SELECTED THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

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1 1 SELECTED THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY Historical Consciousness in India History as an independent discipline got itself established in Europe by the 18th and 19th centuries. In the context of colonial confrontation between Europe and Asia there was a huge rush among European scholars to collect native histories which would offer them to understand, evaluate and even to criticize the so called 'unknown variety of cultures'. Those colonial writers were interested to find a Herodotus or Thucidides or Tacitus in their reading of the Eastern / Asian civilizations but failed to find any. This made the colonial historiographers to frame an opinion that early Indian society lacked historical consciousness. The way in which Indian texts understood the past was through developing specific perspectives and expressing it through narratives, needless to say historical accuracy in those narratives remained minimum. Colonial construction of India as an ahistorical society - Eurocentric view of History 18th century witnessed a serious search for histories of early India. European historians trained in the discipline of history as a specific category failed to find out one, according to their designs from the Indian cultural tradition. Therefore "Indian culture and particularly Sanskrit articulation of Hindu culture" came to be defined therefore as ahistorical." Most of the European scholars dismissed Indian texts as fanciful and exaggerated narratives since the historical record existed in those texts were inaccurate and moreover consist full of myths, legends and tales. Among the Sanskrit texts the European scholars recognized Kalhana's Rajatharangini, a 12th century history of Kashmir. Mac Donell remarked that "Early India wrote no history..." and Rapsan commented, events were not systematically recorded. The European scholars went upto the extent of saying that Indian society denied history. A sense of the past in the context of a European Renaissance, viewed history with evidence, cause, and effect approach along with strong chronology and a well-balanced explanatory progression of historical events. Attempts were made by colonial writers to give a chronology on a narrative to early Indian history. For example, William Jones succeeded in identifying Sendracottos with Chandragupta Maurya.

2 2 Eurocentric view towards knowledge was of hegemonic in its content. Knowledge was used as a tool to control natives. Therefore they argued that "colonial society had no awareness of its past and that even this awareness had to be provided by the colonial power". Indian Perceptions on History Indian perceptions on history is reflected through a sense of the past or a consciousness of the past which is expressed in myths, epics and genealogies. Chronicles of families, institutions and regions, and biographies of kings also speak about a consciousness of the bygone events. Important political and social changes also affect the compositions / historical consciousness. The concept of Time in India The genealogical sections in the Puranas begin with a description of the creation of the universe along with an explanation of geography of the universe. In the Vishnu Purana the past which deals with primary creation places in context a wide sweep of the past. "The world was created by Vishnu and Kala (Time) was important as a causal factor in creation. Both Kala and Purusha (primeval man) are part of Vishnu. The symbolic measurement of time, both human and divine described in some detail provides the basis for the concept of cosmological time. The earliest events take place in the first time cycle of the Krita Yuga, the first of the four which constitute the larger time cycle of the mahayuga and which are the essential components of Puranic eschatology". Historical Consciousness in Early India - Historical Consciousness in Vedic Text Historical Consciousness in Early India is reflected through myths. The importance of a myth is that "it is the self image of a given culture, expressing its social assumptions." Satapatha Brahmana speaks about a myth related to the Great Flood. Manu when making his morning offerings to gods finds a fish in his hands. The fish is reared by Manu until it becomes a big one. The fish speaks about the Great Flood and makes its intentions to save Manu and the seven sages from this danger. During the Great Flood, the fish saves Manu and the seven sages. Through rites and rituals Manu makes creation of sons and one daughter. The eldest son Ikshavaku, finds the Suryavamsi lineage and the daughter Ila the Chandravamsi lineage.

3 3 The Matsya Purana version connects the fish with the incarnation of Vishnu. In the Rigveda the Purusha Suktam speaks about the provision of social sanctions through the myth. The myth describes the sacrifice of Prajapati from whose body their emerge the four varnas such as the Brahmanas (from the mouth), the Kshatriyas (from the arms of the Prajapati), the Vaisyas (from his thighs) and the Sudras (from his feet). The story depicts the symbolism of each bodily parts which inturn is linked to the ritual status and function of a particular varna. It has been argued that the "evolution of varna stratification routed in the lineage based society of vedic times." Gathas Towards the composition of the period of the Epics other fixed forms associated with various pieces of literary aspects began to emerge. Gathas were eulogies bestowed upon heroes or chieftains who protected the cattle from raids. The archetype of such heroes is depicted in the early portions of Rigveda as Indra-Gathas. God Indra thus came to be associated with the early hero. The hero also distributes wealth among his kin / clan members. Narasamsis Narasamsis were also prasastis / stuthis on heroes who protected the jana from raids. Generally after a raid, the wealth confiscated would be distributed among the members of a clan. The wealth included chariots, cows / cattle, horses and slave girls. Akhyanas and Danastuthis "The Akhyanas commemorating rajas and heroes were the cycles of stories recited at the time of the yajnas (sacrificial rituals)." The akhyanas served as a base for situating the lineages of heroes who performed heroic deeds. The story of Pururavas who in a human being and his love towards Urvasi a celestial being is narrated in the Satapatha Brahmana. When Mahabharatha was finally combined Pururavas is no more a human being but he is counted among the celestial beings, and not only that he came to be regarded as an important ancestor of the Chandravamsa lineage. Information pertaining to the lineages; transformation of single lineages into confederacies of tribes, the changing patterns of social milieu - all these are maintained through such narratives.

