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1. Historiography : Development in the WestIn historical research it may not bepossible to use the method of laboratoryexperiments and observation. This is sobecause we were not present in thehistorical time and space and the historicalevents cannot be recreated. Also in historyit is not possible to formulate laws thatremain true irrespective of the time andspace.To begin, we need an expert whoknows the language and script of ahistorical document in order to read itand understand its meaning. Also, theexperts can examine the authenticity ofthe document by using criteria such aslettering style, author’s style of writing,manufacturing date and type of paper,stamps of authority, etc. Such a documentis further scrutinised by a historian withthe help of relevant historical references.1.1 Tradition of Historiography1.2 Modern Historiography1.3 DevelopmentofScientificPerspective in Europe andHistoriography1.4 Notable ScholarsHistorical research, writing and studiesare carried out with an objective ofunderstanding the chronology of the pastevents and their interconnections. This isa continuous process.In the physical and natural sciencesthe empirical method (laboratory methodof experiments and observation) is usedto verify the available knowledge. Thismethod allows formulating laws thatremain true irrespective of the time andspace. Those laws can be tested andproved repeatedly.Historical Research MethodCritically examiningof various sources ofhistoryExamining relevantreferences of the availablehistorical informationWriting ing relevantquestions in view of thehistorical references1Collecting historical information,highlighting the processes that leadto historical transitions, carryingout comparative analysisUnderstanding the referencesregarding time and space of thegiven historical events and alsovarious conceptual frameworksused in historical research method

Methods of various disciplines areuseful in historical research. For y, Epigraphy (Study ofinscriptions), Analysis of lettering style,Linguistics, Numismatics (Study of coins),Genealogy (Study of lineage), etc.Do you know ?1.1 Tradition of HistoriographyWe have learnt about the historicalresearch method, critically examining thehistorical sources and writing the historicalnarrative. The writing of critical historicalnarrative is known as ‘Historiography’. Ascholor who writes such a narrative is ahistorian.The historian cannot include everypast event in his narrative. The inclusionand interpretation of historical events bythe historian often depends on theconceptual framework adopted by him.His style of writing is determined by thatconceptual framework.The tradition of writing historicalnarrative, that is historiography, was notprevalent in the ancient societies of theworld. However, that does not mean thatthey were not aware of the historical timeor were not eager to know about it.Ancient people also felt the need ofpassing on the stories of the life andvalour of the ancestors to the nextgeneration. Ancient communities all overthe world used various means like cavepaintings, story-telling, singing songs andballads, etc. for this purpose.Thesetraditional means are looked upon as thesources of history in the modernhistoriography.The earliest inscription in theLouvre museumThe above picture shows afragment of the earliest inscription.A forward marching file of soldiersholding shields and spears is seenhere. The General is in the front.The tradition of recordinghistorical event can be traced backtoSumercivilisationinMesopotamia. Names of Sumeriankings and the stories of battlesfought by them have been preservedin various inscriptions. The earliestinscription shown above, dates backto 4500 B.C.E. It records a battlefought between two kingdoms. It isnow displayed at the Louvremuseum in France.(1) Its method is based on scientificprinciples. It begins with the formation ofrelevant questions.(2) These questions are anthropocentric.It means that these questions are about thedeeds of the members of ancient humansocieties of a particular period. Historydoes not suggest any interrelation betweenthe Divine and human deeds.1.2 Modern HistoriographyFour main characteristics of modernhistoriography :2

