Sources of Studying History
Introduction Sources are needed to study history. The sources that help us to study history are diverse. In this unit you will learn the areas such as, introduction to sources, the way how history is built on the information provided by the sources and the benefits of studying history. Literary Sources The literary sources, which can be used to study the history of Sri Lanka, can be categorized into two, as, ‘local literary sources’ and ‘foreign literary sources’. The texts, written by Sri Lankans in the form of prose and poetry from time to time about two thousand years ago are considered ‘local literary sources’. Apart from the texts written by Sri Lankans, some books were written by foreigners who were interested in Sri Lanka. Or else, some foreign writers have included information about Sri Lanka in the books they wrote. Thus, the books written by foreign writers mentioning information about Sri Lanka are called ‘foreign literary sources’. L...