HISTORIOGRAPHY

* Introduction
- History is a disciple where we study the past in context of present, with an eye to the future. History
is taken in teleological perspective
- The term history was coined by Herodotus, He is the father of history or the pioneer who framed
the word history.
- In the Indian context prof. D.D. Kosambi is the father of Ancient Indian history). Thou Damodar
Dharmananda Kosambi was initially a mathematician but he developed interest in coins which were
exacavated in his region(i.e.NASHIK, close to deccan college).gradually he was able to systematically
examine them and developed a new branch NUMISMATICS( Study of coins)
- history as a secular disciple was introduced by britrisher to us during colonial period which was
imposed by them through western education system

* Origin of History as a secular concept

There were three important international event which were instrumental in evolution of history as a
concept
- these events were -:

I). Renaissance:
- it was a period of "rebirth" in arts, science and European society. It was a time of transition from
the ancient world to the modern.

II). Religious Reformation-

- It was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a
religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church
- It is also considered to be one of the events that signify the end of the Middle Ages and the
beginning of the early modern period in Europe

III). Industrial Revolution

- It was a period of major industrialization and innovation during the late 1700s and early
1800s.
- The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain and quickly spread throughout the world.
- The American Industrial Revolution commonly referred to as the Second Industrial
Revolution, started sometime between 1820 and 1870
- It was only the first stepping-stone to the modern economic growth that is still growing to this
day
-

*Origin of history in Eurpoe

- history evolved in western world in serval phases due to which various schools of thought emerged ,
if we discuss the nature of these school of thought a systematic or gradual origin of history is
portraited .they were-:
I). Positivism.
II). Annales.
III). Functionalism.
IV). Structuralism.
V). Post-Structuralism.
VI). Modernism.
VII). Post-Modernism.

I). Positivism.
- this school of thought developed in Germany.
-pioneer of positivism was Leopold Von Ranke
- According to him, History is the study of past and it’s based on two types of sources: literally &
archeology.these sources helps us to reconstruct history of a region

II). Annales.
- it emerged in France.
-pioneer of this school was Mark Bloch. One of the scholar who played major role was George duby
- Mark bloch wrote a book named "Royal Touch". In this he talked about unconventional sources
for writing history among them the most prominent was oral tradition
- that’s how a new source of history was incorporated in history writing i.e.Oral sources.

III). Functionalism.
-scholars of various nationality were associated with this
- originated in central europe
The three most prominent were: Max Weber.
Emily Durkheim.
Talcott parsons
- According to them, Only relevent things should be written in history which are related to society to
make it precise and sleek.

IV). Structuralism.-:
-pioneer -: Ferdinand Saussure
 Michael Foucault.
Jaques Territa.
-originated in france
- They provided the mythology of writting in history.
- According to them, All historical facts must be pacted by its sources demonstrated with the help of
footnotes or endnotes

V). Post-Structuralism.
- founded by : Michael Foucault.
- He was in the favour of sources of all historical facts.
- But due to practical problems while writing historical facts, He became against the structuralism
and started a new school.
- "History of Sexuality" one of his famous book without any footnotes
- He also lighted the condition of women in the society.

VI). Modernism
- pioneer -:Virginia woolf and pablo picasso
- In the 19th century there was a lot of political upheaval in Europe, such as French Revolution, Rise
of Napoleon, Napoleonic Wars, Battle of Waterloo, War b/w Eastern & Western Europe, Finnish
War, and many others battel fought.
- This series of wars in Europe leads to the First World War.
- European people's were fade up from all this, as they have to bear huge losses.
- A meeting held to specify the main cause of this , In which all intellectual blames historians As
historian exaggerate books about rebellions and fighters
This polarization against Historian horrified them.
- In the reaction, They started to write about culture, dance, drama, literature & paintings in their
books. This lead to formation of modernist school.

VII). Post-Modernism
- founded by : Nietchze (German).
- They were fade up while writing about the culture & art so they again started to write about Politics
and as a result Politics in Europe came back with full noise and uproar which leads to the departure
of Modernism from Europe.
- Adolf Hitler an Austrian in his book ‘mein kampf’ mentioned that he was influenced by Nietchze
writing and as a result he formed a political party named "National Socialist German Workers
Party or NSDAP".
- Nietchze was the reason behind the Nazism which leads to the Second World War in Europe.
* Evolution of history in india
-History as a secular disciple was brought to us by britishers.
-Before the advent of britishers in india all classical text were religious as Rigveda. Later when
monarchy got established all religious text or events became political in nature as Arthsastra.After the
intro of history as a discipline,all text were religious and political both in nature as Mahabharat and
ramayan
In india history writing has different phases-:
I). Religious History.
II). Political History.
III). Imperials History.
IV). Nationalist History.
V). Marxist History.
VI). Subaltern History.
VII). Feminist History.

