What, Where, How and When of the Past (History of India)

What, Where, How, and When of the Past is a very important chapter for Class 6 students. This article will cover the brief history of India. Whatever we read in history is essentially the changes that occurred over time, which we refer to as Chronological or Temporal changes. Any particular modifications would be a part of the idea of temporal alterations.

What do We Know About History?

The first concept we'll look at in terms of the past is 'what.'

What kind of meals did the people eat?

They wore a variety of outfits.

Houses where they lived?

There are numerous things we can learn about the people who lived there, the clothes they wore, and the homes they lived in. Hunters, herders, farmers, monarchs, merchants, priests, artists, musicians, and scientists are among the people we may learn about.

Where Did People Live?

For hundreds of thousands of years, people have lived along the Narmada river's banks in India. They resided along the Narmada River's bank because they were aware of the great variety of flora in the surrounding forests. For food, they used to gather roots, fruits, and other forest products. They also hunted animals on occasions.

• People began to care for animals such as sheep, goats, and cattle, and they settled in communities.

• It was around 8000 years ago when women and men first began to produce crops like wheat and barley.

• To the north of the Vindhyas are the earliest rice-growing regions.

• Cities grew up along the banks of the Ganga and its tributaries, as well as along the sea coastlines, around 2500 years ago.

In ancient times, the land to the south of the Ganga and its tributary rivers was known as Magadha, which is now part of the state of Bihar. Men and women travelled in search of work and to avoid natural calamities such as floods and droughts. These migrations of people contributed to the enrichment of our cultural heritage. Over hundreds of years, people have exchanged innovative techniques of cutting stone, producing music, and even preparing meals.

How? – Finding the Past

There are three main sources to finding the past, discussed below.

1) Manuscripts : Manuscripts are documents that have been written by hand. They were inscribed on palm leaves or barks of trees and then bound together to form a book. Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Tamil were the most common languages spoken at the period, and these works were produced in those languages as well. Scholars used Sanskrit as their primary language. Prakrit was the common man's language.

2) Inscriptions : Writings on relatively hard surfaces such as stone, baked clay, or metal are known as inscriptions. Scripts were used to write these inscriptions. Scripts are made up of letters or symbols. The commands were sometimes written so that everyone could see, read, and obey them. In Kandahar, for example, an ancient inscription dating from around 2250 years ago was discovered.

3) Archaeology : Finally, there's Archaeology, which is the study of previous items that were produced and used. Archaeologists are those who research these artefacts. They look at the ruins of stone and brick buildings, as well as paintings and sculptures. They scavenge the soil for tools, weapons, pots, pans, decorations, and money.

The artefacts were utilised to provide information on how people lived, what they used, and what their lifestyle must have been like. Animal, bird, and fish bones were utilised to determine what people ate in the past. These were the hard, indestructible things that lasted a long period.

Different Ways of Finding the Past

• We may learn about the past through a variety of sources, including manuscripts (old books) and inscriptions (writings on hard surfaces such as stone or metal).

• Manuscripts were typically written on palm leaves or birch tree bark. They covered a wide range of topics, including religious customs and beliefs, monarchs' lives, medicine, and science. They were composed in Sanskrit, Prakrit, or Tamil as notes, epics, and dramas.

• The common people could read and follow religious and other messages and instructions carved on stones and metals by kings. Inscriptions were frequently employed to chronicle significant historical occurrences.

• Archaeology studies the remains of many items (pots, weapons, ornaments, tools, diverse structures, paintings, sculptures, coins, and so on) to learn about the past. They also look for animal and bird bones, as well as charred residues of seeds, grains, and wood, to figure out what humans ate in the past.

Different Names of India

• Bharat or Hindustan are other names for India.

• The term India is Greek in origin and derives from the Indus River (Sindhu in Sanskrit, Hindu in Persian). Greek invaders from the north-west had to cross the Indus River, and the territory to the river's south became known as India throughout time.

• According to the Rigveda, Bharata was the term given to a tribe of people who resided in the northwest. Later on, they were given the honour of having the whole country named after them.

Diversity Found in the Past

• Diverse individuals live extremely different lifestyles, such as kings and farmers. As a result, their backgrounds must have been somewhat different. They must have had quite distinct birthday celebrations, or lived in very different sorts of houses and families, for example.

• Kings lavished lavishly on the documentation of their lives and battles. Ordinary people's life, however, such as farmers, hunters, herders, gatherers, and artisans, are not documented.

• As a result, historians and archaeologists try to learn as much as they can about as many different eras as possible.

History and Dates

We all think of history as a series of dates. We may learn the dates of key events by looking back in history. Dates are usually associated with Jesus Christ's birth. They are categorised as follows:

• Anno Domini(AD)- (After the death of Jesus Christ)

• Before Christ (BC)- (Before the death of Jesus Christ)

• AD is also called Common Era

• BC is also called Before Common Era

• Sometimes we use BP which means Before Present

How are Dates Assigned?

Dates before the birth of Christ are tallied backwards and the letters BC (Before Christ) are added at the end, according to the ancient chronological method. AD is added to dates following the birth of Christ. However, instead of BC and AD, we now use BCE and CE in the new system.

Summary - What, Where, How and When of the Past

The above chapter What, Where, How And When Of The Past is the first chapter of the Class 6 syllabus. This is a very important chapter for every student. Thousands of years ago, people lived on the banks of rivers like the Narmada and the Ganges. Initially, they were gatherers and hunters, later farmers and animal herders. Magadha was one of ancient India's sixteen Maha-Janapadas or kingdoms.