A B C D Of Indian History

Approaches to Study History

Orientalist Approach

1. The administrative functions of £ EEC required its officials to be knowledgeable about Indian languages, practices, norms etc. Indian languages were studied as well as dharmashastras (which were believed to be Indian code of laws). Hope was that it would provide greater control over the colony and extend £ rule. Asiatic Society of Bengal, William Jones all belonged to this school.
2. £ were also baffled by the Hindu religion which was not monotheistic, not founded by a single prophet, had no religious leader / institution and neither had a single sacred text. In India multiple religions were practiced and enjoyed royal patronage unlike Europe. Thus they felt a need to fit this phenomenon within their mould of bounded rationality.
3. They showed that Sanskrit had linkages with european languages so that it could be proved it was derived from european languages only. Efforts were made to link Puranas with Bible but were not successful. A son of Noah was said to have migrated to India and establish the Indian population!
4. Indian thought was considered to be more in the sphere of spirituality and mysticism and thus appealed to these £ who were apprehensive of excessive materialism brought about by the industrialization of their society. They tried to show that Indians were so concerned with the other world and so less with the tangible aspects of this world. A dichotomy was maintained that £ values were materialistic while Indian values were spiritual. They hoped to bring about another renaissance in £. 

Utilitarian / Anglicist Approach

1. They were largely £ who resided in £ but wrote about India. People like Mill, Macaulay were associated with this school. They firmly believed in the superiority of £ race and culture. They emphasized on the values of rational thought and individualism which were said to be absent in India and that Indian culture was stagnant.
2. They divided the study of Indian history into Hindu age, Muslim age and the £ age so as to divide Indians and perpetuate £ rule. They began to interpret history in terms of communal lines.
3. They held that Indians were not fit to govern themselves according to modern ideas. They had never known democracy etc. and had always been ruled by despotic kings totally unrepresentative of public opinion (theory of oriental despotism). India always had self sufficient villages whose surplus was creamed off by the despotic rulers governing through an autocratic bureaucracy. The peasant was always kept subjugated and the king would control all means of irrigation and would own all land and claim divine status. Thus they believed that £ were doing a favor  by ruling India by modern means.
4. They argued that only £ can improve Indian society by bringing in legislations and promoting £ education in India to remove the stagnant features of Indian society.
5. Their approach was that there was nothing praiseworthy in general in Indian culture and even if there were one or two things which were superior to ancient Greek / Roman culture, they were invariable derived from the former.

Marxist Approach

1. He talked about the 'Asiatic mode of production' where despotism and stagnancy were the central features which nullified any hope for a movement on the lines of Europe. He believed there was no private property in Asia which made the bourgeoisie class absent and hence no class conflict. This was further reinforced by absence of cities as production or commercial centers and whatever cities existed were administrative or pilgrimage centers only.

Nationalist Approach

1. They came up as a spread of £ education among Indian middle class. They tried to paint an opposite picture than that presented by £ historians. Thus they asserted India had institutions of democracy (Chola sabhas, Vedic sabha and samitis), republics (clans, chiefdoms) and © monarchy (existence of council of ministers to advise the king). They emphasized on non violence being a product of India (Asoka) as well as the presence great conquerors (SG). They tried to paint the fight against Alexander as a nationalistic fight and emphasized the unity created by the Mauryan empire. They came up with the concept of the golden age.
2. But they measured cultural achievement only in terms of arts, literature (that too sanskrit) and philosophy. They too contributed to a communal interpretation of history. They maintained that ancient Hindu society was essentially a tolerant society and dismissed or ignored the incidents of social intolerance. They also ignored the rigidities and disabilities imposed by the society on its own members.

Other Approaches

1. There is the language based approach and the race based approach - usually invoked in case of Aryans and Dravidians.
2. There is the hindutva approach which emphasizes that Aryans were original inhabitants of India. They deny invasion theories and assert that Aryans and Sanskrit were always indigenous.

Periodisation of Indian history[edit]

An elaborate periodisation may be as follows:^[2]

• Pre-history and Indus Valley Civilisation (until c. 1750 BCE);
• Vedic period (c. 1750-500 BCE);
• "Second Urbanisation" (c. 500-200 BCE);
• Classical period (c. 200 BCE-1100 CE);^{[note 1]}

• Pre-classical period (c. 200 BCE-300 CE);
• "Golden Age" (Gupta Empire) (c. 320-650 CE);
• Late-Classical period (c. 650-1100 CE);

• Islamic period (c. 1100-1850 CE) and beginning of western colonialism (c.1500-1850);
• Modern period (British Raj and independence) (from c. 1850).

Pre-history[edit]

• Neolithic Age India Mehrgarh civilization (c. 7000 – 3300 BCE)

• Bronze Age India
• • Indus valley civilization (c. 3300 – 1300 BCE)

Iron Age (c. 1200 – 272 BCE)[edit]

• Iron Age India (c. 1200 – 272 BCE)
• • Vedic civilization (c. 2000 – 500 BCE)
  • • Black and red ware culture (c. 1300 – 1000 BCE) (c. 1200 – 600 BCE)
    • Northern Black Polished Ware (c. 700 – 200 BCE)
  • Indian Iron Age kingdoms (c. 700 – 300 BCE)
  • Kalinga (India) (400 BCE – 1842 CE)

Second Urbanisation[edit]

• Nanda Empire (424–321 BCE)
• Maurya Empire (321–184 BCE)
• Sangam Period (c. 300 BCE – 300 CE)
• • Pandya Kingdom (c. 300 BCE – 1345 CE)
  • Chera Kingdom (c. 300 BCE – 1102 CE)
  • Chola Kingdom (c. 300 BCE – 1279 CE)
• Pallava Kingdom (250 BCE – 800 CE)
• Maha-Megha-Vahana Empire (250s BCE – 400s CE)
• Satavahana Empire (230 BCE – 220 CE)
• Indo-Scythian Kingdom (200 BCE – 400 CE)
• Kuninda Kingdom (200s BCE – 300s CE)
• Shunga Empire (185–73 BCE)
• Indo-Greek Kingdom (180 BCE – 10 CE)
• Kanva empire (75–26 BCE)
• Kushan Empire (30–375 CE)

Classical Age of India[edit]

• (Middle kingdoms of India)
• Gurjara-Pratihara Empire
• Vakataka Empire
• Chola Empire
• Pala Empire
• Kadamba dynasty (345–1000 CE)
• • Banavasi
  • Halasi
  • Hangal

Middle Ages (c. 500 – 1500 CE)[edit]

• Badami Chalukyas (547–742 CE)
• • Badami Chalukya architecture
  • Aihole
  • Badami
  • Pattadakal
  • Mahakuta
• Rashtrakuta Empire (742–982 CE)
• • Ellora
  • Kailash Temple
• Eastern Chalukyas
• Western Chalukyas (983–1185 CE)
• • Western Chalukya architecture
  • Mahadeva Temple at Itagi
  • Lakkundi
  • Chaudayyadanapura
  • Annigeri
• Solanki
• Kalachuri
• Seuna Yadavas of Devagiri
• Hoysala Empire(1114–1342 CE)
• • Belur
  • Halebidu
  • Somanathapura
• Vijayanagara Empire (1342–1565 CE)
• • Hampi

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What is Culture ?

The term 'culture' is used to describe such things as how man's earn his living, what kind of house he live in, what skills he uses, what thing he produces how much knowledge he acquired, how he lives with his fellow man, what he believes, how much leisure time he has and what he has and what he does with this time.

Civilizations

 

What is Archaeology?