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Kings, Farmers And Towns
Discuss the limitations of inscriptional evidence to construct the past.
The limitations are:
(i) Sometimes the words engraved are very faint hence it is very hard to decipher them.
(ii) Sometimes the inscriptions are damaged. Many words are lost due to their damaged hence we are not able to get the proper meaning.
(iii) It is not easy to find out the real meaning of the inscription. Sometimes the things stated are in relevance to a particular situation or time.
(iv) Thousands of inscriptions have been found. But not all of them can be translated or can be understood.
(v) There might have been many more inscriptions that were damaged or that needs to be discovered.
(vi) There is another basic problem. What is important today both politically and economically may not have been mentioned in the inscriptions. For example, the inscriptions do not refer to agriculture and the joys or sorrows of daily life. They describe only special and grand occasions.
(vii) The inscriptions reflect the views of those who commissioned them. So we must critically analyse all the inscriptions to find out the ultimate truth.
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Describe the salient features of Mahajanapadas.
How do historians reconstruct the lives of ordinary people?
Compare and contrast the list of things given to the Pandyan chief (Source 3) with those produced in the village of Danguna (Source 8). Do you notice any similarities or differences?
List some of the problems faced by epigraphists.
Discuss the main features of Mauryan administration. Which of these elements are evident in the Asokan inscriptions that you have studied?
This is a statement made by one of the best-known epigraphists of the twentieth century, D.C. Sircar: “There is no aspect of life, culture and activities of the Indians that is not reflected in inscriptions”. Discuss.
Discuss the notions of kingship that developed in the post-Mauryan period.
To what extent were agricultural practices transformed in the period under consideration?
Compare Maps 1 and 2, and list the Mahajanapadas that may have been included in the Mauryan Empire. Are any Asokan inscriptions found in these areas?
Collect newspapers for one month. Cut and paste all the statements made by government officials about public works. Note what the reports say about the resources required for such projects, how the resources are mobilised and the objective of the project. Who issues these statements, and how and why are they communicated? Compare and contrast these with the evidence from inscriptions discussed in this chapter. What are the similarities and differences that you notice.
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