HISTORY ASSIGNMENT

Name- Kunal Rai

Enrollment number- L21BALU0053

Topic- What is history? Discuss.

Answer -
History is a branch of social science which is concerned about past, mainly human past or
events which have affected men and society. Its study of what human did, thought, suffered
and experienced in past i.e. study of causes and effects of a incident what human did. History
is studied through the evidences of the past which has survived or through the evidences
which can be reconstructed, so it can be said that history is the study of the present evidences
of the past. The word has its origin from Greek word “historia” which means inquiry,
knowledge obtained through investigation and research. The past become comprehensible
through the present and the present is understood with the help of past. According to
E.H Carr history is “an unending dialogue between the present and the past”
History enables man to understand the society in which he lives, as it gives him a grater
perspective to look at society and understand it.
Different generations have different content and form of history according to the sources
available to them at their time. History is the study of traces or evidences and is a subject
which is completely dependent on them. It is the primary task of a historian to collect facts
and sources of evidences with the central objective of the study of mankind. The
confirmation of a event by the helping subjects of history- chronology, palaeography,
diplomatic, sigillography, epigraphy, numismatics, archaeology and philology- makes a
historical fact. Raw presenting these facts would make no sense. The way of explaining
plays a major role to history. The facts and events themselves are meaningless, it’s the
historian who imparts meaning to these facts and events. The interpretation, ordering and
selection of facts is the main work of historian. Our way of looking at history depends
entirely on the present needs. A writer says, “We build our conceptions of history partly out
of our present needs and purposes. The past is a kind of screen upon which we project our
vision of the future. It is moving picture borrowing much of its form and colour from our
fears and aspirations.”
History is not antiquarianism, interpretation also plays a key role in history. History is nor
mythology as its supported by evidences. History is not for creation of historians, generation
after the other rather its for the education of the common people.
History is a living subject and to keep it living a historian needs the ability to form concepts
that are not visible to the senses and interpret it in detail. E.H Carr saw history as “ The
record of what people did, not of what they failed to do…”
We need to study history to understand the society in which we live, the rituals we follow and
also the laws which we obey, moreover the world in which we live. History also tells about
man’s nature, his actions; overall what man is. History provides us unprejudiced,
broad-minded and profuse education and also widens our scope and perspective. It makes us
learn from the success and failure of our ancestors. It helps us to tackle the similar situation
and incidents which happened in the past. We learn from historical ‘hero’ the way to face
problems. The situation which existed in past may not be exactly the same as present, but it
may have certain similarity which may indirectly or directly guide us to cope up with it. The
understanding of the present takes place with the help of past. Experiences kept in mind are
crucial and necessary helpers for appropriate self conduct in present. What memory does to a
person, same task is performed by history to the society and individual as well. History is
useful reminiscence of past incidents of humans and society which helps them to amongst the
human diversity. Cicero says “ Not to know what took place before you were born is to
remain forever a child”. As man is a social being, history caters its basic social needs. It
increases the human knowledge beyond the incidences which he can see throughout his life.
The historians of ancient Greece and Rome gave attention to the utility and logical obtective
of history. For gaining practical knowledge one needs to suffer pain but this can be easily
gained through history by looking at the failures and success of others. History differentiates
between good and bad, by pointing at morals. Philosophy and history collectively puts a
moral obligation of truth.
In the book written by Romila Thapar EARLY INDIA she says “ History is more integrated
understanding of a complex society, its various mutations, its creativity and its efforts at
enhancing its contribution to civilization”. She says to understand the present and move
towards the future we require a sensitive, open minded study of past that should be free for
debate and inquiry.
E. H. Carr’s in his essay “The Historian and His Facts” tells his readers the restrictions that
are innate in the study of history, how historical facts are created and the relationship of a
historian with his facts.
History cannot be called as past, as past refers to time that passed and incidents that took
place. History is our effort and venture to understand and explain the past to common people.
Past cannot be changed but history is ongoing research and accounts differ depending on
one’s perspective.
According to E.H Carr history is a study of historiography.