h as th es easa_L...,co-ns id er ed o p ~u u. .

, :---
Statem en ts s ue lf a g r ea t h 1s to r ~a n, w ho
. 111. vo us joke s ra th er th an . 1 · · o w er fu l
~ · w as h1 m se g a P.
m isc e
nt s. V ol ta ir e f h ' to ry as cap ab le o f P aym
ju dg e1 ne
dy o d 1sr ea tin g a ra tio n al hu m an e so ciety.
reco m m en de d th e stu .
c
ro le in enlightening m en an 11it y of H ist or y . . .
2. Th e Ub iq
..
. 'th st an di ng , hi st ory is with ev er yb ody.
.. . an d la w ye rs . W e fin d
1 s11 1s no ~ h d to rs
Co untless cn ttc th e ca s ual ta lk o f or di nary
a) "v ~·ig ts, ?c
re:-1chers no velists rui d. of C ho even 1n
pf
' . th em un co ns ci o us ly calli ng up ?n ~a s t
th e ubiqu itous pr cs ~n cc th p r
· es en t an d m akin g hi st on cal'
<le .find .
n1eo and . \\'On1en• . \'·es tn reJatt o n to e h as 'ti m es h· av e ch an ged
J
pcrte nc · . ter an ces su e
c,T nt s :~nu cx . . 1 b t wise ut ph ra se s
4 M an y w or ds an d
ju d~ m cn ts sm 1~m c u
w
.
~,. ~
he
.
dr
er
ai
to
n
'
'
. 'u n re ce de nt ed ', 'ri ,se ord fall
or ·m or al s are gokin g ~o , P
themselves stn ac of ht sto t) • ht th e de cay of a cu sto m ' an so
of th e fa m ily ', or 'th de rs
. . , 'jc cJ in e w er e di ffe re n t. L eadi
st tu. n e w he n th ings
m pn ce s' t.t_ e pa ng
on . TI,e,· re er to so m
ay s in vo ke d hi st or y fo r gr ea t pu rp os es . S: an
of 111en· han; alw ap ol eo n ad dr es se ~ h:s m e~ :
id in Eg yp t, N
before the G reat Pyram lo o ks do "v ~ on yo u! . Li nc
ol ns
ce nt ur ie s of hi st or y
'Soldiers, fortv th ei r Pr es id en t w as ta lk ing a bo
ut
ur g kn ew w h at
hearers at Gettysb ar s ag o, ou r fo re be ar s br ou gh t
e an d se ve n ye
\.vhen he said, 'F ou r scor d in lib er ty....... ' In hi s tu ss
le w i th
lan d a na tio n co nc ei ve
forth on this in th e Re ic hs ta g (M ay, 18 72),
Bi sm ar ck de cl ar ed
the Catholic Ch ur ch al l no t go , ei th er in bo dy o r
no ss a w e sh
'H ave no fear - to Ca so r A rt hu r M ar w ic k al lu de
s to
iss ed th e po in t. Pr of es
spirit'. N one m d la nd in gs on Ita ly bega n du ri ng
cr y wh en th e Al lie
Mussolini's helpless ha s se iz ed us by th e th ro at '.
ar : 'H is to ry
th e Seco nd World W t ad dr es s on th e ev e of In di a's
ic m id ni gh
Ja w ahar1a1 N eh ru 's histor ad e a tryst w ith de st in y........ ',
is
on g ye ar s ag o w e m
inde_rendenc~, 'L_ ng be ca us e th e ring is fr om th
e
ou r ea rs fo r lo
de su ne d ~o nn g 1n fu tu re . Pr es id en t E is en how er's
en t an d th e
pa s:, waking up th e pr es H ar bo ur !' at on ce br in gs to ou r
e Pe ar l
p~licy state m en t, 'N o m or
e Se co nd Wor ld W ar.
m m d ha lf the st or y of th
H istory _
3. The Us~s a~d Value of jy
Justtficattons fo r its Stuc
Th e Social N ecessity of H
istory
(a) • .
siv e, el em en ta l qu al ity of 1uL ;
sto r y
·
1s pr oo f of 1ts
Th e p er va . t0 . th .
•1. Th e subJ ec t cr ee ps in ev en e m os t pr iv a te
soc1a un po rta nc e.
 A Manual of H frtorical Research Methodology 3
of o rdi nary men and wo men , as to any
. trivial
and . co nversa . . tio ns
·
m

dis~uss 1o n of p oliucs, m o rals, music, li teratur e and a.rt or the hjgh

policy s~tem ents of _lca? ers and statesm en. C1io's omnip resenc e in
human life argues h er milisp ensability, the idea which Professor Arth ur
;vfarwick _elab ~rates into wh at he calls the social necessity of history. s A
comm uruty witho ut a knowl edge of its own past is like a man who
has sudde nly lost his m emory. To a society in which no one kn ew
any history, the whole world wo uld be new. Marwick writes: ''As a
man witho ut memo ry and self-kn owled ge is a man adrift, so a
society withou t memo ry (or more correc tly withou t recolle ctio n)
and self-kn owledge would be a society adrift" . An individ ual may
6

