Greece, China, Rome, and the Muslim world developed their own History as a tradition, if not a discipline, and if chronologies are to be counted as History, so did the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians. Seeing how India was home to some of the earliest literate societies, one would expect that they had probably developed their own traditions, with works written in Sanskrit or some prestigious Prakrit. However, a list of "Indian Historians" on Wikipedia points to Kalhana as the earliest historian. Apparently, he is the author of a work on the history of his homeland, Kashmir (called Rajatarangini, i.e. "The River of Kings").
There's just one problem, though: Kalhana lived in the 12th century. What/who were his sources? Chronologies? Do we have any of those?
I'm not really familiar with the history of India, or the historiography of India (obviously), but I know a couple of things: Chandragupta, the Nanda Empire, the Guptas, the Cholas etc. The question is how do we know about any of this stuff?
I realize that people have developed different ways of handing down information, and a search for an Indian Thucydides may well be a completely futile attempt, but they must have had some way of transmitting information about their past. Do you know anything on this topic?
Thank you, in advance.
PS: This is a bit off-topic, but if anyone could suggest any books on Indian history for someone unfamiliar with it, I would be very grateful.
The earliest 'documents' of Indian history, from Indian sources, actually comes to us from archaeology. These are Emperor Ashoka's edicts.
Ashoka was, in a sense, forgotten in India. He was, however, remembered prominently in Buddhist historiography, especially in Sri Lanka and Tibet. (I'd definitely recommend Charles Allen's The Buddha and Dr. Fuhrer for this. It's a small book, but a treasure trove of resources.)
Ashok is just an example, most of India's ancient historians were actually non-Indians! Buddhist historiography is a treasure trove of ancient Indian history.
Another good source of ancient Indian history is chronological records maintained by Brahmins. The Rajatarangini actually comes from this tradition. Of course, these accounts are incomplete and sometimes inaccurate. But put together with archaeological evidence and foreign sources they give us a pretty good picture of Indian history.
One thing we should keep in mind about India is the stress on oral tradition over the written word. By its nature, oral history does not have any individual creator. There are numerous bardic traditions in India, many communities which specialise in remembering and performing the lives of heroes, kings etc.
During the Colonial regime, these traditions were actively recorded. (A good example is the Annals of the Rajputs).
Since after the Islamic conquests in India, there are numerous historians though. But this takes us into what we could call medieval history.