History of Bangladesh and World Civilization · Classes 9-10 · Chapter 1

Sources of history: written elements.

Kautilya, Kalhana, Fa-Hien: the names may sound unfamiliar, but without their writing much of the past would be closed to us. History is not true because someone says so, it needs evidence behind it. This note looks at the written part of that evidence: which books, and whose hands wrote them.

1. What a source is, and its two kinds

The facts and findings on which historical truth can be established are called the sources of history. A historian leans on them before writing down any event.

The sources fall into two kinds: written sources and unwritten sources. The written sources include literature, foreign accounts, documents and the like. The unwritten, or archaeological, sources come in the next note. Your job here is one thing: tell what is written from what is not.

2. Some books that are sources

Local and foreign literary works of different times carry some facts about their age, so literature is a source of history too. One example of a written source is the Vedas.

The book names four well-known works, each a written source. Arthashastra by Kautilya. Rajtarangini by Kalhana. Tabaqat-i-Nasiri by Minhaj-us-Siraj. Ain-i-Akbari by Abul Fazal. Keep each title and its author together in your head, because exams ask for exactly these pairs.

3. Through foreign travellers’ eyes

Visitors who came from outside and wrote down what they saw matter a great deal to history. The descriptions of foreign travellers have always been considered important sources.

The Chinese travellers who came to Bengal from the fifth to the seventh century were, respectively, Fa-Hien, Hiuen-Tsang and Itsing. The word “respectively” is what gives the order. Do not swap Fa-Hien and Hiuen-Tsang.

The Chinese are not the only ones who wrote. Descriptions of this region also turn up in the writings of Ibn Battuta and others. The English version of the book calls him the African traveller, while the Bangla version calls him the Moroccan traveller. Whichever word a question uses, he is one and the same man.

From these descriptions we learn a great deal about the society, economy, politics, religion, rituals and customs of that time. A foreign visitor’s eye ends up holding the picture of a whole age.

4. Five groups of literary sources

The book divides literary sources into five groups: biographical writings, native literature, descriptions of foreign travellers, ancient religious scriptures and other sources.

Examples of biographical writing are Ramcharit by Shandhakar Nandi and Harshcharita by Banbhatya. The book prints three more names in this group: Charyapada, Baburnama, Mangalkabya.

Native literature is shown by Rajtarangini by Kalhana and Meghdut by Kalidas.

Four examples of foreign travellers’ accounts: Indica by Megasthenes, Fo-Kuo-Ki by Fa-Hien, Si-Yu-Ki by Hiuen-Tsang and The Rihla (Kitabul Rehala) by Ibn Battuta.

For ancient religious scriptures the book lists the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Bible, the Jataka, the Purana and so on. The “other” group holds ancient manuscripts, treaties, Kautilya’s Arthashastra, Ferdowsi’s Shahnama and the like. Notice that Arthashastra sits under “other”. Open the five branches and see for yourself.

Instead of learning the five groups by heart, separate them with questions. Pick a source, then answer yes or no on the way down.

Now check the authors of twelve books. Tap a title and its author and group appear.

5. Check yourself

Three questions in the exam’s style. The first is about the definition and the kinds.

In the second, watch the pairing of book and author.

The last is about the travellers.

The whole note on six cards.

Source: History of Bangladesh and World Civilization, Classes 9-10 (NCTB), Chapter 1 “Introduction to History”, the “Sources of history: written elements” part.