भारतीय इतिहास के ६ स्वर्णिम पृष्ठ (वीर सावरकर - विदेशी आक्रान्ताओं पर विजय गाथा)

1ST GLORIOUS EPOCH 1. Chandragupta—Chanakya

1. According to modern historical research, the first phase of the dawn of our national life dates back almost to five to ten thousand years ago. Like that of China, Babylon, Greece and other ancient nations, our ancient history, too, is clothed in the poetical garb of mythology. It is replete with anecdotes, folklore, and deification of national heroes and heroines, and resorts to supernatural and symbolic description. Yet these ancient mythologies (Puranas) of ours are the pillars supporting the edifice of our ancient history. Just as these extensive Puranic texts of ours are a magnificent treasure of our ancient literature, our knowledge, our glorious deeds and our grandeur and wealth, in a similar way, they are a vast storehouse of the accounts of our past, desultory, chaotic, even at times, ambiguous though it may be.
2. Our Puranas, however, are not ‘history’ pure and unadulterated.
3. Hence, I propose to set aside the consideration of the ‘Pauranic times’ in the present context. For the ‘Glorious Epochs’ I am going to refer to, and dilate upon, belong not so much to the Pauranic times as to the historic periods of our national life. The Beginning of Indian History
4. The main criterion of history is that the dates and places and descriptions of events referred to therein must necessarily bear the stamp of authenticity, and that they should be corroborated, as far as possible, by foreign as well as indigenous evidence.
5. The account of our past which fairly stands this test begins approximately from the time of Lord Buddha. Hence, many Indian and Western Orientalists have accepted the Buddhist period as the beginning of Indian history. The incessant and indefatigable labours of these Orientalists may, in future, include some of the so-called ‘Pauranic period’ into the historical one, if some new evidence were to come to light. Till then, at least, we have to regard the Buddhistic period as the starting point of our history.