A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c6.22

c6.22

The complaint is often heard that history generally, and that of India in particular, tends to be a chronicle of dynasties of kings and the endless wars they waged, and devotes little attention to the common people and the cultural movements that influenced their daily life in a profound manner. The fact is that in recent times the conception of history has become much wider than it used to be, and changes in polity and administration, the development of social and economic institutions, and developments in the spheres of religion and art claim the attention of the historian much more today than ever before. But chronology is the skeleton of history, and for the most part the establishment of a dependable chronology necessarily rests on an adequate study of political history; and when large sections of that history are still in the process of being studied and there remains scope for differences of opinion on a number of unsettled questions, the historian is obliged to devote rather more attention to the political side if he is to make his narrative intelligible. Further, the kings and chieftains who so much attract our attention were often splendid promoters of culture and the arts besides being the upholders of society and the protectors of the people. Their history, if pursued on a proper scale and with a full knowledge of the sources, will often be seen to verge on that true history of the life of the people which the critics of dry-as-dust history pine for.