What sources were used by historians to know about 250 years of Indian history?

Indian History of about 250 years is gathered from the various sources by historians. For the coming generation to know in detail about the Indian history various sources have been explored which are as follows:

• Official records – British recorded all the information for making administration work easier. They considered that writing is important so every plan, policy, decision, agreement, investigation was recorded in a written form. This makes it easier to debate and discuss various issues. This led to the formation of memos, notings and reports which included all the information of the administration system of the British rule.

They also believed in the preservation of the documents and letters. For this purpose, they created record rooms for every administrative institution like village tahsildar ’s office, the collectorate, the commissioner’s office, the provincial secretariats, the law courts. Records were also preserved by the specialised institutions like archives and museums. Archival records still contain the memos and letters transferred in the early years of the 19th century from one branch to another for the administrative work like notes and reports prepared by the district officials, or the instructions and directives sent by the officials at the top to provincial administrators.

All these documents were copied and skilfully written by the calligraphists in the early years of the 19th century. Later when the system of printing evolved all records were printed in multiple numbers and used for the proper functioning of the government department.

• Records of the detailed surveys – when Britishers started ruling they decided to take a proper survey of the country before administering it. So under the colonial rule, the practice of survey became common. Detailed surveys were started to map the entire country by the early 19th century. Revenue surveys were conducted in the villages. To administer the region, it was considered important to know about the topography, the soil quality, the flora, the fauna, the local histories, and the cropping pattern. Every 10 years census operations were held which was started at the end of the 19th century. It was conducted to record the number of people in all the provinces of India, noting the information on castes, religions and occupation. Moreover, Botanical surveys, Zoological surveys, archaeological surveys, anthropological surveys, forest surveys were also conducted.

NOTE – Calligraphists – the individual who specialises in the art of beautiful writing.