recollect his past experi ence but a society has no such organic memo ry.
A so ciety's knowl edge of its own past can come only throug h
traditi on and legend , through some kind of history, in which it
preser ved a hazy knowl edge of the great heroic deeds of bygone
days. In the earlies t times, the work of preser ving and recoun ting
the past activities o f a particu lar tribe or society was perfor med by
bards, witch doctor s, trouba dours, folk singers and poets. They
may be called, in a very loose sense, the first historians.
\Xlhat is the use of history? The simple answer, writes Marwi ck,
is that human society needs history, withou t which even everyd ay life
would be unimaginable. Histor y places one in relation to his or her
society and one's own society in relation to its past. This need for an
under-standing o f the relatio nship of one's own society to other
societi es, of the place of one's own culture in relation to a wider
civilization and to all civiliza tions, is all the greater in developed
societies _i Thus, what the historian does is to minis ter to a human
need, and this social necessiry is the basic justific ation for the study of
history. Histor y is to the comm unity what memo ry is to the individ ual.
When a man loses memo ry, he loses a sense of identiry, of orientation,
which render s him helpl ess in finding his beari ngs, adjusting himseJf
to peoples and tal6ng intelbgent decisio ns about anything. History
enable s the society and the individ ual withi n that society to take
bearings, orientate, and to es tablish a sense of identi ty. Concluding
his social necess ity argument, Pro fessor Marwick writes: "Than ks
to our knowledge of history we find th at instead of being totally
adri ft in an endless and fea tureless sea of time, we do have some
idea at least of where we are and of zvho 1ve are". Indeed , Cicero
8

