THE NEXT EXEMPLAR is Dr. S. Srikanta Sastri, who was not merely a towering historian but a phenomenon of sorts. His invaluable body of work is an enduring guidance as to how a student or researcher should effectively use the primary sources of history.
In fact, he has shed illuminating light on the subject in his classic work, Puratattva Shodhane (Archaeological Research). In this essay, he expounds upon epigraphy and archaeology but his advice is equally applicable to other areas of historical research.
What is the benefit of studying archaeology and epigraphy? The foremost duty of epigraphy is to unearth truths… To what extent can we learn about our culture through lifeless epigraphic or archaeological fossils? Things like the mind and Atman are not “research topics” in the true sense. The human body is a collection of fluids that don’t cost more than five rupees. However, what is known as Ātma-samskṛti (culture of the soul) is invaluable. In that case, this question arises: to what extent can epigraphy reveal this Ātma-samskṛti?... Archaeology and epigraphy rely on the aids provided by the physical sciences. However, unlike these sciences, one cannot arrive at definitive conclusions solely through epigraphy. Epigraphy is thus also an art in and by itself. The study of epigraphy will not attain fruition by merely collecting facts... The researcher must also be an artist. Along with collecting artefacts, he must also expound upon their real meaning that elevates the intellect and ennobles the emotion.
This sort of insight cannot emerge from a mere archaeologist or historian; it can only come from a person who is inextricably anchored to Vedanta and Kala-Mimamsa (Aesthetics) and the Darshanic tradition of Sanatana Dharma; it can come from a savant who is attuned to detect the invisible, living connections that these disciplines have with lifeless documents, inscriptions and coins. Dr. Srikanta Sastri’s Bharatiya Samskruti is, in my opinion, the best embodiment of his own dictum.
NOW, WE CAN EXAMINE various dimensions of the working style and methods of other titans of Indian history.
We can begin with Jadunath Sarkar again. In 1958, Sarkar wrote a delightful essay titled How my Library Grew, and here are some extracts from it.
After passing the Matric examination (in 1887), it became my passion to buy rare books on Indian history… My educational expenses were paid by my father and I was free to spend all my own money from the first grade scholarships which I enjoyed throughout my college life, on these “India books.” The second-hand book-sellers of Calcutta found in me their most liberal (and gullible) patron, and thus the rare books on Indian history discarded by the European clubs, barracks and private owners (like Prince Ghulam Husain, the last, grandson of Tipu Sultan, who died in Calcutta) were first offered to me. I thus laid the foundation of my historical library, but when I passed the Premchand Examination (1897) and undertook original research, my library grew and branched like the proverbial banyan tree. I discarded my Calcutta suppliers and began to give large orders, year after year, to the famous second-hand book sellers of England… After thirty years this stream stopped through fullness of collection and also the demands of my new love,—original research with the help of Persian, Marathi and English MSS. and records… The result is that today my collection of Persian manuscripts and Marathi printed sources is indispensable to the students of our mediaeval history, as it has brought together in one place the necessary works which are scattered in many towns of India and the famous public libraries of Europe — India Office, British Museum, the Bodleian, the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris, and the then Royal Library of Berlin, besides Kazvini’s metrical history of Nadir Shah of which there is only one manuscript in the world, in Leningrad. I equipped myself with the very necessary Survey of India maps regardless of cost… the oldest scientifically drawn map of British India is of priceless worth to me, as it gives the result of the survey before the Sepoy Mutiny and the Railways changed the face of India; the historic but now discarded routes and village names are to be found here only… There is no end to this quest, this search for buried truth, which we call research.
Then we have the redoubtable Pandurang Vaman Kane. A few years ago, my friends Kashyap Naik, Hari Ravikumar and Raghavendra visited Sri Shantaram Kane, grandson of P.V. Kane and gathered precious information and insights about several unknown facets of that great man. It is published as a series on the Prekshaa Journal. Here are some of the most delectable and inspiring passages from it.
Sri Kane would wake up by 5:15 or 5:30 every morning and by 6, he took a stroll at the Malabar Hills in Bombay. He would climb up the hill and return to his home by 7. Then for an hour and a half he would study the Dharma-śāstra texts or other legal commentaries, or at times read the journals he had subscribed to. He got ready by 9 or 9:15 and leave for court. At times, when there were very few matters in his docket, he would head to the Royal Asiatic Society Library and study the subjects of his interests, including Dharma-śāstra texts… He would then meet his clients and prepare for the next day’s work sitting in his chambers till 6:30 in the evening. Then he would return home, take a short tea break and start working on his monumental work – History of Dharma-śāstra from 7 till about 9:30, only to break for dinner in the midst of his work. This was his routine for at least thirty-eight years during which time he wrote more than 6,500 pages that make up his pièce de résistance. While reading several chapters of the History of Dharma-śāstra, we all noticed that Dr. P V Kane (‘PVK’) has referred to manuscripts, books, and journals available at some library in Nepal, Delhi, a corner of North-eastern India, in the heart of South India, and so forth. I was wonderstruck as to how he could go to these places simply to refer to a single manuscript. I was impressed with his keenness in not letting go of a single paper available on the subject… PVK would visit libraries at far off places, sometimes combining it with family vacations and sometimes alone (like his visits to Jaipur and Tanjore).
The last point is very significant – how Kane travelled all the way to Nepal to read just one manuscript. Recall how V.K. Rajwade undertook similar tours to all sorts of places to get rare but valued historical documents? It is clear that this kind of self-imposed commitment was a trait that all these stalwarts shared.
To be continued
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