Literary Sources

We may classify all the literary sources into Religious such as Vedas, Upanishads, Brahmanas, Buddhist and Jain texts, and Non-religious such as Epics and Puranas, biographies, eulogies, Arthashastra, etc. We will discuss these different categories of early Indian literature as sources of Indian history.

Vedas

The word Veda is derived from the Sanskrit root ‘vid’ which means ‘to know’. Veda means knowledge. They are traditionally regarded as ‘heard’ or revealed texts. These were composed between c. 1000 BCE to 500 BCE. The Vedic literature consists of four different classes of literary works as follows:

• Samhitas: namely collections of hymns, prayers, incantations, benedictions, sacrificial formulas, and litanies. Four Samhitas are in existence: Rigveda Samhita, Atharvaveda Samhita, Samaveda Samhita and Yajurveda Samhita.
• Brahmanas: These are voluminous prose texts which contain theological matter, especially observations on sacrifice and the practical or mystical significance of the separate sacrificial rites and ceremonies. The Brahmanas were composed after the vedas to explain the hymns of the vedas. Every veda has several Brahmanas attached to it.
• Aranyakas (forest texts): These are books of instruction to be given in the forest or writings meant for wood-dwelling hermits. There are seven Aranyakas, i.e., Aitareya, Sankhyayana, Taittiriya, Maitrayani, Madhyanandin, Talvakar and Jaiminiya. These are found as appendics of Brahmanas. These treaties resemble the Brahmanas in language, style and even context, but they are concerned more with the allegorical significance of rites, and the mystic meaning of the Samhitas.
• Upanishads (secret doctrines): The word upanishad is a combined form of the two Sanskrit word, i.e. upa and nishad which means to sit down near someone (here, the Guru) and get the secret knowledge by him. There are 108 upanishads, e.g. Jesh, Kath, Ken, Mandukya, Brihadaranyka, Mundaka, Chhandogya, Taittiriya, Aitareya and Kaushitiki are some important upanishads. The Upanishads are anti-ritualistic discussing the theories of creation of the universe and defining the doctrine of action with the goal to attain salvation through meditation and self-control. The Upanishads were composed between 800 and 500 BCE. The famous national statement ‘Satyameva Jayate’ has been taken from the Mundaka Upanishad.

Though most of the Vedic literature contains songs, prayers, theological and theosophical matter, these have been used by historians to cull out political, religious, and social data of much historical value. Information about processes like the transition from a pastoral, pre-class/caste society in the Rigveda to agrarian, class, caste society, and the formations of political territories in the Later Vedic period has been obtained from these texts.

Vedangas: The six vedangas – Shiksha, Kalpa, Vyakarana, Nirukta, Chhanda and Jyotisha were composed in the later Vedic period.

• Shiksha deals with the appropriate pronunciation of the Mantras.
• Kalpa is related to rituals, duties and sanskara.
• Vyakarana deals with grammar and the science of language,
• Nirukta with etymology. Yaskacharya’s Nirukta is very famous.
• Chhanda deals with rhyming scheme. Chhandasutra was composed by Aacharya Pingle.
• Jyotish deals with astronomy in which we find the proper calculation of the right position of the sun and the moon and various heavenly bodies to perform rituals and ceremonies.

Then, there is a category of texts, the Sutras, which form part of the post-Vedic literature. The Sutra texts are manuals on ritual (c. 600-300 BCE). Kalpasutra is quite famous among Sutra Literature. It has three parts – Srauta, Grihya and Dharma. They are the oldest law books. These include:

• Shrautasutra: contains rules for the performance of the great sacrifices.
• Grihyasutra: contains directions for the simple ceremonies and sacrificial acts of daily life.
• Dharmasutra: These are books of instructions on spiritual and secular law.

These are composed in the form of Sutras- short rules for memorizing. Secondly, there are four Upavedas- Ayurveda, Dhanurveda, Gandharvaveda and Shilpaveda.