has said two thousand years ago: 'N ot to know what took place
before you were born is to remain fo r eve r a child'. Manki nd has
 4 A M,mt:.1/ fl/ Hirlmitrd Rt.1~t.11vb
,\Jrt/u).lt1l,!l"''
·
hc,0c nn 1Y ~ , \'tr tuc •(\f ., kn ow lc· "lf1 t' l )t
c~C't\pc d p erpctH .,l ~h tld l
histu rv.
"l' '
· F"" rn
n, t \w :--c•. r ·\.\ l nee•e~
~". . ·tn., ,, , ,,f h i~ tor)' tlo w olt r,p s t ,\\l th e
v . -- ut h t· r
u~t:-$ of h ist \)ty for hu m1,n lif
t-.
(I,} H,:,ro~'l~as ,,, 1\ frtliatx·,,.._f!.
ni.i-dpli11 r
lln likc any o the r su bject, his
to ry l"rns n cc n__trn\ iJn po_rtntKt
the ,·Mmmm ho.wt tm d n.s n 111rdia · !\ ~
ti1tP.. rlirr.iplinr. As Cn dy k
H i~tory hw ut the ro ot of ttl\ tnl nr ff\ $ u$,
sci en ce s: it wn s th~ fir~t dis
of m :{n·s ·spiritunl na tur e. hi:- tin c t prod uc t
first ex pr es sio n of T h n1.-1gh
eYe ry oth er dis cip lin e hns 9w hc n
its sepnt"!lte a nd cx clu siv ('
da m. tin of Hi sto ry is t1 Fr ee do n1 nin , th{;
E mp od um \Vh e rc di ffe re n
ho sti le su bje cn- p ea ce fully m t nn d ev ~n
ee t an d fur nis h th en1 sd ve s. 9
• f. N. L Br oo ke ha s snid: uH Pr of es so r
istor y is no t a sep :ir nte m o de
b ut the co n1 mo n h o m e of of w ou ghr,
m any int e res ts an d tec h ni
tra dit ions deYised by th Q~ wh qu es a nd
o ha ve d ed ic. nte d thei r be st
to the stu dy of the pa s_ ul en erg ies
To St ua r~ ugh es, his tor y
be en ua n inclusive me dia tin g hn s nh vnys
disciplin s ) l Prof es so r M arw
tha t ick ·writes
the r~ c~n be no do ub t as to
the ine sca pn bility of his to
me dia _n n~ ~u rpose. Be cau se ry's
eve ryt hin g h as n his tor y, hi sto
as a dtsc1 lin e cove.rs eve ryt ry
hin g .... ...Hi sto ry the re for e
be co m~ a meeci~g gro un do cs
o r t ere nt dis cip lin es, wh
wh y at its b est , lus tor y is suc ic h is
h a fas cin ati ng sub j ect . 12
. ind ee
d, Co lli ng wo od at on e srnge
. of his tho h
l11s to ryto be the on ly kin d )of u g t , pro O O llJ1 CC l l
kn ow led ge.
(c). Th e Poetic Necessity fo r H
istory
Th e use - the va lue - of
the sen se o f me eti ng soc iet his tor y is no t . l . .
o d1er societies· it is
y's ne ed to kn o,~ it l;' le r~
als o p ~- · th ~ fi~nctt~n al in
, se an 111 relati o n ro
ind jvi du al an inb or n curio-sit oent.. m e sen se tha t ~ . .
- y an d sen s..e of . ·d. t 1e re is in cv e t)'
- - ·~
It is an aware ne ss, as G.- M -
. . .
Tr evely an ha ~ wo. n er f ab o u t tl1.e p:1 Sc.)
the qu as1~m 1rac ' S pu t It,
ulo us fact tha t o nce, o n this 0
ea -l
ut h e r me n an d wo me n as
act ual • u1 ..... .. ...,v: uk_cd
• as ,
'
the1r ow n tho ug hts, swaye d •· :ve n.re to d ay, th1. nk in ,-
.
all go ne, on e gen era no .
by th eir °' ,·
~n pa ssm ns , b ut n ow ~
n vanish ing aft er an th .
as we o urselves sh all sho rtly be 0 ·
. . go ne like )'h et,, go ne as utter} ,
Th er e ex.. 1st s tn hu mn n im . g ost s n.t co ck cro w· 13)
i_ : k ag i n a tio n d. ·
!vkKJ sac ·, an u·ms t10
. . . l
ct1ve w1 s 1 to bre nk do w , ac co
h br 1n.
g to N[
n t e arn ers of timaye
 A Manual of H iston·cal Research MetbodologJ 5
and mortality and so to extend the limits of human consciousness
beyond the span of a single life".14
(d) History as Pleasure
Few hi storians worth the name would deny that the m ost
powerful impulse for them to become historians was pleasure.
A great many historians have been drawn to their work by the
aestl1etic pleasure they experience in reliving the past, in seeing
the variety, charm and strangeness o f a rem o te age, Jistening
to it and discovering the traces of its genius. Ranke, Burckhardt,
JR. Green, Croce, and Huizinga, - to mention but a few-
have exp ressed the spontaneous love and sympathy which
they felt fo r an earlier time and which had led them to history 15 .
This pleasure aspect of history is only a slight variant o f the
poetic necessity for history. It is what has been termed as a special/y
strong human instinct to want to know about the past. The instinct, when
indulged, gives pleasure. Some historians, for instance, the
distinguished A.JP. Taylor, maintain that the pursuit of historical
studies is just as enjoyable as the pursuit of music, painting or poetry
and, as such, self-justifying as the pursuit of knowledge. Marwick
holds that the 'pleasure aspect' of historical study is but a corollary
o f his 'social necessity' argument, since what is pleasurable to the
individual is al so socially usefuy The moment the historian
communicates the results of his enquiries, he serves an individual
and social need , that of orientation. History d erives its social
justification by being useful for society like painting, music or poetry.
(e) History as E ducation
T he func tional utility of history accounts for its central
importance in human li fe and this fact entitles her to a place in any
scheme of education. T he educative value of history may be studied
under the following heads: ·
(i) As a valuable training of the mind· Historis educative value has been
stressed, in the first jnstance, as a valuable training of the mind. A
_ rigorous and intensive contse a( hi stot.ical4u.u.lles, by promoting
.s,kep tid sm and !:iisto ri cal judge_ment, will undo ubtedly improve the
quality o f the mind. Now, an y rigorous discipline might make a
similar claim. Yet, however, a subj ect whose teaching is found ed
upon the critical evaluation o f a wide range of evidence and calls
for particular skills in handling source m aterials, offers, in the words
of P rofessor Marwick, " a go od antid o te to the deluge of
6 A Manual of Histon·c
al Research Methodolog
y
. f · t'Y\1
m ormat1on, uu st'nformation an d pr op ag
fr om all th e orga ns an da w hi ch , po ur
'
.
of th e m as s m ed ia ing fo rt h
, th re at en s to S\ va
"1 6 m p all o f
~) H istmy as practical gu
ide: T he re ca nn ot b~
the study of hi st or y a be tt er ju st if ic at io
if, as so tn e co nten d, n fo r
problems of th e co nt ~t pr e~ ar es ~s :o
em po ra ry w or ld _T fa ce th e
is as old as hi st or y he prncncal gJ ud e a r~ m
itself. G ra ec o-R o1 en t
historians like 1,lach na n as w el l as R
iavelli re ga rd ed th ei en ai ss an ce
to co nq ue ro rs , rule r su bj ec t as a pr ac
rs, di pl om at s an d ti ca l gu id e
\.Vtote his Uni ve rsal H st at es m en l B is ho
istroy fo r ju st tu to ri ng p B o ss ue t
Louis A'V. T hi s dida th e D au ph in , th e
ctic an d pr ag m at ic fu tu re
as a repository of ap pr oa ch lo ok s up
in st an ce s or le ss on o n hi st or y
in the pr es en t an d s w hi ch ar e lik el y
th e fu tu re , be ca us e to b e us ef ul
itself. hi st ory su ff ic ie nt ly
re pe a ts
T he didactic view of
hi st or y - th e pr ac
- has cardinal ~ ea ti ca l gu id e ar o- um
~ es se s: T o ho ld th en t
w ro ng an d th e hi st on at hi st or y re pe at s it
an 's su pp os ed abili se lf is
only re sts on sha~y ty to pr ed ic t th e fu
fo un da ti on s bu t be tu re no t
ow n pr ~p er functio tr ay s an ig no ra nc
n. T ha t fu nc ti on is e o f hi s
~ pre_dict th e f~ ~ e. to un de rs ta nd th e
pa st n o t
T
st on ans practising w he re ha ve be en in st an ce s o f di st in
the basis of w ha t th ha t th ey call 'f ut ur ol og , gu i~ he d
kn . di
are m or e in th e na tu
ey f ow abo~t- th Y , 1.e., pr e cu.ng
of predi tl. e pa st . B ut su ch pr on
. re o prog nosticJudg en ts. T he ed ic ti on s
c on is no m or e
Straye r th at th an th b em li hi st oria n's po ,) :e r
e e ef ex pr es se
d b y P ro fe ss or
his le arni
ng is us ef ul in
provides a basis fo m . .
. d. ee. tin g ne w s1tuat.1
.
of hu m an behavi· r pr e te no n on s, no t b ec au se it
-. th bu t beca us e full
familiar el em en tsou.
r tn e pa st a
k . · un de rsta nd ino-
. . m a ·e s tt po ss ib le to fi ndo
poss1blt to so lve thin pr esem pr ob le
It . d
s an th us mflkcs
em m or e tn te lli.gem
ntly.17 it
m us
hi st or y t b ,t hha ve be en i th '
o e t t only tr ue nph ls se n se th at N
th e re al na tu re of ilo so h ' ,
m an fr om hi st ~r y _a po leo n pr o n o un
th an fr om all th e te . -~'(!~ nu gh t \e ar n ce d
xt bo oks of p yh, t\t n1 or e ~b ou t
w o rld. 18 tt w er e pr op er
' sy c O og y a nd ph ly ,v -r itt en
A pa rt fr om th e w ro i\ os o h •
ng ide · ~ P v m th '
future, Pr of es so r A . e
· th , '. rt hu r M , . ka o f 1s t0 .
tn e pr ac tic al gu ,,rw1c · lays hhi s firy•s ab ili ty to pr di
id e' ar gu m
h. • c e . " 1 e ct th e
1story 1s 1or th e elite nt
only, 'a sa:crit re sts up n gelr on t\.vo w ea k. n
d . on 1 w ro ' •
e sc ie nc e ret see rv ng no ti onesthse s
ed f at
or th e fu tu re
 A lvla1111al of Histon'cal &search Methodology 7

