How was early Indian history re-constructed?
Upvote:6
We don't have any decipherable native writing from the subcontinent until the 3rd Century BC. This means anything we know about what was going on in the area prior to the Maurya Empire has to be derived either from the records of neighboring civilizations, or via archeology.
Greek accounts are particularly useful during the periods of time that Greek armies were in possession of portions of the Indus Valley (about 326-70 BCE). This is because Greek histories were highly-prized in the West, and thus widely copied, which means many of them survived to modern times.
The Chinese tended to have a strong interest in the goings-on in neighboring areas beyond their borders, based on a healthy sense of self-preservation. They also held great reverence for their histories and, helped out by their relatively continuous culture, many of those records survived to modern times as well.
It appears that even when Indians did develop native literature, most of their preserved manuscripts seem primarily interested in things like (Hindu) Philosophy, poetry, and Grammar. All worthy priorities for preservation to be sure, but History does not appear to have been among those priorities.
This is sub-optimal of course, and most of the local details not available in outside accounts have to be filled in via the tools of archeology. But we work with what we have.
More post
- 📝 Vigenere vs. Bellaso
- 📝 Did the leaflets from the US to Hiroshima/Nagasaki civilians on bombing cities reduce the civilian casualties of the two nuclear bombs in August 1945?
- 📝 What is the most advanced nonliterate society?
- 📝 How did Japan do era names prior to the reign of Meiji?
- 📝 Marc Bloch's "Feudal Society"; Why do nobles have this vocation?
- 📝 In Alta California, who worked at the Ranchos del Rey?
- 📝 What percentage of the Nazis were highly educated men?
- 📝 Were Uncles referred to by surname in Victorian England?
- 📝 When did people start saying about the US that "it's a free country"?
- 📝 Why was Queretaro chosen as a fail-safe capital of Mexico?
- 📝 What made India pull out troops and return the captured territory at the end of 1971 Indo-Pak war?
- 📝 Why do more historians state Rome was a superpower, than Persia?
- 📝 Most fought over piece of land?
- 📝 Why in English do we say "Tsar of all (the) Russias"?
- 📝 Why do many Indian Languages have different alphabets?
- 📝 Looking for the source of a quote on Nazi ideology
- 📝 Can anyone identify the regiment and rank from this WWI photograph?
- 📝 What do I need to know about Syria's history to understand the 2011-2012 uprising?
- 📝 Did officers use cases / bags / pouches in the 18th century?
- 📝 When was the concept of electoral districts / constituencies with their own borders (as opposed to pre-existing towns/counties) invented?
- 📝 What do the numbers on this 1960s anti-integration sign mean?
- 📝 What distinguished the Republican Party of Liberia from the True Whig Party?
- 📝 British Diplomat's Guide to the Balkan Races
- 📝 Which city has had the most name changes?
- 📝 What is the source of "the three most useless things in the world are the Great Wall, Pyramids, and the Yamato"?
- 📝 When did formal social dance fall out of favor in the US?
- 📝 Who was the US town Hayden in Arizona named after?
- 📝 Why are women banned from Okinoshima island in Japan?
- 📝 Karl Marx's usage of "Moor"
- 📝 Did the empresario system exist only within Mexican Texas?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How was early Indian history re-constructed?
- 📝 How aware were the latter Greek-speaking Romans (ERE: Byzantines) of the early history of Rome?
- 📝 How common was gun ownership by Londoners in the early 20th century?
- 📝 How did people 'park' their horse and buggy in early 20th century cities? How was theft prevented?
- 📝 When was acne first recorded in human history and how did it develop?
- 📝 Have there been known instances in history when a queen consort slept with someone other than her husband, and no one got hurt? How was that possible?
- 📝 In early WW2, how much of the merchant marine was American?
- 📝 When and how was West/East-German citizenship determined in the early years of post-war Germany?
- 📝 How was money transferred in early 1900s' Russia?
- 📝 How was law enforcement handled in large US cities before professional police?
- 📝 How was Germany able to hold itself together, while Austria-Hungary could not?
- 📝 How serious was Fermat's statement about the ancients?
- 📝 How and when was the modern company ownership structure invented?
- 📝 How did early adopters of the automobile fill up their cars?
- 📝 How was the United States able to produce excellent tanks in 1942?
- 📝 When the Portuguese began the exploration of the West African Coast, did they believe the Indian Ocean was an enclosed sea?
- 📝 How long was a sea journey from England to East Africa 1868-1877?
- 📝 How did medieval manors handle population growth? Was there room for more fields to be ploughed?
- 📝 How prevalent was pork in Arabia before Arabs conversion to Islam?
- 📝 How popular was the Soviet Union?
- 📝 How could Jews integrate into Western modern society back when Saturday was a normal working day?
- 📝 How was titanium transported from Soviet Union to Area 51 for Oxcart?
- 📝 How difficult was to escape from a naval battle after engaging into one during the Age of Sail?
- 📝 How likely is it that any non-Celtic language was spoken in the British Isles when the Romans invaded?
- 📝 How significant was the Fall of Constantinople as an event leading to the Age of Exploration?
- 📝 What was the first battle in history fought by vast-majority-% "distance-shooting" non-mechanized force?
- 📝 How and why was the boundary between West and East Berlin decided to be where it was?
- 📝 How difficult was it to spoof the sender of a telegram in 1890-1920's in USA?
- 📝 How was the modern geographic boundary between Europe and Asia decided?
- 📝 How were diplomats and their staffs treated when World War II was declared?