Post-Sutra texts are the Smritis. Smriti means ‘remembrance’. Smiritis, the auxiliary treatises of the vedas, are regarded as a part of the revelation. There are six famous smiritis: Manu smriti (of pre-Gupta period), Yajnvalkya smriti (of Pre-Gupta period), Narad smriti (of Gupta period), Parashara smriti (Gupta period) Brihaspati smriti (Gupta period) and Katyayana smriti (Gupta period). They prescribe duties for different varnas as well as for kings and their officials. They set out rules for marriage and property. They also prescribe punishments for persons guilty of theft, assault, murder, adultery, etc.

Buddhist Literature

Buddhist texts primarily consist of the Pali texts, Tripitakas or the ‘Three Baskets’ which tell us about the state of affairs in India at the time of the Buddha and sixteen Mahajanapadas. The original texts were written on palm-leaves and kept in baskets. Therefore, these works were called Pitaka. They consist of three books — the Sutta, Vinaya, and Abhidhamma.

• The Sutta Pitaka contains the discourses of the Buddha on various doctrinal issues in stories, poems and dialogue form. The Sutta Pitaka contains five Nikayas of which Khuddaka Nikaya is a collection of discourses. It contains Theragatha, Therigatha and Jatakas which are important sources for the historian. The Jatakas contain stories about the former births of the Buddha in the form of a deva, man, animal, fairy, spirit or a mythological character. They are important as they provide a glimpse into the history of Buddhism and popular Buddhism.
• The Vinaya Pitaka is about the 227 rules and regulations for monks and nuns of the Sangha. It includes explanations about the founding of each rule by the Buddha. It contains information about the Buddha’s life, events and the story of Buddhism down to the first schism. It was written in 386 BCE.
• The Abhidhamma Pitaka contains matters related to Buddhist philosophy following the Theravada school and contains lists, summaries and questions and answers.

Non-canonical Buddhist literature includes Milindapanha (first century BCE to first century CE) which consists of a dialogue between Indo-Greek king Menander and a Buddhist monk Nagasena. The Sinhalese chronicles Mahavamsha (‘Great History’) and Dipavamsha (‘History of the Island’) entail the history of Buddhism from the time of the Buddha’s Enlightenment to third century BCE in India and fourth century in Sri Lanka.

Sanskrit Texts

Buddha charitya, Saundarananda, Sutralankar, Sariputra Prakaran and Vajra suchi are famous books written by Ashwaghosha. Pragyaparimita Karika are the sources of the contemporary historical materials. Visudhamagga, Atthakatha, Vasumitra’s Mahavibhasha Shastra and Nagarijuna’s Madhyamika Kuria are Sumangalvasini by Buddhaghosa supply us some important historical material with doses of religious messages.

Jaina Literature

• Jaina literature are in a form of Prakrit called Ardha Magadhi. The literature of the Digambaras is in Jaina Sauraseni while Shvetambara literature is in two dialects of Ardha Magadhi.
• Mahavira’s teachings to his disciples were first compiled in 14 Purvas. In the fourth century BCE Sthulabhadra convened a great council at Pataliputra and reconstructed the Jaina canon in 12 Angas. Later in the fifth century CE at a council at Valabhi, the existing texts were formalized and presented in written form.
• The scriptures accepted by the Shvetambaras are- 12 Angas, 12 Upangas, 10 Prakirnas, 6 Chedasutras, 2 Sutras, 4 Mulasutras. These texts deal with code of conduct, various legends, Jaina doctrines and metaphysics.
• The Digambaras believe that most of the original Purvas are lost. Hence, the Digambaras do not accept the scriptures accepted by the Shvetambaras. The Digambaras use the scriptures written by great Acharyas but based on the original teachings of Mahavira for their religious practices.

We can use the Jaina literature for information on history and doctrine of Jainism, doctrines of rival schools, the life stories of the saints and life of the monks in the sangha.

Kautilya’s Arthashastra

It is an important law book by Kautilya, the Prime Minister of Chandragupta Maurya. The text is divided into fifteen parts. The earliest portions reflect the state and society of the Mauryan period. It provides rich material for the study of early Indian polity and economy.