rulers o f states, a science for pdnces, no t fo r subj ects'; and it has

" served to rein fo rce the idea of history as m ere comm o nsen se
:1pplicd to the past, to foster a history palatable to budcling politicians,
but lacking in conceptua l and methodolo gical rigour". 19 A history
conceived as poljtica.1 instructio n, wh ose aim is to learn from the
past) need not preoccupy itself with detailed research. What history
gives man is a better idea of human nature, and thi s it does more
than any other subject; it warns him against mistakes and cautions
him against excesses.
iii) History as the best liberal education: One laurel that history can specially
claim is what many renowned historians like David Thomson think
it to be: the b est liberal educatior iHistory shaq~ens the intellect,
enlarges the understan ding and bro~ns the visiog)_rt comprehe nds
man in all his variousne ss and, as the nineteenth century French
historians Langlois and Signobos said, "it familiarises us with variation
20
in social forms, and cures us of a morbid dread of change". Our
life today has grown o ut of the past and history as the recollectio ns
of tl1 at past experienc e illumines the present and helps direct the
future. Sir John·Seely had the value o f this experience in mind when
he stated that when we learn history, we do not learn the past but
the future. Alone of all subjects, history gives us the perspectiv e of
life. D avid Hume rem arked that 'a man acguainte d with history
ma~·, in some respects, be said to have lived from the beginning of
the world'. 21 And George Santayana observed that those 'who
cannot remembe r the past are condemne d to repeat it'.
i,·) History as corrective: To Pol ybius, there was 'no ~re read y
22
corrective of conduct than knowledg e of the past'. (History as
corrective derives from history as useful education . It is a positive
gain that the present can learn from mistakes committe d by men in
the pasVlt is to this corrective quali ty of history, perhaps, that we
owe the U.N.O, our abjuration of casteism, racism and war and
our efforts to promote peace an d prosperity throughou t th e world.
It is a lesson of hi sto ry that the U.N. has written into the Preamble
of its Charter: 'to save succeeding generation s from th e scourge of
war.'
v) History as wisdom: ~t is by reason of the enlightening quality of
hi story that thinkers and philosoph ers have invariably recoin:mended
its stud y. If to Di o nysius of Halicarna ssus history was philoso~h y
reaching by example, to Francis Baco n it was the subject which

'
r 8
A Mam,nl (!f Historical &search l\tlethodology

mnde men wt \ d hear Bertrn nd Russell's revealing confession :

