Historical Evidence and Its Interpretation

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Prof Kiran Kumar Thaplyal (b. 1936), after obtaining first class first Master's degree in Ancient Indian History and Archaeology (1957), from Lucknow University, served the Archacological Survey of India (1957- 60), where he was in charge of Antiquities, received training in Field Archaeology and participated in the archaeological excavations at Ujjain, Alamgirpur, Gilund and Lothal. Later (1960), he joined the University of Lucknow, where he served as Lecturer, Reader, Professor and Head of the Department of Ancient Indian History and Archaeology, Dean, Faculty of Arts, and Emeritus Professor.

He was awarded three gold medals, two for MA examinations and one for the best PhD thesis. He was Visiting Fellow at the Vikram University, Ujjain, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, and Hindu University, Varanasi. He was Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla, and a member of the Central Advisory Board for Archaeology. He is the recipient of the Brahmi Award for his contributions in the field of Indology. The University of Lucknow felicitated him for his contributions to knowledge and development; and the Universities of Allahabad and Gorakhpur, for his contributions in the field of Epigraphy. The Numismatic Society of India awarded him its Altekar Medal for his contributions in Numismatics.

He was the General President of (i) the Numismatic Society of India, (ii) the Epigraphical Society of India, and (iii) UP History Congress, he was the Sectional President (Ancient India Section) of the Indian History Congress. His friends and admirers brought out a Felicitation Volume in his honour.

He has published 120 papers in research journals, and edited Jaina Vidya and Select Battles in Indian History (two-volume set jointly). The 11 books authored by him include Studies in Ancient Indian Seals, Inscriptions of the Maukharis, Later Guptas, Puşpabhūtis and Yasovarman of Kanauj, Jaina Paintings, Sindhu Sabhyată (in Hindi, jointly, 8 editions); Guilds in Ancient India, Coins of Ancient India (jointly); Village and Village Life in Ancient India, The Imperial Guptas A Political History, and Aśoka- The King and the Man. His book-Bhagavana Buddha (in Hindi) is in press and will be out shortly, and another book, The Indus Script and the Brahmi Script: Is Brähmi Derived from the Indus Script, is in the final stages of preparation.

Prof Kiran Kumar Thaplyal (b. 1936), after obtaining first class first Master's degree in Ancient Indian History and Archaeology (1957), from Lucknow University, served the Archaeological Survey of India (1957- 60), where he was in charge of Antiquities, received training in Field Archaeology and participated in the archaeological excavations at Ujjain, Alamgirpur, Gilund and Lothal. Later (1960), he joined the University of Lucknow, where he served as Lecturer, Reader, Professor and Head of the Department of Ancient Indian History and Archaeology, Dean, Faculty of Arts, and Emeritus Professor.

He was awarded three gold medals, two for MA examinations and one for the best PhD thesis. He was Visiting Fellow at the Vikram University, Ujjain, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, and Hindu University, Varanasi. He was Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla, and a member of the Central Advisory Board for Archaeology. He is the recipient of the Brähmi Award for his contributions in the field of Indology. The University of Lucknow felicitated him for his contributions to knowledge and development; and the Universities of Allahabad and Gorakhpur, for his contributions in the field of Epigraphy. The Numismatic Society of India awarded him its Altekar Medal for his contributions in Numismatics.

He was the General President of (i) the Numismatic Society of India, (ii) the Epigraphical Society of India, and (iii) UP History Congress; he was the Sectional President (Ancient India Section) of the Indian History Congress. His friends and admirers brought out a Felicitation Volume in his honour.

He has published 120 papers in research journals, and edited Jaina Vidya and Select Battles in Indian History (two-volume set jointly). The 11 books authored by him include Studies in Ancient Indian Seals; Inscriptions of the Maukharis, Later Guptas, Puşpabhūtis and Yasovarman of Kanauj; Jaina Paintings, Sindhu Sabhyata (in Hindi, jointly, 8 editions); Guilds in Ancient India; Coins of Ancient India (jointly); Village and Village Life in Ancient India, The Imperial Guptas A Political History; and Aśoka- The King and the Man. His book-Bhagavana Buddha (in Hindi) is in press and will be out shortly, and another book, The Indus Script and the Brahmi Script: Is Brähmi Derived from the Indus Script, is in the final stages of preparation.

The nucleus of the present work is the Presidential Address delivered by me at the 2016 CE session of the Indian History Congress (Ancient India section), The Address, which, as per guidelines of the authorities of the Congress contained about 4500 words. It has been enlarged many times the original size. The chapterization has been done mainly on the basis of the nature of the evidence or the type of the source material. A brief summary of the contents of sixteen Chapters and four Appendices is given below. Chapter 1, deals with the nature, scope and methodology followed. and stresses on the need to critically examine and impartially interpret them. Chapter 2 discusses various types of evidences with examples. An interesting example of a passage which has not been punctuated, if punctuated in one way would make a person as father of a lady, and if punctuated in another way, as her son. Chapter 3 cites examples of multi-interpretations of the same evidence, and Chapter 4 shows how by piecing together multiple evidences of diverse nature-literary, epigraphic, numismatic, and art-style-the genealogy and chronology of a hitherto unknown ruling family could be reconstructed. Evidences relating to dating based on the eras, regnal years and palaeography form the subject of Chapter 5. Identification of Sandrocottus of Greek writers with Chandragupta Maurya, and the mention of five contemporary Greek kings in Aśokan inscription have provided the earliest fixed dates in Indian history, and mentioning past events in chronological order are discussed in Chapter 6. The controversies regarding the interpretation of numismatic evidence for the identification of the authors of certain coin-types are the subject of Chapter 7. Various views regarding the identification of Chandra of the Mehrauli pillar inscription are critically examined in Chapter 8. Chapter 9 shows how the evidence of find-spots of epigraphs, coins and seals help in determining the extent of the territories of kings and republican tribes, in corroborating the evidence of the trade and commerce between India and Roman empire; in locating what language and script was in use in a particular region in a given period; in tracing the migration of tribes, and in identifying certain localities mentioned in literature.