Ramayana and Mahabharata

• The two famous Epics — Mahabharata and Ramayana — are known as Itihasa or narratives. Both took many centuries to come into shape and the period roughly assigned to them is c. 500 BCE-500 CE.
• Vyasa’s Mahabharata is older and possibly reflects the state of affairs from the tenth century BCE to the fourth century CE. The main narrative which relates to the Kaurava-Pandava conflict may relate to the Later Vedic period; the descriptive portion might be post-Vedic and the didactic portions generally relate to post-Maurya and Gupta periods. The Ramayana of Valmiki appears to be more unified than the Mahabharata.
• Some of the sites mentioned in the Ramayana and Mahabharata have been excavated. Ayodhya excavations have revealed settlement going back to the Northern Black Polished Ware period. Hastinapur, Kurukshetra, Panipat, Baghpat, Mathura, Tilpat and Bairat have been excavated and these dates back to the Painted Grey Ware period. Both Epics are a mine of information on religious sects, how they were integrated into mainstream Hinduism, social practices and norms current at the time, and philosophy.

Puranas

The ‘Purana’ means ‘the old’. There are 18 ‘Puranas’ in which the Matsya purana is the oldest purana. These are a category of texts attributed to Vyasa. The major Puranas were compiled by c. 400 CE. Their content indicates that these were the works of various hands.

The Puranas has five characteristics-

• Sarga (the creation of the world),
• Pratisarga (re-creation),
• Manvantaras (periods of the various Manus),
• Vamsha (the genealogy of gods and rishis), and
• Vamshanucharita (an account of royal dynasties). ‘

Many Puranas like Vayu, Brahmanda, Brahma, Harivamsha, Matsya, Vishnu contain useful information for reconstructing the history of ancient India.

The Puranas contain considerable genealogical information. There is much on ancient dynasties such as Haryankas, Shaishunagas, Nandas, Mauryas, Sungas, Kanvas and Andhras. The dynastic lists end with the Guptas indicating that the Puranas may have been compiled by the fourth-sixth centuries CE. However, there are a few which are later such as Bhagvata Purana (tenth century) and Skanda Purana (fourteenth century).

Puranas are also important for providing geographical information on rivers, lakes, mountains and other places. Hence, they are crucial for reconstructing the historical geography of ancient India. Besides, they are a good source of information on the three major cults of Hinduism — Vishnu, Siva and Shakti.

Various processes like how different cults became integrated within the major religious traditions, and how minor cults like Ganpatya, Krishna, Brahma, Karttikeya emerged, can also be understood from them.  Puranas have been served as a vehicle through which the Brahmanas spread their social and religious values.

Sangam Literature

Sangam was a college or assembly of Tamil poets held under Royal patronage of Pandayan Kings in Madurai. It is said that the assembly lasted for 9,990 years and was attended by 8,598 poets and 197 pandyas. There were three Sangams or literary gatherings — the first and last at Madurai and the second at Kapatapuram.

This entire body of literature is dated to the first four centuries of the Common Era, though they may have been completed by the sixth century. There is, however, some doubts about the historicity of these gatherings.

Many poems mention a king or a hero by name and describe in detail his military exploits. The gifts made by him to bards and warriors are celebrated. Maybe, these poems were recited in the court. It is a possibility that the names of the kings refer to historical figures. Chola kings are mentioned as donors.

The Sangam literature mentions many flourishing towns such as Kaveripattinam. They also speak of Yavanas coming in their vessels and purchasing pepper for gold and supplying wine and women slaves to the natives. Their trade information is corroborated by archaeology and foreign accounts.

The narrative texts are called Melkannakku (consisting of 18 major works and 10 idylls) show that the early Tamil people were pastoral. These are heroic poetry giving ideas of the state formation in which the army consisted of the groups of warriors, and the taxation system and judiciary. The didactic texts cover the early centuries of the Christian era. Padnekilkanakku is called Kilakanakku (18 minor works) describes the code of conduct and occupations of various social groups. Kural or Muppal, a part of Padnekilkanakku, was written by Tiruvalluvar is called ‘The Bible of Tamil Land’.