·\n . . . . .
• om
· e of Boeduus m the sixth centu ry, lt has been
''Ever smce .
custom:'\n' to ~·pe"k -.\
of the consolatio ns o f philo
.
sophy, but fo r my
p ~Ht l fit~d more conso lation to be deriv ed fro m
the study of
hi~tory" .
Yi) H islPti ' ;.s rt'f<lffrr inspimtio11: To dismi ss histo ry mere
1 ly as record
of .l dead past is only to betray our igno~ance of its creativ.e p~we
rs.
By pro,'iding an important source .of t?eas. a~d. prese nting 1~eals
and heroe s of for mer ages, histo rr ms ires 1nd1v1duals and nab.e
ns
to gn...,\t fents of valour and a ievement. Euro pe's classi cal past
inspired the Renaissance, the great est intell ectua l and cultu
ral
mO\-e.ment in mode m histor y. The Orientalist discovery of ancie
nt
India led to creative activity of renaissance prop ortio ns which acted
as the prime mover of the country's struggle for freed om.
vii) History as the very co11ditio11 of progresj. 23 Histo rical thinking,
C~ll~g)vood holds, is the ver~ condition of pro gr~ We do not
dail) create or make everytlung anew but build up; with out
a
kno-wledge of what has been achieved, how can we add to
the
stock of our achie,,emen t"> Thi build' hi ·
• s mg up, w ch we call 'prog ress',
comes about onl)' thro gh hi · al thinki-n. • . ncmg
.
. . u stone g, 1.e., by re-ex pene
or re-ena cnng 10 one's own histo . al th
. . ough t thatw hich he is rejectino-
or :img nc
ctho tmprove ~~ better. /Progress is deve lopm ent from th~
go to e better · 1t 1s gain \vith
Historical though ' thi \1 out any corre spon ding lo~ ._'.:)
t creates s progress £ " .
fact co be discovered b hi . . . , or progress 1s not a mere
dunking that it come [ab: ~;~ ;~g : it is only through historical

. . II. DEFINITIONS
H1st0ry is so multif d .
defuution of it can be 01 acete a ~ubJect that no comp rehensiYe
1n nm~' a b.ven excep
. ~ sen s terse definitio ~•H· t in ve ry vagu . e and gene ral terms ·
itself 11 zs-H· .
-' ~s.tory 1s knowledn, e d1story
.
is I-I • ,
umamt:y s knowledge of'
Most defiruoons of hi g
d story pot. enved
t t
from inqu irv ·Ln . L
- J to U1e past.
an scope or to the value of itts~ ;; the most part, to its natur
e
Arinot/.t, Porybius Dio .
I '?JSZIIJ of H Ii
.The Grneco-Roman histori a carnasms, Fra.1uis Bacon.
of their subject though the· ans have nocleft r . .
. lr Works
nature and practical utility in lif Arioften contained a rormal definition
t .
e. .._ stotle h re erenc es to its
--.!.. w o was. al
so a historia n 26 ,
-
 A Manual of Histon·cal Research Methodology 9
dared to enter every field and gave probably the first formal
definition of history( History, he said, was an account of the
unchanging p; ~ By their very nature, neither the past nor any event
thereof can c ange.(An event can happen but one; once it happens,
it cannot change; odly our view of events and men of the past can
chan~ . P~lybius, a great th_eorist and practitioner of history, stressed
the clid~ct1c and pragmatic value of the subject when he called it
the lantern of understanding held up to the present and the future,
and a ready corrective of conduct. 27
The Graeco-Roman pragmatic and utilitarian conception of
his tory found expression in Dionysius of Halicarnassus's definition
of the subject as 'Philosophy teaching by example'. It is to be
observed that the function that Dionysius's definition ascribes to
history - that of moral edification b historical exam - is a
not too respectable one. Clio is not a handmaid of politics and
philosophy, but a science in her own right. Yet, the intimate
relationship between history and philosophy, suggested by
Dionysius's definition, has a positive aspect. Philosophy bestows
the habit of seeing things in total perspective, a habit without which
history may degenerate into mere fact-grubbing, losing itself in
documents and statistics "to demonstrate laboriously and tediously
the indisputable truth of unimportant things." 28 And, without history,
Will Durant tells us, philosophy becomes empty epistemology,
useless metaphysics. But the distinction implied by mutual dependence
pales off to a sort of identity when the definition makes history
philosophy itself teaching by example. From time to time, qualified
witnesses have attested to this position. Francis Bacon viewed history
as a discipline which made men wise, one whose precepts have
universal validity and use. 29 This is because history is the only kind
of knowledge that seeks a perspective of man in time.

