historical sources of ancient India -

All history interpretation are based on sources of history,  which majorly divided into two categories- literary and archaeological.

Actually there are some sources which can be included in both categories such as coins and inscriptions because these are tangible in nature as well as something written on them so we can we can say that there is no absolute or rigid classification of historical sources. Historical sources can also be divided into religious and secular sources also.

The Sanskrit Epics

The two Sanskrit epics Mahabharata and Ramayana have the status of Smriti as well as itihasa which means traditional history 

sometimes Ramayana is classified as a Kavya poetry these two epics Ramayana and Mahabharata are magnificient text which present the powerful stories the basic story of the Ramayana is about the Rama who was the prince of goshala and his punishment to forest due to to his with stepmother keKai and abduction of his wife Sita by Ravana who was the lord of Lanka after rescue Sita Rama return to capital Ayodhya to become king the style of the Ramayana suggest that it was a work of a single person single individual Valmiki who was also appears in Bala Kanda the composition period of Ramayana can be placed between 5 century BC and 3 centuries CE on the other hand the basic story of the Mahabharata is about a conflict between Kauravas and Pandavas and a great wall that was f o u g h t between Dam at Kurukshetra the composition Period of the Mahabharata can be placed between 400 BC and 400 CE but but many historians believe that Mahabharata reflects a slightly earlier period than Ramayana because the strong character of women of Mahabharat suggest earlier stage of social development when women are less subordinate to men compared to the period of the Ramayana which reflects much stricter control over women and the practice of niyoga which means when husband husband disputes the conjugal rights over his wife to another man in order to produce h e i r also suggest a prior social stage the popularity and the dynamism is reflected but the fact that there are are many e other versions of Ramayana and Mahabharat apart from the original one searches the Buddhist version of Ramayana is known as the Dasaratha Jataka and Zee Tamil version Iram awatram written in Pali language and ajeena version p a u m a c h a h i you written in prakrit language Andy Tamil version ramavataram bi company and Ramcharitmanas by Tulsidas in addition to written versions there are many aural versions of Ramayana as well the popularity of the Ramayana also spread to the other parts of the Asia like in Tibet Myanmar Laos Cambodia and Indonesia according to James l feds greatal grilled the Mahabharata was Brahminacal response to the to the increasing popularity of Buddhism and Jainism which what perceived by a section of brahmins as chatting the brahminical order

The Puranas

The word Purana mean old which according to the tradition was composed by Vyasa but many stories believe that The Puranas one not work of one individual nor of one age. There are 18 18 mahapuranas includes Vishnu Narmada bhagavatha Karuna Padma 12 Matsya Kurma Linga Shiva Kanda Agni Brahmand Brahma Veer Putra Markanda Bhavishya vamana and drama the composition of of The Puranas samvat overlapped with the Vedas to some extent but their compositions stretch forward into the fourth and fifth centuries CE

The Dharmashastra

The dharmashastras are group of Sanskrit text that specifically deals with Dharma the dharmashastra can be subdivided into three groups the first to are the most sutras which composed during 6th 100 to 300 BCE and the Smith 200 BC to 900 CE 

The concept of dharma is based on the idea that universe is governed by natural laws.

manusmriti is one of them which sometimes became very controversial issue in our society due to is due to its very nature and

The Buddhist Sources

Buddhist sources are classified into two parts the Canonical and noncanonical sources.

the Canonical sources are those sources which directly deals with the teaching of Buddha and religious in nature, on the other hand non-canonical sources includes the biography, and Chronicles which had some elements of Buddhism the Canonical sources includes Tipitaka and there are different versions of tripitaka such as Pali version, Chinese version and, Tibetan version but Pali version of the theravada school is oldest. The Tipitaka consists of three books- sutta, vinaya, and abhidhamma.

The Jaina Literature

The sacred jaina books are collectively known as the Agama and Siddhanta. The jaina cononical texts includes 12 Angas, 12 Upangas, 10, prakirnas, 6 chadya suttas,  and other individual texts 

The jaina monastic order divided into Shvetambara and Digambara, 

The Sangam Literature

The Sangam literature are those literature which associated with the Sangam gathering in which stage and rishis compile their knowledge into different Sangam literature such as the tolkappiyam which is the oldest Tamil grammar are among them. Pattu Pattu is a 10 songs. Silappadikraram and Manimekalai are two Tamil epics 

The Ancient texts, Biographies, and chronicles 

Ashvagosha's wrote buddhachrita, Sriputraprakarna and Sundrananda. Bhasha wrote pancharatra and Balacharita. Panini wrote ashtadhyayi and patanjali wrote mahabhashya