History throws light on the past and this is its sole purpose. By discovering and studying the historical sources of Ancient India, we will come to know about the past life of Ancient India. The historical sources include the literary sources as well as the archaelological sources. If we want to know about the history of the recent past like the history of modern society and state, there is plenty of printed and hand-written material.  In respect of the medieval times, there is also adequate amount of material. Literary sources provide us highly accurate information about the Ancient Indian History. So, the literary sources topic is emphasized in this particular article.

Literary Sources

If we want to write about the ancient history, we will then face extreme difficulty. In the Mahabharata which was an Indian epic, it was mentioned that “History is an ancient description that consists of the instructions of salvation, desire, wealth and virtue.” A greater emphasis was laid by the ancient seers of India on those events. Rather than the actual happenings, those events carried higher ideals.

Historians wrote the accounts of their times in ancient Rome and Greece. The ancient Indians rarely wrote history but wrote on various subjects. Moreover, the ancient material written by Indians was lost eventually. Rediscovering the ancient past of India is a challenging task. Yet, there are few sources that are available today that depict the past of ancient India. Literary sources and the archaeological sources provide this information.

Archaeological sources are divided into 3 groups. They are

• Archaeological Monuments and Remains
• Coins
• Inscriptions

Literary sources are also divided into 3 groups. They are

• Secular Literature
• Religious Literature
• Accounts of Foreigners

For more information about Literary Sources of the Ancient Indian History