CBSE| HISTORY|CLASS 7| Historians and their Sources

 

Historians and their Sources

To understand the past, historians rely on sources of information — materials, writings, and evidence left behind by people who lived in earlier times. The period from 700 CE to 1750 CE witnessed significant changes in the nature and variety of these sources. As societies changed, new forms of records emerged, making the historian’s job both rich and challenging.

📜 Types of Historical Sources

Historians use a variety of sources depending on:

• The time period being studied.

• The nature of inquiry (political, social, cultural, economic).

Some common sources used:

• Coins: Provide insights into economy, trade, and political authority.

• Inscriptions: Engraved messages on stones or metals, often related to kings and temples.

• Architecture: Temples, forts, mosques, palaces reveal cultural, religious, and political life.

• Textual records: Writings that give detailed accounts of events, people, and thoughts.

📈 Increase in Textual Records (700–1750 CE)

• A major shift occurred during this period — there was a dramatic increase in textual records.

• The use of paper became more common and affordable.

• This led to the widespread writing of:

  • Religious texts

  • Biographies and chronicles of rulers

  • Letters and teachings of saints

  • Petitions and court judgments

  • Registers for taxes and accounts

These manuscripts were collected in libraries, temples, and monasteries, often by wealthy individuals and kings.

✍️ Manuscripts and the Problem of Copying

• There was no printing press during this time.

• Texts were hand-copied by scribes — a process that led to errors and variations.

• Like copying a friend’s homework, scribes sometimes guessed unclear words and unintentionally made changes.

• Over centuries of copying, small differences turned into large discrepancies between versions.

• This is why manuscripts of the same text may look very different from each other today.

📚 Challenges for Historians

• Original manuscripts by authors are rarely found today.

• Historians must rely on copies, and compare different versions to guess the original content.

• Example: The famous chronicler Ziyauddin Barani wrote his history in 1356, and a revised version two years later.

  • Historians were unaware of the earlier version until the 1960s, as it was buried in a library collection.

  • The two versions differed — showing how authors revised their own work.

🧠 Conclusion

The study of history is not just about reading old texts; it’s about interpreting them carefully, comparing versions, and understanding the context in which they were written. Textual records offer rich information, but they come with challenges of accuracy, bias, and variation. Historians must be detectives of the past, piecing together the truth from scattered and altered evidence.