insights into the development of Hinduism between 400 BC and 400 AD.
The Mahabharata is a collection of didactic and mythological materials organized around a heroic central narrative that describes the fight for supremacy between the Pandavas (sons of Pandu) and the Kauravas (sons of Dhritarashtra), two groups of cousins.
It describes the fates of the Kaurava and Pandava princes, as well as the descendants of these princes, and the Kurukshetra War between two sets of cousins.
Philosophical and devotional material is also included, such as an examination of the four Purushas, or “life aims,”
Among the most significant books and tales in the Mahabharata are the Bhagavad Gita, the Shakuntala story, the Savitri and Satyavan story, and a condensed version of the Ramayana.
Vyasa is traditionally credited as the Mahabharata’s author. There have been numerous attempts to separate the layers of historical composition and development.

Analysis of Ramayana and Mahabharata:-

The composition of the Mahabharata can be placed between 400 BCE and 400 CE, and the Ramayana between the 5th/4th century BCE and the 3rd Century CE.

❖ According to J.L. Brockington, the epic began as an oral composition in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE.

❖ These are exquisite texts with stirring tales that have captivated the interest of millions of people throughout history.

❖ The Ramayana is a tale of good triumphing over evil. The main plot of the Mahabharata is the rivalry between two groups of brothers in the Hastinapur Kingdom, which is resolved in a significant fight.

“To use historical sources, it is necessary to identify their internal
chronological layers, which is not an easy task”
Upinder Singh

James Fitz Gerald:-

It was the brahmanical response to the increasing popularity of
Buddhism and Jainism.

❖ They are part of ‘Itihasa Tradition’ which is an Indian style of storytelling.
❖ The purpose of these epics is to spread knowledge through stories.

Dharmashastra as a Historical Source?:

Dharmashastra refers to the treatises on dharma, a genre of Sanskrit literature on law and conduct.

There exist multiple Dharmashastras, with an approximate total of 100, each presenting unique and occasionally incongruous perspectives.
Although these texts exist in various forms, they are all derived from Vedic Kalpa research and are based on Dharmasutra manuscripts from the first millennium BCE.
The Dharmasastra literary corpus, which was composed of poetry verses and is a component of the Hindu Smritis, offers a range of insights and guidelines regarding one’s ethical duties and obligations to oneself, one’s family, and society.
The texts discuss a variety of subjects, such as just war laws, ashrama (life stages), varna (social classes), purushartha (proper life aims), and individual virtues and duties like ahimsa (nonviolence) against all living things.
After Sharia, or Emperor Muhammad Aurangzeb’s Fatawa-e-Alamgiri, was accepted as the law for Muslims in colonial India, Dharmasatra gained prominence in the history of modern colonial India when it was developed by early British colonial administrators to be the rule of law for all non-Muslims in South Asia.
There are two categories of Smritis: Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras. Their subjects are almost the same.
The Dharmashastras are written in poetry (Shlokas), but the Dharmasutras are written in prose as succinct maxims (Sutras).
They have revealed the conflict between theory and practice within the Brahmanical tradition, as well as the social stratification (Verna System), various kinds of duties, and samskaras. As a result, they are crucial to reconstructing the social history of the era. For instance, Varna Sankara.

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