2. What is History?
History is the study of change over time and progress
from past to present world.
It is a systematic description of the past events.
It is based on facts and not imagination.
It helps to learn about the great people ,culture ,art
and architecture of earlier times.
3. Historians divide history into two parts
Prehistory-It refers to the period when the art of writing
was unknown. Our information about prehistory
depends upon the remains of tools ,bones ,pottery and
weapons that have been excavated.
History-It refers to the period after the invention of
writing. The written records ,dates ,names of places and
people on bhojpatras,palm leaves or pillars are the
source of information.
4. DO YOU KNOW?
AD- Anno Domini (Latin Phrase)-Refers to the year of Christ’s birth
BCE- Before the Common Era(Used in place of BC)
CE-Common Era(used in place of AD)
https://youtu.be/kDNH4G9iacw-fact file about AD,BC,CE and BCE
https://youtu.be/f-8IhOClT4k-Story of Jesus Christ
5. History is generally categorised into-
1.Ancient History
2.Medieval History
3.Modern History
Source Material for Historians
can be divided into two categories.
1.Archaeological Source
2.Literary Source
6. Archaeological Source Materials
These include inscriptions,coins,monuments,sculptures,paintings ,articles of
daily use and skeletons.
These provide information about religious, social and cultural conditions of
different periods.
The inscriptions are the writings engraved on rocks ,pillars ,clay tablets, the
walls of temples and caves which tell us about the kings, their empires ,
achievements as well as the society and the language of that period.
The coins of earlier times were made of different materials like lead ,copper ,
bronze ,iron ,silver, gold etc give useful information about art ,religion ,rulers
, the use of different metals and the level of development of technology.
8. Archaeological Source Materials
Monuments are the remains of temples
,stupas ,palaces and forts which help the
historians to collect information about
social and economic life ,the religious
beliefs, dress ,art forms and architecture of
that time.
Skeletons help to know about body
structure of the people of different periods.
9. The study of
inscriptions is called
The study of
coins is called
Numismatics
.
Epigraphy
Match the clouds
10. Literary Sources
All written records of the past are known as
literary sources or manuscripts .
They are written on dried palm leaves
,bhojapatras ,copper plates and on paper.
The sources consists of Religious
Literature,Non- Religious Literature,Secular
Literature ,Historical Literature etc
11. RELIGIOUS LITERATURE
They consist of Vedas of the Hindus in
Sanskrit , Pitakas of Buddhists in Pali
and Angas of Jains in Prakrit.
They tell about the religious beliefs
,society ,customs and traditions of that
time.
The Puranas and the Epics ,like
Ramayana and Mahabharata also
provide useful information of that
period.
12. Non-Religious Literature
They consists of prose ,plays ,poetry ,
grammar as well as the writings of Kautilya
(Arthashastra),Kalidas (Abhigyanam
Shakuntalam)
Kautalya
Counselor and advisor
of Chandragupta Maurya
13. The Secular Literature
They throw light on the life of the people
of that period.
The account of events , by foreign pilgrims
and travellers like Fa-hien (Chinese) and
ambassadors like Megasthenes(Greek) who
visited India in earlier times are also
important sources of information about
ancient Indian history and culture.
14. Historical Literature
It consists of autobiographies of the
ancient rulers and biographical sketches like
Harshacharitra (biography of Indian emperor
Harsha by Banabhatta).
The various sources of history provide
knowledge about marvels of the past and
inspire us to march forward to achieve
greater heights.
15. HOME WORK
1.What is History?
2.Name the two parts of history .
3.What Prehistory ?How do we get information of prehistory ?
4.Name the three periods of History.
5.Write the full form of AD, CE, BCE.
6.What are inscriptions ?
7.Define Epigraphy.
8.How do the study of inscriptions help the historians?
9.How do the study of coins help the historians?
10.List the categories of the source materials which the historians study to get
information about the past.