E dmund Burke
Edmund Burke's definition of history as a preceptor of
prudence and not of principles is purely empirical. History deals
with changing events and things which cannot be reduced to any
law or principle. The one law governing what is contingent is the
law of prudence. The definition is pragmatic comparable to the
Graeco-Roman idea of history. Exclusively utilitarian in content,
the definition is narrow.
 A Manual of Hfrtorical Research Methodology
10
Thomas Car!Jle
A very famous but very misleading utte r~nce ab? ut the nature
of history is Thomas Carlyle's de finition of 1t . as b10graph y w1it
large. "The History of the world .... was _the B10graphy of G reat
Men." 30 It is true that all great changes in his tory cannot be reg arded
as due to impersonal forces or as independe?t. of indiv idual co n tro l.
The genius cannot be let out of history. But lt 1s equal) y tr ue that the
general mass of men cannot be kept out of history in the enthusiasm
for the all-creating Hero. Nay, the Hero rumself is not H aven-sent
but, as Marx would hold, a mere instrument, a mouth -p iece or
agent of mass movements or impersonal forces. He is a product
of society, a symbol of Hegel's Zeitgeist (the Spirit of the A ge) or of
what Carl Lamprecht sophistically calls the 'social phych e '. T h e
impo~tance ~f the general mass of the people in history has come
to be 1ncre~s10gly recognized, ~nd ~e emphasis in historical w ri ting
has accordingly moved from Just kings and political leaders to the
mass of_ the people and pan· passu from mere political even ts to
econ~1:11c and social development. We have, in fact, moved towards
s1t1on where history is concerned not with Great Men b ut with
athp0G
e reat Many. '

John See!J
An even narrower definition of h'
offered by Professor Joh S 1 H' !story than that o f Carlyle is
n ee y istory
. '
poli tics and present P li · . ·, ' accor d.mg to Seely is 'past
. . o tics ts futu h' , '
also is said to have defin d hi re istory. Woodrow Wilso n
e story a ' ..
past and present politics would h s past politics'. H ow littl e o f
remember! Mankind has .us t e present and the future ca re to
~g abbles of the anci en( i:e:~rgotten the political intrigues and
. enaissance ltalfans, but no s, of the R omans, and o f th e
Lite':a~re, art, philosophy lawtat~l great strides they m ad e in thought
: :~ 'o~n! enligl~~en the life o f !~~e~~ent, in fine, aJJ that fas h ion '
e po tttcal hist · tme and apath h '
wealth. The excl . . ory of ancient 1 - d' Y - ave bl urred
us1ve tde f n 1a but th
Graeco- Roman and a O . political histor ~o t e cu ltural
1
Ranke in the ninete hslam1c historians s by, to.which m ost o f the
ent centu h u scribed d .
co:°1prehensive definitions _ry eld so firm] , .an to which
entire story of the . which in one f~ ), has yielded to m o re
. material 1 °rrn or th
man tn society from th , cu tural, and s . . o er embrace the
e stone ptrttual d l
sm all , very small , part
-
of t hat stage to our o Wn ag peve. o. pmen t o f
ory. e. o 11tlcs is b ut a
 A 1\10111/(// ~f Ht~rlrmcal Rrsrmrh Metbndoiogy 11
11Jrd / lcto11
_ Lord Acton defi ned hi ~tnry as 't he unfold ing stor> nf human
1
ti ccdom'. ' Grc:H .tdvanccs in h uma n Jj fc imd c1vi)i1,ati on owr much
m o rl' ro .t h e frce?om of th e hum ~n will than to wars, conciuesrs
.md c-mptrc-buildrng. Latent talent hl noms and inspires creativity
only m ~n atmo~ph cre of freedom t1 nd creativity 1s the essence o,f
pr1)grcss.

F. Lil: Alaitland
_ Th_e great ~ritish historian, F \~ Maitland,. comp rehensively
dctmes history as What m en h ave do ne and srud, above aJl what
they have thought... ' 32 The first part o f the d efinition, '\'v'hat men
ha,·e Jone and said', is self-explanato ry and includes all that man has
uttered and accomplished in his materiaJ, m oral and spiri tual life
from stone age onwa rds if the knowl edge of them could be
recons tructed. B ut Maitland adds a new and significant dimension
to histo ry when he says that it is above all what men 'have thought'.
Thought in history is no m ere thinking, it is thinking n ew things; it is
thought directed towards improving upon what has been achieved.
~1aitland's emphasis on thought is proof of his faith in the progress
o f the human mind, an idea which the thinkers of the Enlightenment
had been enamoured of. P rogress of the human mind could be
Lquated with the growth of civilization which is the theme o f history.
Indeed, histo rical writing has entered into a highly sophisticated area,
!: ... mcly, intellectual histo ry o r the history of ideas. This branch of
r 1~wnography regard s ce rtain fundamental ideas as the ultin11te
' ')Jrce of the t\ em s' material structures and in stitutions of society..
1~ J ~d11Ue1, the genuine histo ry of mankind is its his tor) of ideas.
r_3J} (,. Gu')tavson describes idea s as 'the ultimate given of histon.'
The p, mucy of the mmd, of thought and ideas, in l\ln1tL.111J'!.\
dtnr.iuun 1Jf h1i-;to 1 y, 1s ro be ( ontrasred with the precedem.e ~ Lu~
and 1.ng,+-, ace, ml to the material co nditions of life. Their <lucmne
'>i h1· l'Jtl< al lllatuulism conrenc.b tklt thought ttsdt, that h w '>.l\,
,i. P~-tt n 1t n Sa), 1magwe ur u >Ill et, e, 1s the 1deolog1c.tl I dlu:\., rhe
t dv) d ll subJ11n,Hr, oJ rheir rnatt•11al lih procr-:;s.