4 4 Buddhists and Jain Texts and the Changing Expressions Historical tradition underwent meaningful changes in the post gupta period which is partly connected to the historical changes of the early and the first millennium A.D. The territorial extent of the states during the period was not as large as the Mauryan and Kushana states. Changes in the agrarian relations, gradual increase in granting lands to mutts, brahmanas, acharyas, etc. demanded new processes of authority, law, and revenue collection in areas which earlier were either outside the state system or on the edge of it. The supporters of Buddhists an Jain Sangha establishments responded to this changing situations positively. Historical consciousness began to evolve linking Buddha's and Mahavira's biographies and institutions often connecting with contemporary political events. The Buddhists and Jain texts presented and situated their respective chronologies based on the date of Buddha and Mahaveera. The practice later was copied by the Saiva and Vaishnava Mutts to get royal patronage. As an emergent counter culture Buddhist Jaina sects developed a historical sense in their respective texts which served an exact historical purpose. The Buddhist / Jain text recorded the evolution of their respective sects, elaborating their properties, building, land rights etc which often revolved around authority and royal patronage. The Ithihasa Purana Tradition, Suta Magadha Tradition It has been argued that historical consciousness became quite obvious with the compilation of Ithihasas and Puranas. Defining these terms is extremely difficult. But an attempted definition by Romila Thaper observes it as "veering between the perceived past and historicity." Until the first millennium A.D., these remained as oral tradition. The bards used to sing the stories of the heroes who always moved from one place to another. The bardic tradition emerged from the Sutas and Magadhas who were actually the earliest authors of Ithihasas and Puranas. Early vedic tradition sees the Sutha as an equivalent to the Raja and hence he enjoyed a high status. But by the time of the compilation of Manu Dharmasastra, the Sutha had been reduced to a lower status who belonged to a mixed caste. The Brahmanas who later claimed the authorship of Puranas, realized the "potential value of controlling oral information on the past and recording it in a literary form to emergent contemporary requirements".

5 5 Vamsanucharita - Prasastis - Dynastic chronicles The Puranic texts were transferred from Prakrit to the Sanskrit. The Puranas present an integrated cosmic view which naturally included a view of the past and the present. Each Purana was dedicated to a deity or a sect, and therefore it always connected events to the emergence of an Avatara / incarnation. Vishnu Purana is an excellent model in this regard. Vamsanucharita stands for the compiled genealogy of all the known lineages and dynasties upto the 1st Millennium A.D. The genealogical core in each Puranas absorbed the earlier Katha and Akhyana tradition. The Vamsanucharita meticulously preserved the events connected with those in authority in the past. A systematic pattern thus emerged was kept going. Historical writing and the preservation of the historical record thus became essential which brought out a necessity to future claims to lineage status. When monarchy in North India evolved into a powerful political apparatus such preserved historical records offered a strong basis for those competitors who claimed the Kshatriya status. The dynasties whose genealogies were recorded in the Puranas were linked with Kshatriya lineages upto the 1st Millennium B.C. But by the 1st Millennium B.C. families of Non-Kshtriya origin also began to appear in the Vamsanucharita portions of the Puranas. Such major dynasties like Nandas and possibly Mauryas are said to be Sudras. Sungas and Kanwas judged by their names, belonged to the Brahmin caste. The lessor dynasties who did not fall into the Chaturvarnya categories dating to the early centuries A.D. were stated to be mlechhas, sudras, panchamas etc. Explanation to such a caste configuration is due to the inevitable degeneration of all norms associated with kaliyuga. Although in theory kshatriyas were to preside over political power, but in practice was often open to all Varna who possessed force and administrative control to establish a dynasty. The legitimation through brahmanical ritual was not at all necessary since these dynasties are described as not confronting to vedic rites.