René Descartes(1596-1650) : RenéDescartes was theforemostamongscholars who insistedon verifying thereliabilityofhistorical documentsbycriticallyRené Descartesexaminingthem.Amongtherulesgiven by him in his book, ‘Discourse onthe method’, the following is supposed tohave a great impact on the scientificmethod of research : Never to acceptanything for true till all grounds of doubtare excluded.(3) Answers to these questions aresupported by reliable evidence.(4) History presents a graph ofmankind’s journey with the help of pasthuman deeds.It is said that the modernhistoriography with above characteristicshas its roots in the ancient Greek historicalwritings. ‘History’ is originally a Greekterm. Herodotus, the Greek historian ofthe fifth century B.C.E. used it first forhis book entitled, ‘The Histories’.1.3 EuropeandTill the eighteenth century C.E.Europe had achieved a remarkableprogress in the fields of Philosophy andScience. Scholars by then had come tobelieve in the possibility of studying thesocial and historical truths by applyingscientific methods. Now the philosophicaldiscussions focused more and more on theobjectivity in history and historiography.Prior to the eighteenth century allEuropean universities were interested onlyin the philosophical discourses revolvingaround Divine phenomena. However,gradually this scenario began to change.In 1737 C.E. the Gottingen Universitywas founded in Germany. This universityfor the first time had an independentdepartment of history. Later, other Germanuniversities also became centres ofhistorical studies.Voltaire (1694-1778) : Voltaire’soriginal name was François-Marie Arouet.He was French. Heopined that alongwith objective truthand chronology e,economy, agriculture,Voltaireetc. was also equallyimportant in historiography. It gave riseto the thought that understanding allaspects of human life is important forhistory writing. Thus, it is said thatVoltaire was the founder of modernhistoriography.Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel(1770-1831) : Hegel was a Germanphilosopher. He insisted that the historicalreality should be presented in a logicalmanner. To him the timeline of historicalevents was indicative of progress. He alsothought that the presentation of history isbound to change over time as new1.4 Notable ScholarsThe contributions of many scholarsare important in the development ofhistoriography. Let us have a look at thecontributions of the few notable scholars.3

Leopold von Ranké (1795-1886) :Historiography of the nineteenth centurywas greatly influenced by the thoughts ofLeopold Von Ranke of Berlin University.He spoke about the critical method ofhistorical research. He put emphasis onthe utmost importance of informationgatheredthroughoriginal documents.He also stated thatalltypesofdocuments associatedwith a historicalevent need to beexaminedwithgreatest care. Hebelieved that withLeopold von Rankéthis method it waspossible to reach the historical truth. Hecriticised imaginative narration of history.Collection of his articles is published intwo books, entitled ‘The Theory andPractice of History’ and ‘The Secret ofWorld History’.Karl Marx (1818-1883) : In thelatter half of the nineteenth century a newschool of thought arose keeping in viewthe new thesis formulated by Karl Marx.According to Karl Marx, history was notabout abstract ideas; it was about livingpeople. Human relationships are shapedby the fundamental needs of people andthe ownership as well as nature ofprevalentmeansof production tomeet those needs.The accessibilityof these means todifferent strata ofthe society maynot be equal. Thisinequality causesKarl Marxevidencewouldcome forth. WithHegel’s philosophymany scholars wereconvincedthathistorical methodswere not of lesserquality though theydifferedfromscientific methods.Georg WilhelmFriedrich HegelThe collection of hislectures and articlesis published in a book, entitled‘Encyclopaedia of Philosophical Sciences’.His book, ‘Reason in History’, is wellknown.It is good to know this :According to Hegel, graspingthe meaning of any event happensin terms of two direct opposites.Human mind cannot understand thetrue nature of that event, withoutunderstanding the opposites, forexample, True-False, Good-Bad,etc. In order to understand the truenature of a thing one needs to knowboth true and false, similarly goodand bad. This method of analysiswhich is based on opposites isknown as ‘Dialectics’. In thismethod a theory is proposed at thebeginning, which is called, ‘Thesis’.Then another theory is proposed,which is contrary to the thesis. It iscalled, ‘Antithesis’. After a thoroughlogical discussion of the both a newthesis is proposed which includesthe gist of both, the thesis and theantithesis. This process of arrivingat the new thesis is called,‘Synthesis’.4

