Sources and Approaches

History is the study of past events of the human world in space and time. Henceforth, it is
important to reconstruct historical events in the correct way. Historians use a plethora of
sources to develop stage by stage developments of historical events. These sources includes -
Archives, Records, Surveys, Repositories, Travel accounts, Biographies, Memoirs, Newspapers,
Journals, Oral Evidence, Artefacts, Creative Literature and Paintings.

​ Archives - Administrative, Commercial, legal, National Archives of India - NDLS

​ Surveys - Land,Mineral surveys (James Rennell- 1st Surveyor General, Bengal, 1767)
​ Record - Home Political, 1907, (On political & Communal issues)
​ ​ Khalsa Darbar records (Lahore), Peshwa Daftar Records (Pune)
Dogra Rule records (JK, 1846), Fort Williams Record (although sacked in 1756)
Fort St. George records (Madras), Tranquebar, Serampore records (Danes)
Chandernagore, Pondicherry records (French), Chindurah record (Dutch) ​
​
Biographies, Memoirs and Travel Accounts
​ ​ Hindu Manners and Customs - Abbe Dubois
​ ​ Narrative of a Visit to the Court of Sinde - James Burnes
​ ​ Travels Into Bokhara - Alexander Burnes
​ ​ Diary of the Travels and Adventures in Upper India - C.J.C. Davidson
​ ​ Travels and Adventures in the Province of Assam - John Butler
​ ​ Travels in Kashmir and the Punjab - Baron Charles

Newspapers and Journals

Newspapers and journals form an authentic source of information for the reconstruction
of history. The first attempts to publish newspapers in India were made by the
disgruntled employees of EIC who sought to expose corruption. In 1776, William Bolts,
being censured by the Court of Directors for private trading, announced his intention to
publish a newspaper. But his plan ended before materialising. Later, James A. Hickey was
the 1st to publish a newspaper in IN. His press was seized within two years. From the
second half of the 19th century, many powerful newspapers appeared both in English and
Vernacular language. Nearly one-third of the founding fathers of the Indian National
Congress in 1885 were journalists.

The Bengal Gazette / Calcutta General Advertiser - James A. Hickey, 1780

The Calcutta Gazette (1784)​ ​ ​ ​ The Madras Courier (1788)
The Bombay Herald (1789)​ ​ ​ ​ Bengalee - Surendranath Banerjee
Sudharak - Gopal Krishna Gokhale​ ​ ​ Indian Mirror - N.N. Sen
Voice of India under Dadabhai Naoroji​ ​ Hindustan and Advocate - G.P. Varma
Tribune and Akhbar-i-Am - Punjab ​​ ​ Bande Matram - Madam Cama, Paris
Ghadar - Lala Hardayal, San Francisco ​ ​ Kesari, Mahratta - Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Talwar - Virendranath ChattopaD., Berlin The Hindu, Swadesamitran - G. SubrM. Iyer
Amrita Bazaar Patrika - Sisir Kr Ghosh, Motilal Ghosh
Creative Literature
The most significant outcome of the Indo-European contact was the literary genre of the novel
which emerged in the latter half of the 19th century.
Anandamath (1882), Rajasimha (last novel) - Bankim Chandra Chatterji
Hind and Britannia - Icharam Suryaram Desai
Mohana Rajani (1931) and Dasikalin Mosavalai - Girija Devi and Ramatirthammal
Keelubommalu - G.V. Krishna Rao
Balyakalasakhi - Muhammad Basheer
Tottiyude Makan, Chemmeen - Siva Sankara Pillai

Painting
Some information on the socio-economic, political and cultural life during the colonial period
can be obtained from the paintings of that period. They picturise the people and scenes as
they existed at the time. Trades, festivals, dances and the attire of people are visible in these
works. The introduction of photography in India in the 1840s dwindles its relevance. Joseph
Noel Paton, recorded in painting two years of the revolt of 1857. One can see English women
and children huddled in a circle, looking helpless and innocent, seemingly waiting for the
inevitable—dishonour, violence and death.
In the last decades of the 19th century, a new art
movement emerged which received its primary stimulus from the growing nationalism in
India. The Bengal School led by Abanindranath Tagore (nephew of Rabindranath Tagore), E.B.
Havell (who joined the art school in Calcutta as principal), Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy,
Nandalal Bose and Raja Ravi Varma were representatives of this new trend

Patna Kalam - EIC patronage​ ​ ​ ​ Relief of Lucknow - Thomas Jones Barker, 1859
In Memoriam - Joseph Noel Paton ​ ​ ​ Kalighat painting - Kolkata
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​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Approaches to the History

History is not just a narration of events. It is studied with different approaches, contexts,
perspectives and ideologies. This study of historical interpretation is called historiography.
The modern history of India can be read broadly under four approaches— the Colonial (or the
Imperialist), Nationalist, Marxist, Communalist, Cambridge, Liberal and Neo-liberal, Feminist
and Subaltern—each with its own distinct characteristics and modes of interpretation.

