Learn Sanskrit, be proficient in your mother tongue and get exposed to a foreign language as they are effective tools to wholesome research in History, said Y. Sudershan Rao, chairperson, Indian Council of Historical Research.
At the inauguration of an orientation course on ‘Research Methods in History’ organised by the ICHR and the Department of Epigraphy and Archaeology, Tamil University here, Prof. Rao urged the researchers to extend priority to all possible factors in the study of History.
Stressing the importance of applying scientific methodology to pursue problems of History, he said “we can't ignore things that we have to follow in writing history”. History as a genre has been constantly changing and it was imperative that historians must keep the study dynamic, he said.
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Maintaining that various factors influence our peep into the past, he said the narrations change and the view of history has also undergone constant change over the years. “However, in the past 300 years, a lot of incorrect exercises have crept into our history. We had theorised history during that period,” he remarked.
Applying science to historical research, scholars must look into the meritorious aspects of the study of history, Prof. Rao added.
Noted historians Y. Subbarayalu of the French Institute of Pondicherry and Prof. N. Rajendran of the Bharathidasan University gave presentations on vignettes of historical research endeavours. S. Ganeshram, Registrar, Tamil University and others spoke.
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