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
- 📝 Approximately how much travel time was saved by the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869?
- 📝 How high the death rate on the Berlin Wall compared to other borders?
- 📝 Why did the Soviet Union lift the Berlin Blockade?
- 📝 Was Wilhelm II aware of the Franco-Russian Military Convention 1892?
- 📝 Is there evidence to suggest the "war on drugs" was a cover for class warfare?
- 📝 Were there any assassinations of high-profile Austrian officials before that of the Archduke Ferdinand?
- 📝 Rulers of Rome - Caesar and Pompei
- 📝 Was Yahweh one of the Moloch Gods?
- 📝 Between the 7 Years War and 1776, was there any effort to have the colonies represented in Parliament?
- 📝 What's the explanation for the similarities seen between the Rapa Nui script and the Indus Valley Script?
- 📝 What did Ben Franklin mean when he said "The sun of liberty is set; you must light up the candle of industry & economy"?
- 📝 What happened to the colonial estates belonging to loyalists after the American Revolution?
- 📝 What would the Wikipedia page for Spain have said in 1490?
- 📝 Can anyone identify this uniform, approximate year, and aircraft?
- 📝 Did Ancient Romans use metal thimbles? What were they like?
- 📝 What are the best resources for studying oracle bone inscriptions?
- 📝 What does it mean to "take the Cross"
- 📝 Did people living in Stockholm, Sweden in the late 1700s (18th century) really have to fetch their mail manually?
- 📝 Are there cultures without knowledge of how babies are made?
- 📝 During the American Civil war did gunboats range far into enemy territory?
- 📝 3 commander-in-chiefs of india can ever meet in one place
- 📝 At what point did noblemen stop being the backbone of the military?
- 📝 Isn't there any positive legacy of the Mongolian occupation in Russia?
- 📝 Were any Californios able to hold on to their ranchos?
- 📝 Why can I visit battlefields, but not battleships?
- 📝 When and where were the first coins made showing the currency or a face value?
- 📝 Who were these two 1961 Soviet pilot defectors?
- 📝 How much (area) territory did Chinese dynasties control?
- 📝 Is Josephus a legitimate historical text?
- 📝 What accounts exist of blowpipe vs machine gun and rifle in World War 2?
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?