Title Literary sources for the study of Indian History.docx ✅

Literary sources for the study of Indian History The literary evidence for the study of the Indian history is mainly obtained from the Vedas, the Sanskrit epics, the Puranas, the Dharmashastras, Buddhist literature, Jaina literature, the Sangam literature, later Tamil works, other ancient works and the accounts of the foreign travellers. We begin with the Vedas which are believed to be composed with the period of 1500 BC-500 BC in which the early Vedic literature was composed between 1500-1000 BC and Later Vedic literature from 1000-500 BC. There are mainly four Vedas namely-Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva. Each of the Vedas has four different parts namely-Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka and Upanishad. Rig Veda Samhita is the oldest among these and also the oldest surviving poetry in the world. The Rig Veda has 1028 hymns which are divided into 10 books known as the Mandalas. The Mandalas 2-7 are the oldest among them and form the Later Vedic literature. The rest of the books along with the rest of the Vedas form the Later Vedic texts. The Sama Veda consists of 1810 verses which are mostly borrowed from the Rig Veda arranged according to the needs of the musical notation. The original melodies are however lost. The Yajur Veda contains details of the performance of rituals. The Atharva Veda is the latest and contains hymns, spells and charms. The Brahmanas are explanations of the Samhita portions and give explanations of the rituals and their outcome. The Aranyakas (forest books) interpret sacrificial rituals in a symbolic and Philosophical way. There are 108 Upanishads of which 13 are considered to be the principal ones. The Upanishads give us philosophical ideas about sacrifice, body, universe etc. It is mainly associated with the concepts of Brahman and Atman. The historical value of Vedas are however questionable. They are basically religious literature and the references to possible historical events are very few. The interpretation of this vast and complex literature is also very difficult. Another problem lies in the dating of the Vedas. The dates suggested for the composition of these texts have a wide time span from 6000 BC-1000 BC. However most of the historians take the time period of 1500 BC-500 BC as