1. Sources of History

• (1) l _ _ _ n d _ — legends
• (2) t _ _ i k _ — tarikh
• (3) b _ _ h _ r — bakhar
• (4) p _ w _ d _ — powada
• (5) i _ _ c r _ p _ i _ n — inscription
• (6) m _ n _ m _ n t — monument

Monuments include samadhis, graves, veergala, and buildings. The buildings include palaces, ministerial mansions, Queen's quarters (raniwasa), and also the houses of common people.

Tavarikh or Tarikh means the sequence of events. Tavarikhs written by Al Biruni, Ziauddin Barani, Maulana Ahmed, Yahya Bin Ahmed, Mirza Hyder, and Bhimsen Saxena help us understand the chronological sequence of historical events.

The author's impartiality and neutrality are very important qualities in the writing of history. An author must examine evidence critically and avoid personal biases, exaggerations, and political pressures.

• (1) Material sources, written sources, unwritten sources, oral sources. — unwritten sources (The other three are the standard classifications of historical sources).
• (2) Monuments, coins, cave sculptures, stories. — stories (It is an oral source; the rest are material sources).
• (3) Bhurjapatras, temples, treatises, paintings. — temples (It is a material source; the rest are written sources).
• (4) Owis, tarikhs, folk tales, myths. — tarikhs (It is a written source; the rest are oral sources).

Material sources are the physical objects and structures that provide insights into the past. Examples include forts, memorials, buildings, cave sculptures, inscriptions, coins, and copper plates. By examining them, we come to know about the development of architecture, the economic conditions, the quality of art, the style of building construction, and the people's standard of living in that particular period.

Written sources are documents and texts from which we learn about significant historical events. In the medieval period, these include scripts like Devanagari, Arabic, Persian, and Modi, as well as bhurjapatras, religious manuscripts, treatises, edicts, decrees, biographies, travelogues, and chronicles (bakhars). They provide valuable information about the food items, attire, conventions, rules of conduct, and administrative systems of the people.

Oral sources refer to the folk literature that is traditionally passed on from generation to generation by word of mouth. Examples include owis, folk songs, powadas, folk tales, legends, and myths. These sources help us understand various aspects of folk life, the beliefs, and the emotions of the common people that are often absent from official written records.

A stone inscription is a carving on a stone or a wall. It is considered a very important and authentic source of history because it is a direct, contemporary record that is extremely difficult to alter or tamper with later. It provides reliable and accurate information about features like the language, script, dates, and social life of that specific period.

Oral sources like folk songs, powadas, folk tales, and myths are traditionally passed on from one generation to the next. They capture the beliefs, emotions, struggles, and rich cultural traditions of the common people. Since official documents often focus on kings and wars, oral sources are essential to reveal the everyday lives and thoughts of ordinary citizens.