Michel Foucault (1926-1984) : TheFrench historian of the twentieth century,Michel Foucault brought forth a newconcept in historiography. He, in his book,‘Archaeology of Knowledge’, argued thatthe prevailing practice of arranginghistorical events in a chronological orderis not right. Hedrew attention tothefactthatarchaeology doesnotstrivetoreach the ultimatehistoricaltruthbut attempts toexplain varioustransitions in theMichel Foucaultpast. Foucault feltthat explaining the transitions in historyis more important. He called his method,‘the archaeology of knowledge’.Foucault subjected the so farunacknowledged areas by historians suchas psychological disorders, science ofmedicine, prison administration, etc. tohistorical analysis.Thus, the scope of historiographykept continuously expanding. Writing ofhistories of various subjects like literature,architecture, sculpture, drawing andpainting, music, dance, drama, films andtelevision, etc. came into practice.a division of the society into classes,leading to class struggle. According toMarx, human history is the history ofclass struggle, as the class that owns themeans of production economically exploitsthe rest of the classes. ‘Das Kapital’, atreatise written by him is the most referredbook all over the world.Annales School : At the onset of thetwentieth century a new school ofhistoriography arose in France, which isknown as ‘Annales School’.Annalesschool gave a new direction to historywriting. It was recognised now that historyis not only about the political events,kings, great leaders and accordinglypolitics, diplomacy and wars but alsoabout the climate, local people, agriculture,trade,technology,meansofcommunication, social divisions and theircollective psychology, etc. in the historicaltimes. The Annales School was started byFrench historians.Feminist HistoriographyFeminist historiography means therestructuring of the history from theperspective of women. The writings ofSimone de Beauvoir, helped in establishingthe fundamentals of feminism. She wasFrench. The feminist historiographyemphasised not only on the inclusion ofwomen in history but also on the rethinkingof the male dominated perspective ofhistory. It drove historical research tofocus in depth on various aspects ofwomen’s life such as their employment,their role in trade union, institutionsworking for their cause, their family life,etc. In the historical writings after 1990women were portrayed as an independentsocial class.5

Exercise1. (A) Choose the correct option from thegiven options and complete thesentences.(1) It may be said that . was thefounder of modern historiography.(a) Voltaire(b) René Descartes(c) Leopold Ranké (d) Karl Marx(3) Why is Voltaire said to be the founderof modern historiography ?5. Complete the concept chart.(2) wrote the book entitled‘Archaeology of Knowledge’.(a) Karl Marx(b) Michel Foucault(c) Lucien Febvre (d) VoltaireNotableScholars inEurope(B) Identify the wrong pair in thefollowing, correct it and rewrite.(1) Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel ‘Reason in History’(2) Leopold von Ranké - ‘The theory andPractice of History’(3) Herodotus - ‘The Histories’(4) Karl Marx - ‘Discourse on the Method’6. Answer the following in detail.(1) Explain Karl Marx’s ‘Class Theory’.(2) What are the four characteristics ofmodern historiography ?(3) What is feminist historiography ?(4) ExplainLeopoldvonRanké’sperspective of history ?2. Explain the following concepts.(1) Dialectics(2) Annales School3. Explain the following with its reason.(1) Historical research was driven to focusin depth on various aspects of women’slife.(2) Foucault called his method, ‘thearchaeology of knowledge’.ProjectObtain detailed information on yourfavourite subject and write its history. Forexample :- History of Pen- History of Printing technology- History of Computers4. Answer the following in 25-30 words.(1) What is historiography ?(2) What did René Descartes insistedupon ?6

2. Historiography : Indian Tradition2.1 Tradition of Indian Historiography2.2 Indian Historiography : VariousIdeological FrameworksYou would like to know this:2.1 Tradition of Indian HistoriographyWe learnt about the western traditionof historiography in the last lesson. Inthis lesson we will know about thetradition of Indian historiography.Historiography in the AncientPeriod : In the ancient period in Indiamemories of the great deeds of ancestorsand mythological lore, also memories ofsocial transitions were preserved with thehelp of oral recitals.The inscriptions on the Harappanseals and other artefacts confirm thatIndians had mastered the art of writingas early as the third millennium B.C.E.or perhaps before that. However, theHarappan script is not yet successfullydeciphered.The earliest known written documentsof historical nature found in India are inthe form of inscriptions. They are datedto the 3rd century B.C.E., that is emperorAshok Maurya’s times. His edicts areinscribed on natural rocks and stonepillars.From the 1st century C.E. inscriptionsbegin to occur on coins, metal imagesand sculptures, and also on copper plates.Theyprovideimportanthistoricalinformation. We get to know about rialextentandSohagaura Copper-plate : Thecopper-plate was found at Sohagaura(District Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh). Itis supposed to be from the Mauryanperiod. The inscription on it is inBrahmi script. The symbols known as‘Tree-in-railing’ and ‘Mountain’ atthe beginning of the inscription alsooccur on punch marked coins. Anothersymbol which looks like a structureerected on four pilars is supposed tobe indicative of a granary. Theinscription records a royal order thatthe grains stored in the granary shouldbe distributed carefully. It is supposedto be suggestive of precautions takenin the times of a famine.administration of various empires andkingdoms and also important politicalevents, social organisation, climate,famines, etc. of the respective times.The ancient Indian literature includingthe epics Ramayana and Mahabharat,Puranas, Jain and Buddhist texts, historicalaccounts by Indian authors and alsotravelogues by foreign travellers are7