* Religious History.
In ancient medival india the three main proof of religious history were -: vedas , vedang , vadanta
- Vedas:: The Vedas are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in
Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of
Hinduism. There are four Vedas:
I). Rigveda: It is the earliest form of the Veda. It has 1028 hymns called ‘Suktas’ and is a collection of
10 books called ‘Mandalas.
II). Samaveda: The earliest reference for singing.Known as the Veda of melodies and chants,
Samaveda dates back to 1200-800 BCE.
III). Yajurveda: The book of prayers.Stands to mean ‘Worship Knowledge’, Yajurveda dates back to
1100-800 BCE; corresponding with Samaveda. It compiles ritual-offering mantras/chants.
IV). Atharvaveda: The book of magic and charms.Stands to mean a tatpurusha compound of
Atharvan, an ancient sage, and knowledge (atharvan+knowledge), it dates back to 1000-800 BCE.,

Vedanga – these are the sic auxiliay disciplines of Hinduism called limbs of veda
They are –
-shiksha (phonetics,phonology)
-chandas(prosody)
-vyakarana(grammer)
-nirukta(etymology)
-kalpa(ritual)
-jyotisha(astrology, astronomy)
 - Vedanta:: Vedanta the most ancient scriptures of India is one of the six schools of hindu philosophy
called astika
They are – sankhya
-yoga
-nyaya
- vaisheshika
-mimansa
- vedanta
-Vedanta means, Veda+anta
anta means end portion or conclusion of the vedas.

* Political History.
- In ancient times, King's policy is called politics.
- This writing only surrounds near Kings.
- Before the arrival of Britishers, all literature was combination or part of the political & religious
literature as Ramayana & Mahabharata.
-- mainly written in Sanskrit.
- they were mainly the biographies of Indian emperor's , writers like banabhatta wrote about king
hashvardhan and abul fazal and badayuni wrote about akbar’s life .

* Imperials History.
- When the Britishers came to India after the post medieval, with a motive to rule India and to exploit
India.
- Firstly they started to collect all the information about Indian culture and society so they started
translating Indian text in English language for that they started their school in India like oxford and
cambridge
- historians like sir Willson John, William Bentinck schlegel in 1783 setup a imperialist society for the
translation of manuscript by the help of british government.
-they used to show them superior that’s why they started to make laugh of Indian history
-some institution among them were oxford and Cambridge .but some were in favor like unitary
university

* Nationalist History.
- Britishers started to exploit Indian culture, as a result Nationalist Historian arises.
- some of them were Dadabhai Naroji, Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and many others.
- They started to write about Indian culture.
- dada bhai naroji emerged as pioneer of nationalist and he wrote a book “british rule of india” in
which he emposed the british rule
- one of the famous book of that time is ‘The discovery of India.’

* Marxist History.
- Since England was industrialised so Marxist became popular in England.
- as in England labour were exploited which give rise to socialist movement and it spread like fire in
neighbouring countries .
- Marxist mainly came from Germany and France where karl marx and friedrich engel were
supporter of this .
- At that time India was an agricultural country, only peasants were present.
- There were no labours at that time, but Marxist was labours movement, so the conditions for
Marxist was not suitable.
- It was founded in India by Rajani Palme Dutt and many Indians were also attracted toward this
among them were d d kosambi and r p dutt.

* Subaltern History.
As in india Marxist theory didn’t have any positive effect as most of Indian were connected to
agriculture and left were tribals. So to deal with india’s condition scholars came with the idea of
subaltern
- scholars were:: Ravindra Kumar.
Ranjit Guha.
- They modified Marxist to India's conditions
- This movement was only for peasants & tribals and They started talking about peasants & tribals
instead of labours.

* Feminist History.
- In India it has very old background.
- social reformers were like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Jyotirao Govindrao Phule, and many others
played there important role in society
- after the first world war this gets enlightened.
- As more than the half of the men were died in First world war.
- Too many women were widowed and children were orphaned.
- For this reason, women had to take a stand to fulfill the needs of their children's.
- around 1918 under the leadership of George Lloyd the coalition government passed the
representation of people act 1918. After this women got the right to vote for the first time.
- This movement spread across the world.

* Debate between Marxist & Weberian.

Later a new debate started between the ideology of Marxist and weerian
-- Marxist:
I). MARX believed that "Economic" is the most important aspects.
-they called economy as root and political,culture,religion,and social view as stem
II). As the modern world is the product of Industrial Revolution.
-- Weberian:
I). WEBER believed that "Religion, political, cultural and social" is the most important aspects.
-they called these as roots and economy as stem of state.
II). As Industrial Revolution is the product of Reformation, so basically modern world is the product
of this aspects.
- Finally to conclude this debate Social & Total History arises.

* Social History & Total History.

- So to conclude the debate Social & Total History born.
- According to them, If you want to see the right picture of a society then this five aspects are
necessary.
These Five important aspects were-
1. Religion.
2. Political.
3. Cultural.
4. Economic.
5. Social.
Hence , the intellectual conclusion made .that’s solve .