Q1.
In the Grade 6 chapter ‘Timeline and Sources of History’, we listed multiple sources that help us understand the past. Compile a list of the sources we have referred to so far in the chapter. What did we learn from each source?
Answer
Up to page 151 the chapter has already used four kinds of source. Sort them the way historians do — archaeological (things people made and left behind) and literary (things people wrote).
| Source | Type | What we learnt from it |
|---|---|---|
| The Iron Pillar, Mehrauli (Fig. 7.3) | Archaeological — a monument | Over 1,600 years old, weighs 6 tonnes, still does not rust — evidence of advanced metallurgy. It was probably first erected before the Udayagiri caves in Madhya Pradesh and brought to Delhi centuries later |
| The inscription on the Iron Pillar | Archaeological — an inscription | Speaks of a king named ‘Chandra’, identified with Chandragupta II; it was dedicated to Viṣhṇu and celebrates the king’s achievements |
| The prayāga praśhasti, Harisena’s pillar inscription at Prayagraj (Fig. 7.5) | Archaeological — an inscription | Samudragupta’s ambition to be dharaṇi-bandha; his many wars; that defeated kings were reinstated and paid tribute; and that he supported art, learning and trade |
| Gold coins (Figs. 7.4, 7.6, 7.7) | Archaeological — numismatic | Fig. 7.4: Chandragupta I with queen Kumāradevī, and Lakṣhmī seated on the reverse — a marriage alliance advertised. Fig. 7.6: Samudragupta playing the veena — a cultured king. Fig. 7.7: the sacrificial horse of the aśhvamedha yajña, with the queen holding a chauri on the reverse |
| The Viṣhṇu Purāṇa | Literary | Names the key regions of the empire: Anugaṅga (the middle-Gangetic basin), Prayāga, Sāketa (Ayodhya) and Magadha — though the empire at its peak was larger than this |
| The map, Fig. 7.2 and Fig. 7.8 | A modern reconstruction, built from all the above | The extent of the empire, its capital Pāṭaliputra, its important cities, and the neighbours — Vākāṭaka, Kāmarūpa, Pallava |
What the exercise is really teaching: notice how the same fact arrives twice by different roads. The Iron Pillar inscription says ‘Chandra’; the coins and the praśhasti give the dynasty its shape; the Viṣhṇu Purāṇa supplies the region names. When two independent sources agree, a historian’s confidence rises. That is corroboration.
Try this: keep this table open as you finish the chapter and add the rows that come later — Faxian’s travelogue (page 153), the copper-plate land grants (page 156), the archaeological finds from Socotra Island (page 156), and the sculptures, caves and temples of pages 160–163.