l lem J Juh11J on
H isto 1\ in tli e ln<rndt~t ::iethL 1 -.a}s H enn John-;on, 'is
1

eve r~th ing th;t ever h,1ppr nt.d . l L l', t lw pa'it 1tsdt: \\ h,1.te"\ er _rl~~t
may bc'. 3 i Th e definition i" 100 bro.1d, c, en lax, to be of any use, tt
12 A Manual of Hz:rtorical Research Methodology

does no t land us on safe ground . Histor y canno t be everyth ing,

er recorde d or unreco rded, for the past has to be recons tructed
w h eth
if it is to be known , and only then can it be cal1e d h 1story.
.
And, by
the very nature of the case, everyth ing that happen ed cannot b e
recorde d and compr ehende d.

M.J. Finlay
Profess or Finlay's definit ion that 'Histor y is any sequen ce of
eYents trnced in their relation s' 34 contain s a signifi cant clue
to the
proper unders tandin g of the subjec t. Huma n action have an
irreYoc able order of occurre nce, viz., cause and effect sequen ce .
.:\.ny tracing of human actions and any unders tandin g of them should
keep this order by foxing the priority or posteri ority of events. And,
for proper unders tanding and histori cal perspe ctive, we must, in
additio n to chrono logical treatm ent of events , also study them in
their mutual relatio ns. Finlay 's defini tion, thoug h concis e , is
compre hensive enough . The phrase 'any sequen ce of events ' is so
inclusive as to bring under historic al study any area of human activity.

A.L Rowse, Renier

Two compre hensiv e and highly satisfa ctory definit ions of
his~o~y, one by A.L. Rowse and the- other by Renier , stress group
actMty and the collective develo pment of man. Histor y, says A.L.
Ro\\-rse, i~ essen?ally the record ofthe life ofman in soci.eties in theirgeographical
and physical envzronment. The empha sis on collect ive effort in the
de6:fiti on is highly meanin gful since master y over geoora phical
environ ment could not have been secured except by collect i:e effort
and develo ?ment itself was the result of group activity. ,
. Remer makes much the same point when he says that history
ts the stor y of men livin · · · R . , . clearly
. . g U1 soc1et1e s. emer s accent 1s on
group act1v1rv and the pro · .
·, penstty to serve the interes ts of all.

