The need for following the correct and standard research methodology is increasingly felt when more and more research works and learned monographs are coming out on history dealing with social, economic, cultural and other varied aspects of life, and thus the writing of a critical, unbiased and authentic history is the need of the hour. It has been well said in this book that the life breath of history is interpretation, which also gives a definite viewpoint to a work of history. It lays that objectivity, if carried to an extreme, results in dry and lifeless cataloguing of events and subjectivity, if carried to an extreme, results in a highly biased work often divorced from reality, and that an ideal work would be one that combines subjectivity with objectivity in due proportion without upholding the one at the cost of the other.
The present book deals with the different processes involved in writing a good and authentic historical work. Right from the heuristic or the search for reliable and credible historical sources such as archaeological, epigraphical, numismatical, literary, and archival, it brings into relief the important features of analytical operations aimed at ascertaining the credibility of sources by way of external and internal criticism, synthetic operations aimed at finding out a connected, meaningful and, if possible, enlightening account of facts and forces, interpreting them properly, and finally the exposition, in a powerful and impressive style, of the fruits of all this research and thinking. The book further shows how interpretation itself is properly done by means of various processes such as generalisation, the argument from statistics, analogy, hypothesis and the like.
A special feature of the work is that the examples of books, authors, references, etc. are mostly Indian. It gives minute rules and regulations essential while writing a good research work. It is a constant companion to the history scholars in their research journey while for the teachers of the subject it is an ideal reference book.
K.N. Chitnis, formerly Professor and Head of the Department of History in the University of Poona, is well-known for his works on medieval Indian history. His specialisation is particularly in administrative and socio-economic history.
He is life member of many academic bodies such as Bharat Itihasa Samshodhak Mandal, Pune, Mythic Society, Bangalore, Indian History Congress, South Indian History Congress, Epigraphical Society of India, Karnatak History Congress and Akhil Maharashtra Itihasa Parishad.
He has attended several national and international seminars and conferences. He presented in 1986 a scholarly research paper in the International Seminar on Franco-Indian Relations at St. Denis, La Reunion, Indian Ocean.
He has written a number of learned works such as Keladi Polity, Medieval Indian History, Socio-Economic History of Medieval India, Glimpses of Maratha Socio-Economic History and The Nawabs of Savanur.