important sources of history.Writing of biographies of kings anddynastic histories mark an important stepintheIndianhistoriography.‘Harshacharit’, written in the 7th centuryC.E. by Banabhatta is King Harsha’sbiography. It portrays a realistic pictureof the social, economic, political,religiousand cultural life during the king’s times.Historiography in the MedievalPeriod : The style of writing‘Rajtarangini’, the history of Kashmir byKalhana in the 12th century C.E. is quiteclose to the concept of modernhistoriography. Kalhana himself says thathe wrote this text after critically examiningvarious sources like inscriptions, coins,remains of ancient monuments, dynasticrecords and local traditons.In the medieval India the historiansin the courts of Muslim rulers wereinfluenced by Arabic and Persianhistoriography. Among them ZiauddinBarani holds an important place. In‘Tarikh-i-Phiruz Shahi’, a book written byhim, he has stated the purpose ofhistoriography. According to him thehistorian’s duty is not limited only to therecording of the ruler’s valour and policiesof welfare but he should also write aboutthe ruler’s failings and incorrect policies.Barani further says that a historian shouldalso take into consideration the impact ofthe teachings of the wise, the learned,and the saints on the cultural life ofpeople. Thus, Barani expanded the scopeof historiography.For the historians in the Mughalcourts praising the emperors and exhibitionof loyalty became more important. Thecustom of adding suitable poetic quotesand beautiful pictures was also introduced.Do you know ?Alberuni wrote in Arabic aboutIndian knowledge and social life. Inthe following period many books aboutIndia were written by foreign scholars.Among them, to name a few, are aj’s‘Tabaqat-i-Nasiri’;various works by Amir Khusrau;‘Tuzuk-i-Timuri’, the autobiography ofTimur (-i) Lang, who was also knownas Amir Timur who invaded India;‘Tarikh-i- Mubarakshahi’ by YahyaBin Ahmad Sirhindi. Their accountsprovide us with historic information ofSultanate period.Accounts of foreign travellers inIndia are also important. Among themare Ibn Battuta, Abdul Razzaq, MarcoPolo, Nicolo Conti, Barbosa andDomingos Paes. Their accounts provideus with historic information of medievalIndia. Ishwardas Nagar, BhimsenSaxena, Khafi Khan and NiccolaoManucci were among the historians ofAurangzeb’s times whose accounts areimportant sources of Mughal history.Babur, the founder of the Mughal ari’.Itcontainsthedescriptions of the battles fought by him.Baburalsorecordedhisminuteobservations of various regions and citiestravelled by him including the localeconomy, customs and the flora.Abul Fazl’s ‘Akbarnama’ is veryimportant from the viewpoint of criticalhistoriography. His method of collectingauthentic historical documents and their8

scrutiny is looked upon as devoid of biasand hence realistic.‘Bakhar’ is an important type ofhistorical documents of medieval times. Itcontains eulogies of the heroes and storiesof historic events, battles, lives of greatmen.Marathi bakhars are of various types.‘Sabhasad Bakhar’ was written byKrishnaji Anant Sabhasad during thereign of Chhatrapati Rajaram Maharaj. Itis an important bak

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