Ancient History Lecture Notes - Construction of Ancient Indian History PDF

DAILY CLASS NOTES NCERT: Ancient History Lecture -03 Construction of Ancient Indian History  2 Construction of Ancient Indian History ❖ Modern Historians Interpreting...

DAILY CLASS NOTES NCERT: Ancient History Lecture -03 Construction of Ancient Indian History  2 Construction of Ancient Indian History ❖ Modern Historians Interpreting Ancient India Establishment of the Asiatic Society of Bengal ❖ Colonial Interpretation of Ancient Indian History Modern historians of Ancient India: ❖ Being modern means changing the past as per the needs of the present and future. Example: At a certain point in his career, Amitabh Bachchan wore bell-bottom pants. People started copying his style as fans by wearing those pants. This was because people considered that style to be particularly modern as per that particular period. But now, that style is no longer very predominant among boys.  3 But, girls today still wear these pants as according to them, it must still be in fashion. ❖ India’s history has always been seen in the form of Vedas and Puranas. Puranas are new (written 1600 years ago) when compared to Vedas which were written approximately 3000 years ago. The information we get from these texts is not very objective in nature so several historians consider these texts to be of religious importance, hence could not be relied on from a historical perspective. ❖ When the Britishers attacked India, they found that Indian history was not compiled and written in an appropriate manner. After checking these texts, the English stated that Indians were not capable or didn't know how to write history because mentioning dates or even when the particular event took place was never mentioned. The English were also of the opinion that Indian historical texts lacked a sense of chronology. ❖ Modern history writing took a leap from 1750 and after 1765, Britishers conquered and took control over Bengal. To take charge of the administration of Bengal, the British wanted to understand the rules and regulations that guided Bengal society then, which would have ultimately helped them in taking charge of them. So, this is when the Britishers came across Manusmriti and unfortunately, they could not understand it. Because of that, they translated the text into English in 1776. The translated version was named the ‘Code of Gento Law.’ ❖ In order to translate multiple books from Sanskrit to English and understand what was written, the British established a society called the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784.  4 The responsibility was vested upon Sir William Jones. The first book which was translated by Jones four years after the formation of the society (1789) was Abhigyan Shakutalam, written by Kalidasa. Charles Wilkins who was a friend of William Jones translated Bhagwat Gita into English in 1785. After this successful translation of Gita, the Asiatic Society of Great Britain (1823) and Bombay Asiatic Society (1804) were established. Colonial approach to writing Indian history: About William Jones: ❖ Jones stated that Indian languages were as important as European languages. He appreciated Sanskrit to a great extent which led to growing prominence, popularity, and acceptance of Sanskrit studies worldwide. William Jones About Max Mueller: ❖ Mueller was asked to study Indology which meant the study of India. He was one of the founders of the Western academic field of Indian studies and the discipline of comparative religion. He launched a book series called ‘Sacred Books of East Max Mueller Series’ which was a compilation of 50 books. A few books from the compilation also constituted Chinese and Iranian books. Problem with the Series: The problem with the series lies with the approach regarding the Generalisation of India which is as follows:  5 ❖ Mueller believed that Indians were habituated to despotic rule and only with the onset of the Europeans, did Indians get an opportunity to come out of the despotism. ❖ He highlighted the caste-based discrimination and societal and economic inequalities in India which was widely prevalent and engrained within the Indian society. ❖ According to him, as the Indian culture was completely opposite to what they were accustomed to, he stated that Indians were from an outer world. ❖ In short, he meant Indians were barbarians and were not fit to be a part of the civilized world. ❖ He also believed that there was no sense of unity or any feeling of oneness amongst the Indians, so the idea of self-rule was nowhere possible with such diversity About Vincent Arthur Smith: ❖ He compiled the version of Max Mueller’s Generalization of India and published a book named ‘Early History of India,’ in 1904. Early History of India was the first systematically written history book that was used in the upcoming 50 years by Vincent Arthur Smith historians.  6 Smith in his book focused on the political history of India and he undertook an imperialistic approach. He gave more stress on the role of foreigners in building the country and 1/3rd part of the book talked about Alexander. Unfortunately, he stated that Indians were never united until the Britishers came. However, these colonial historians rightly portrayed the Indian caste system, the inequality that prevailed throughout, and the discrimination against individuals on the basis of caste and class. Why did the British decide to read and understand Indian texts? ❖ The British were afraid of another uprising like the Revolt of 1857, so they wanted to delve deep into the past of India, which would help them to curb such events. ❖ Missionaries wanted to know the loopholes and vulnerabilities in Hinduism and other religions along with their attempt at understanding the intricacies of Indian society focusing on the prevalent practices of inequality along with caste-based prejudices. This understanding would help them in conversion. 