Page 7 - Journeys Through Society-7

3. Literary Accounts Polo and Nicolo Conti, both of
4. Archaeological sources whom were from Italy. The latter
left a significant account of the
Literary Sources kingdom of Vijayanagar and its
Literary sources constitute the body of written records wars with the Bahamani kingdom.
in the form of chronicles, commentaries, royal orders, Ralph Fitch wrote a graphic
farmans, folklores, dramas, autobiographies, account of the court of Akbar. A
biographies, etc. The literary sources of the early part number of European travellers Marco Polo
of medieval India are found in the form of visited the court of Jahangir. Father
manuscripts. Manuscripts are handwritten records Xavier, Captain William Hawkins and Sir Thomas Roe
preserved in archives. The literary texts are divided were among them.
into various categories, for instance, the indigenous The travelogues of this period are another important
and foreign accounts. Another category of literary source. Ibn Battuta's Rihla describes the reign of
sources are the religious records left by religious Muhammad bin Tughluq. Abdur Razzaq wrote an
teachers, reformers and their disciples. account on the conditions of the kingdom of

It is interesting to note that paper was still not in use in Vijayanagar.
the Indian subcontinent during the early medieval
Archaeological Sources
period. Palm leaves, bark of birch trees and animal
skins were used as materials for writing. Archaeology is the study of History through the
material remains of human life.
Biographies like Barani’s Tarikh-i-Firozshahi, Abul
Fazl’s Ain-i-Akbari, and Muntakhabul-Tawarikh by Archaeological sources may include old monuments
Badauni are some important sources. Other like palaces, temples, buildings, coins, inscriptions,
important works are Prithviraj-raso of Chand Bardai, etc. These are generally obtained by digging the
Bilhana's Vikramankadeva Charita and Kalhana's surface of the earth. The people who study such old
Rajatarangini. material remains are called archaeologists.

Royal orders and farmans issued by the court of Monuments, old buildings and artefacts tell us about
Jahangir and Aurangzeb also throw valuable light on the social and economic life of the people. They
the workings of the Mughal administration. provide invaluable information regarding the
architectural skills of workers, the materials used to
construct these monuments and the modes of
transportation in use besides the cultural and religious
beliefs prevalent during the period under study. Some
important archaeological sources of this period are
the Agra Fort in Agra, the Red Fort in Delhi, the Amber
Fort in Jaipur and the Fort of Jaisalmer.

Manuscripts of some texts belonging
to the Mughal period
Accounts of Foreign Travellers

Many European travellers visited India during the
medieval period. Their accounts constitute an
important source material for studying the period.
Some of the major works were produced by Marco
Sun Temple at Konark
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