Historiography Then and Now: Medieval Bihar (An Old and Rare Book)

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I am profoundly grateful to Professor Dr. P.N. Ojha, Director of Public Instruction (Higher Education), Bihar, and present Director, K.P. Jayatwal Research Institute, Patna, for the high honour he has done to me by inviting me to deliver the sixth series of K.P. Jayaswal Memorial Lectures on any aspect of Medieval Indian History for the year 1987 I am also beholden to him for giving me this opportunity of coming to this state which nursed me ever since my childhood till my retirement and where I learnt the bismillah of research and of meeting my old colleagues and friends,Out of the five previous annual series of lectures, delivered by my distinguished predecessors, while one was on a philosophical subject the other four related to society, polity and culture in Bihar through the ages as well as its archaeology. For me, therefore, economic history of medieval Bihar would have been an obvious choice. But this could only be an abridged rehash of my Gilmpses of medieval Bihar Economy, published a few years ago. The late Dr. K.P. Jayaswal had been an early pioneer of modern historiography on ancient India, whose works had for long served as valuable works of reference to generations of scholars, For some years past I have been seeking to delve into the mysteries of historiography in India in general. I still do not claim any mastery over it. But it struck me that it may be worthwhile to expatiate on and popularise this vital but difficult, comparatively little known and even less discussed subject, in relation to medieval Bihar. The theme of my lectures, 'Historiography then and now: Medieval Bihar,' was approved by the Director of the Institute in his letter no: 1081 dated 20-2-87. This essay is expected to innovate the study of the regional historiography of medieval Bihar in the background of notions of historiography in and outside India.