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An
Approach To Indian History
-Prof. Kittu Reddy |
We shall introduce in this chapter some basic and important ideas related to the study of history. These cover the following points.
· what does history teach us and what are its sources
· The relation between the external events in human life and the inner psychological state.
· the importance of the individual in history
· Does life have a purpose and can history help us to find it and give human life a direction.
We shall take up these questions and try to throw however briefly and succinctly some light on these questions.
History as it is commonly understood is the story of man. It is the story of his evolution from his early primitive state to the more developed being that he is now. This is called the growth of civilisation and culture. We learn how he made use of his early tools and has gradually controlled and mastered his environment; we study the growth of his political and social systems, of the building and breaking of kingdoms and empires. We see the growth of art and culture in all its diverse forms and the enrichment of his inner life. In sum we see how man has evolved over the ages.
We shall now try to see what exactly we mean by evolution. When we say that man has evolved, we mean that he has developed a new power of consciousness and awareness. This power enables him to become conscious not only of the world around him but also of his inner world. In other words, he becomes both conscious and self-conscious; and this is possible because he has developed a new power and faculty called Reason. It is this faculty which marks the great difference between man and animal. To this is added another quality which is the unique privilege of man - the Intelligent Will. The Intelligent will is the quality, which enables him to implement and put into practice what his mind, and reason understand and see. These two powers - Reason and Intelligent Will - are the secret of his evolutionary progress. We see the application of these two powers in all the fields of human activity - the practical sciences, his social and political development, his art and culture and in all the fields of knowledge. Therefore while studying History which deals mainly with the external record of human life, we shall keep in mind this fundamental fact that human progress is primarily due to these two powers - Reason and Intelligent Will.
But at the same time, we shall note that there has been in man another urge -a greater aspiration, which has led him to a power higher than Mind; this power is the spiritual power. There have been periods in history, when both individuals and masses of men have been moved or at least touched by this higher force. This is especially true in Indian history, although it has played a role in other civilisations.
These periods have had great and beneficent results in human life. We shall have to keep this too in mind in studying history. To sum up:
The study of history deals with the external events of human life in its different aspects; but at the same time we must remember that the forces that activate these events and human progress are Reason and Intelligent Will and a higher power, the Spiritual power.
It is a natural question that we must be all asking and wondering about; how do we know what has happened so many thousands of years ago? What are the sources of our knowledge? We shall try here to answer briefly these questions.
There are broadly speaking three main sources of ancient history:
a) archaeology
b) literature
c) legends
d) new technological methods
ARCHAEOLOGY
One of the most important sources of ancient history has been archaeology. It consists in the scientific study of material remains of past human life and activities; these include the study of fossils, relics, monuments etc. Sometimes these are found on the surface and experts and scientists take them up and make detailed investigations; very often, however we have to make excavations deep below the surface. We have had most remarkable instances of very interesting discoveries made after such excavations. There are the examples of Mohenjodaro and Harappa in India and the example of Troy in Asia Minor; whole townships have been found and have helped us get a good view of the culture of the people of those times.
LITERATURE & LEGENDS
Another important source of our knowledge of the past is literature. The ancient literature of man consists of epics, dramas, poetry and scriptures; all these give us a a great deal of information on the life and thought of ancient man.The epics, in particular have given us a very clear picture of ancient civilisations;as examples we have the Ramayana and the Mahabharata in India and the Iliad in Greece. The two Indian epics give us not only a vivid description of the political and social systems but also a fine depiction of the values and ideals that moved the people of India in those times; many of these values are still cherished by the Indian people and even now have a profound effect on the masses of India.
Similarly the scriptures of a people, like the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Gita show us the religion and the deeper spiritual values of the Indian people. They have had a profound impact and have created movements that have influenced its history; the same can be said of the dramas and poetry. No doubt it will be said that there is a lot of imagination and fiction in the literature of a people and they do not constitute history in its true sense; it is even doubted by many that Christ or Krishna ever existed and yet none can deny their influence on large masses of men and on history.
All this shows that the external life of man is greatly influenced by the thoughts and the psychological forces that move him and must therefore be given its due place in the study of history; this leads us to the next point.
New Technological methods
Today, new methods are being used to study history; these include satellite photography, carbon dating and many other methods which we shall not discuss here; suffice it to say, that with the advance of technology we are able to get more and more precise information of the past of man.
RELATION BETWEEN EXTERNAL EVENTS AND THE PSYCHOLOGICAL STATE
One of the points we shall stress in this book is the interrelationship of the inner and outer worlds of man; in other words, does the psychological condition of man influence and affect his outer behaviour and circumstances or is it the external conditions and circumstances that determine his life .The answer will depend on our understanding of the nature of man: is man essentially a physical being or is he more of a mental and spiritual being. We shall try to show in this book that though man is a material being and is affected by his material environment, he is essentially a mind and at a more evolved stage a spiritual being.
We shall now mention a few examples of events in history where the influence of the idea and thought-power have contributed greatly to the external events; one such example has been the French Revolution.It is said that the French Revolution came about mainly because of political and economic reasons; there is certainly no doubt that the poverty and the food shortages played an important part, similarly the political system based on the total domination of the upper classes contributed greatly to the onset of the revolution; but it cannot be denied that the intellectuals of France also played a very important role in awakening the people. There can be no doubt that the writings of Rousseau and Voltaire and other writers and intellectuals made all the difference; for in the other countries of Europe the political and economic conditions were even worse -it was really the ideas of the intellectuals that shaped the course of events.
Similarly, it was due to the writings of Karl Marx and Engels that over a century later the Russian revolution took place. It should be quite clear that the power of the idea plays a very important part in the historical evolution of man.
THE ROLE OF THE INDIVIDUAL
We shall now take up another question that often troubles many minds. What is the role of the individual in human progress, and in human life in general? In fact has the individual any role to play at all or is it that progress and change is a movement of the masses and general forces that drive human beings.We shall try to show in this book the great importance of the individual and in a certain sense even that most human progress has been initiated by the individual; the individual leads and the masses follow as best as they can.
The most striking examples of individuals shaping the destiny of a nation are very evident in recent times; France was profoundly influenced by Napoleon, the influence of Hitler on Germany cannot be underestimated nor the profound effect that Churchill had on the course of English history. In India in recent times the personality of Gandhi gave a distinct stamp to Indian politics; and all these movements were possible only because at their centre there was an individual with some outstanding and exceptional qualities. This is not to deny the importance of the collectivity but only to point out that the human individual plays a great role and sometimes even the most important one in human evolution.As a matter of fact there are historians who conceive of history as a mass of biographies and even if we do not agree altogether with this view point, we should be able to appreciate the value of the individual in human progress.
This is the last but most important point that we shall cover in this brief discussion. We believe that life has a purpose and that human life has a goal, and that this goal is fulìfilled by an evolutionary process. At the present moment man represents the mental stage of evolution; by this alone he is different and superior to the animal, but this too will have to be surpassed and man has to attain to a greater level of consciousness and perfection. The aim and destiny of human life will thus be first to develop his mind and then go beyond to a greater perfection beyond mind. How can history help us in this pursuit?
It may be said that all study, or at least the major part of what we study , consists in analysing the past. It is the same with history too; but we shall take great care that we do not stick to the past.
It will be our aim in this book to show that all that has happened in the past has only helped to prepare the present and in the same way the present is preparing the future. With the past as our bedrock and the present as the springboard, we must prepare to leap into the future. Viewed from this point, the study of history can be of great value.
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