Sangam Epics: Around the 6th century CE. the two epics, i.e., Silappadikaram and Manimekalai were composed. The first was written by Ilango Adigal which deals with the story of Kovalan and Madhavi of Kaveripattinam. Kovalan falls in love with Madhavi and forgets his noble wedded wife Kannagi. This epic is called ‘Illiad of Tamil poetry’. The Manimekalai, written by a grain merchant named Sittalai Sattanar, deals with the adventures of Manimekala, the daughter born of Kovalan and Madhavi. The authors of the two epics were friends who were the contemporaries of the Chera King Senguttuvan, who ruled in the 2nd century CE. These epics reflects the social and economic life of the Tamils upto about the 6th century CE. The Manimekalai is strongly tinged with Buddhism whereas the Sivaga Sindamani (Jivaka Chintamani), written by Jain Tiruttakradevas, is tinged with Jainism. Sivaga Sindamani shows the dominance of Sanskrit style over the indigenous style of the previous epics. Bharatam, a Tamil epic, was composed of Perudevanar. It also has great importance in Tamil literature.

Biographies, Poetry, and Drama

Early India is a repository of masterpieces of drama and poetry. Historians have used them to cull out information on the times in which they were composed.

The earliest Sanskrit poets and playwrights include Ashvagosha and Bhasa. Ashvagosha authored Buddhacharita, Sariputraprakarna and Saundarananda. Bhasa was a dramatist and wrote Pancharatra, Dutavakya, Balacarita and Svapna-Vasavadatta. The great Sanskrit writer Kalidasa (fourth-fifth century) authored dramas like Abhijnana-Shakuntalam, Malavikagnimitram, Vikramorvashiyam and poetic works such as Raghuvamsha, Kumarasambhavam and Meghadutam. They provide important insights into the social and cultural life of the Guptas.

Then, there are ancient dramas on historical themes. Mention may be made of Vishakadatta’s Mudrarakshasa. This drama is based on how Chanakya tries to win over Rakshasa, a minister of the Nandas, to Chandragupta Maurya’s side. His other play Devichandraguptam centres in Gupta king, Ramagupta.

Narrative literature included Panchatantra and Kathasaritasagara. They are collections of popular folk tales.

Biographies of well-known kings were written by court poets and writers in praise of their royal patrons. Banabhatta’s Harshacharita talks about Harshavardhana of the Pushyabhuti dynasty. It is the oldest surviving biography in India. According to Bana, it is an adhyayika, a genre of texts related to itihasa tradition. It speaks highly of the king but at the same time, hints at the fratricidal struggle for the throne. Bilhana’s Vikramankadevacharita is about the Chalukyan king Vikramaditya VI.

Limitations of literary sources

• No literary source of any kind is available before Vedic age. The literary sources do not provide any information about the stone age and the chalcolithic period. In this way, more than 99% of the human history of Indian subcontinent cannot be reconstructed with the help of literary sources.
• The literary sources lack a true historical character. Writers did not pay any attention to chronology. The developments have been described more like a story.
• The literary sources are not available on a continued basis. Very few literary works are available for post Mauryan period. Hardly anything is known from literature about dynasties like Satavahanas.
• Literary sources are prone to interpolation and extrapolation. At times it difficult to comprehend whether a literary source belongs to a particular period or different periods. It is believed that many information found in Vedas had been added later on. Some chapters of Arthashastra were added during Gupta age.
• The literary sources suffered from the personal bias of writers. Most of the writers lived in courts under the patronage of kings. Such court poets cannot be expected to present an unbiased picture of the achievements and failures of their patron. Banabhatta, court poet of Harsha wrote in detail about Harsha’s achievements but he did not mention Harsha’s failure.
• Most of the literary used in the reconstruction of early Indian history are religious works. Secular literary sources are few.
• Literary sources primarily deal with the elite class. The focus of writers was generally limited to court, palace and life of nobility. Hardly anything is known about the life of common people. The literary sources represent the only history from above history from below is missing in the literature.
• At times the language of literary sources is vague. As a result of this, these sources have been interpreted differently by different scholars. Puranas are written in the future tense.
• The time of many literary sources is not known definitely. Information provided by Ramayana and Mahabharata covers a long period. Sources like Rig Veda cover 500 years. Some historians believe that Chanakya lived during the Gupta period and Kalidasa during the Mauryan period because in none of the sources dates are mentioned.
• Many dimensions of human life such as technological progress and quality of life cannot be inferred by information provided by literary sources. A true estimation of these dimensions can be carried on by having a look on-ground realities.