Ernnt Bernheim
Earnes t Bernhe im's d fj · • .
. e 101t1on of history satisfie s all the
concep tual and pracucal conditi o ns of h h . .
. . . w at 1story 1s:
History lS a saence that inv ·· . .
f ch h . cSngates and presents m their context
~ psy f o--thp y&cal ~usality th e facts determi ned by space and
nme o e evoluuon of men · h . . . .
. . m t eir 1nd1v1dual as well as
typical and collecnv e activity as social beings"_
35
 ~~~
. . . A Mant1al of Hisrorical Rese
The 1mph_cat1ons of ~ s mductJ:e an?
r~ _ _.-
h I ""1aly · d~\l{liti~
Jj )
are: that h1story, true to its name, ts a science · Fes wb,a,r-fs
no t already known about the human past; that the o Jec(~f this
inquiry is humanistic - , the object is to present the facts of the
evolution of m en in their individual and collective activity as social
beings; that man cannot develop by himself alone but only in concert
with his fellow-men; that the facts of this individual and social
evolution (which form the theme of history) are caused by man's
responses to his mental and physical needs; and that those facts are
cl1emselves determined by space and time (events occur at particular
rimes and places)

Marc Bloch
In his Historian's Craft, Marc Bloch defined history as ' the
science of men in time 36 . History is a science, but unlike the other
sciences, it is the science of the evolution of human civilization. The
use of the plural 'men' stresses collective activity in this evolution,
and Bloch takes what will Durant would call an 'integral' view of
the growth of mankind through the millennia. In a true account of
this evolution no aspect of human activity is to be left out. Bloch's
faith is in tota~ integrated history. Again, in this evolution the critical
element is the human one. The 'science of men in time' is_a science
sui genens, for Bloch makes a fine personal statement on behalf of
ilie aesthetic and human quality of history. Between the expression
of physical and human realities he saw as much difference as between
the task of a drill operator and that of a lutemaker.

E.H. Carr
In th e first of the six G.M. Trevelyan Lectures delivered at
the Cambridge University in 1961, Edward Hallet Carr characterised
history as " a continuous process o f interaction between the historian
and hi s facts, an unending dialogue between the present and the
past." 37 Believing in the primacy and autonomy of facts and trusting
in th e effi cacy of th e Rankean method, historians like Lord Acton
had even h o ped that it wou ld o ne day be possible to produce
'ultimate histo ry' written from a hard core of facts, a history that
would not need any change, o nce it was written. But the hop~ could
hardly be realized as wo rks o f history are superseded from ttme t_o
time. This is because our approach to thepast changes. _T h~t approa~h ts
conditioned by what Carr calls 'our own position m tune, and the
14 A A1ttmHtl of Histmirnl Rer,arch \ f p1/,or/0l0A1
. . which we Jive'. It js this subjective
· . \ •c ta lie of t·hc ~octrh
vtf''' l ' · h.
'°
J'- ~t1d unc:nnscio11s intrus ion o t e
f h
dl'nw11t u, h1s1,1t\ , t t!-- <,.,n~nrn . h - h t"'ec n ~ummed up in
I )f , h<.· l"'*"t t M ac. rJ •
rrr--cnt m «'ut c,·(I ,1.1t1nn ' ' d. d. l
C.nt t \ tAff'I•'''~ rh'rl r~cH 11 '-:-ttinn of Ju c;,t~ n r a~ a n uncn mg ta O!p-le
" ri<I ,J,c rast' Phrlosoph1cally, <.uch a poc;mon
hen, c,·n I h l r-n c.c,,' d
~ - ;,.,,/an,,,rm. It 1s th e behef that there. oes
l'l ' •

n"w:, I"'( tt·1111co

1 /
,,urm, a . not
h i )i hi<:1nttl ~I fact~ reach- - made for the histon an to
C"~1 '-t " an cnrdc ,\"ere nmnot be .ulrim;tc hi sto ri cal truth<i for the
cc 11t ,1rnn. ~n r . h.
I proc-e'-<; tt c::c-1 f 1c; ~n endless exploration. T 1s extreme
I h'
I
h ,,., t I .

rc·l::ttn '"m tn"rt her w11h Car r' s assertio n that 1s tory me~n s
mH r ..·q· ~uon ' Ia,·'- the- c;uhicct o pen to attack at the crucial pomt,
n; .. 1~~ truthtulnu-~ and rclrnbility.
Ill . THE SCOPE OF HISTORY
1. The Drlim!lation of tbe Scope ef History
The scope of ~ova~ a subject like history can be more easily
mp· . 'u 1ctl hy suggesting what does not come within its domain.
Tht unt\·(-rse and movements o f the heavenly bodies, the origins
0 1 ttit' c·arth. Jt~ f!<. o ~r:tphical features, growth of animals and pl~ t
l:h - the-ie arc of no conce rn to the historian. They co m e within
rht ~cope- of htstOt")' o nly t o the extent they mould human life and
:-rn 1e-r~. onl~ v:hen such naturaJ phenomena impinge upon hwnan
an1,·Jn and c..t t!. I n .mt human desti ny.
, .t\gain. h1sll >1> may mean thepast, i.e., as Henry J o hnso n defined
11 • c 1.: u nv tl'lar t"\ er h .. rpem.d", ,:vhecher recorded or unrecorded.

··~:- ( ,.R I .lt, m has w rm.en, Jt 1s commonplace that the stud) of

rn~t '' '' mi ' 1t l • : 1 ~ t."\ erythmg that m en h ave said, thought, done
',1 ~.,! tn t.:d But he 11,.r)nh p 1 'J nt · ·
M ~ s out t h at ~ome reservation" have co
i tt tll!iUC

ln ua. ftr!\ t pl.:atc, Hot ctU Ult' pa~r ts recovernble, and the ~tudy
u ! l l!~tv f\ J ~ Ht.( l.:> ....uiJ . t· d
.. ~ ~ L<.1H inc to that part of ic of which
<'• "-•' tt .... t l'J ' h cr ~Uf\J\ t' ~ t . . l
f · ) J tan )e •t>nn1st1 uned m the rm11d
L!s• 1 ' 1•' ~. \ \\ hllt: hht•) 1, n ·
· ~ · l ei) ( ouimonl) be lhoughl o f ts
! fi t , . t,.;J.., • •! 1n.u i l,l1,J':> >A st ht .-
, I \. , If b 111 truLh t·ou~d onl}' to
,H :.Hlf • I\U l f J;ct· t Jh:-11.11H.a1 s . 7
f• .. 1-t l,~1 · 1,,· MiJ,:h i,1• , tud ~ l~ not dw ~tud) ut th e
lJJ'-~CI\l ll ,=.n:-s o r th\." ., l'h •
d1' 1L-i1t1-rl\-. r1ce,u, " f~::>t . <.:ttlt<:tal
1 " \:, lqt n, t not.~
t ' .,l \;t a~l utp,i~tC\.l S ltlltC

111:--tut\ 1~ 1 >rJ , t. 4:.laJ lo 1r,- { , •,J t:nt:" t: ~

h1 :-.t ( ,n
-
'J'h1, ltn11um m 1~ <.·.ru.cn . ,po· rcant0 t:S.,acc
1, .i14 (o t tht: pasc), n o
<.
·· ~ econ <ll y, Fl .
., ton points