Colonial Approach
It is influenced by the ideology of domination and justification of colonial rule. It uses the
doctrine of Social Darwinism (English considered themselves superior to the ‘natives’ and the
fittest to rule) White Man’s burden, Civilising mission to establish Pax Britannica to bring law
and order and peace to a bickering society. It criticises indigenous society and culture while
praising western culture and values. James Mill, Mountstuart Elphinstone, Vincent Smith are
pioneers of the colonial historiographical trend.

Nationalist Approach
Developed as a response to and in confrontation with the colonial approach, the nationalist
approach takes pride in indigenous culture, traditions, knowledge and society. It exposes the
exploitative nature of colonial rule. Dadabhai Naoroji, M.G. Ranade, G.V. Joshi, R.C. Dutt, K.T.
Telang, G.K. Gokhale, D.E. Wacha, R.G. Pradhan, A.C. Mazumdar, J.L. Nehru, Pattabhi
Sitaramayya. R.C. Majumdar and Tara Chand were pioneers of this approach.

Marxist Approach
Marxist approach in IN is led by two classic books—Rajni Palme Dutt’s India Today and A.R.
Desai’s Social Background of Indian Nationalism (first published in 1948). Originally written
for the famous Left Book Club in England, India Today, first published in 1940 in England, was
later published in India in 1947 see the primary contradiction between the interests of the
colonial masters (Haves) and the subject people (Have Nots) as the reason behind national
movements. They tend to see the national movement as a structured bourgeois movement
against their colonial master (Haves). Unlike the nationalists, they take full note of the inner
contradictions between the different sections of society. Sumit Sarkar looks at the nationalist
leaders in the light of intelligentsia which acts as a “kind of proxy for as yet passive social
forces with which it had little organic connection”.

Subaltern Approach
It began in the early 1980s under the editorship of Ranajit Guha. For the subaltern historians,
the basic contradiction in Indian society in the colonial epoch was between the elite, both
Indian and foreign, on the one hand, and the subaltern groups, on the other, and not between
colonialism and the Indian people. However, they do not subscribe to the Marxist theory of the
nature of exploitation. They point out that the Indian society of the time could not be seen in
terms of class alone. This school sees nationalism as exploitative in terms of caste, gender,
religious and creed divisions. Nationalism, say the subalterns, ignored the internal
contradictions within the society. They believe that the Indian people were never united in a
common anti-imperialist struggle. Instead, they assert, there were two distinct movements or
streams: the real anti-imperialist stream of the subalterns and the bogus national movement
of the elite. The elite streams, led by the ‘official’ leadership of the Indian National Congress,
were little more than a cloak for the struggle for power among the elite.

Communalist Approach
They are influenced by the view that Hindus and Muslims as permanent hostile groups whose
interests were mutually different and antagonistic to each other. In their view, India’s
medieval history was one long story of Hindu Muslim conflict.

Cambridge School
According to this school of thought, the fundamental contradiction under colonial rule was
not between imperialism and the Indian people, but among the Indians themselves. Further,
Indian nationalism was not the product of a struggle of the Indian people against colonial
exploitation. The leaders of the national movement, according to this school, were inspired by
the quest for power and material benefits. It reduces nationalism to ‘animal politics’.

Liberal and Neo-Liberal Approach

According to this interpretation, the economic exploitation of the colonies was not beneficial
as capital investment in overseas markets (like laying of railways in India) might have actually
discouraged domestic investment and delayed the development of the ‘new’ industries in
Britain. The proponents of this school of thought are Patrick O’Brian, Hopkins and Cain.

Feminist Approach
It began with the women’s movement of the 1970s. An important area of research has been
analysis of the way in which colonial structures, such as the legal structure, affected women’s
lives. Women’s vulnerability due to the denial of ownership of productive resources has been
focused on, in the analysis of how progressive laws shaped gender relations.
​ The High Caste Hindu Woman (1887) by Pandita Ramabai
Mother India (1927) by Katherine Mayo

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