Question

Explain the following concept.

Material sources.

Answer 1

1. Material sources comprise of different objects, different places, and their ruins. These sources provide insights about the period to which they belonged. 
2. A style of the building construction, memorials, forts, copper plates, coins, inscriptions, caves, sculptures, and monuments, tells us about the development of architecture and people’s standard of living in that particular period. Objects like weapons, utensils, ornaments, clothes, decorative articles, toys, implements, and musical instruments tell us about the day-to-day lives of the people in that period. Places like Chaityas, viharas, temples, churches, mosques, agiaries, durgahs, mukbaras, and gurudwaras tell us about the religious beliefs of the people in that period.
3. Coins tell us a lot about the rulers, their period, governance, religious ideas, their personal details, the financial transactions at that time, metallurgy, the religious coordination, and the use of language in that period.
4. An inscription is an important and reliable source of history as it tells us about the language, script, and social life of a particular period.