BHIE 144 Solved Question Paper June 2026 gives you complete, exam-length answers to every question in the official IGNOU paper for Traditions of History Writing in India, from Ashokan edicts and Kalhana to Barani and the Subaltern historians. Two answers are shown below; all 14 come in the full file on WhatsApp 9899436384.
BHIE 144 key facts
- Course code: BHIE-144
- Subject: Traditions of History Writing in India
- Programme: Bachelor of Arts (Honours) History (BAHIH), Semester VI Discipline Specific Elective; also Bachelor of Arts (General) (BAG)
- Themes and units: 8 themes, 20 units (eGyanKosh)
- Maximum marks: 100
- Duration: 3 hours
- Questions in the paper: 8 printed questions, 14 answerable items (6 long questions plus 4 short-note options each in Q4 and Q8)
- Samples shown on this page: 2 (Q1 and Q6)
- Answers in the paid file: All 14 items, including 12 not shown on this page
What the BHIE 144 Solved Question Paper June 2026 covers
BHIE 144 Traditions of History Writing in India is a Discipline Specific Elective of IGNOU's Bachelor of Arts (Honours) History programme (BAHIH), also offered to Bachelor of Arts (General) students, that studies how Indians and outsiders recorded India's past from Vedic hymns to post-independence historians.
The June 2026 paper tests that whole range. Section I asks about historical consciousness, the Ashokan edicts, the Rajatarangini and four short notes on the Ramayana, kavyas, western Indian genealogies and the Amuktamalyada. Section II moves to Sufi hagiographies, Barani, Marxist historians and notes on Megasthenes, Al-Biruni, R. C. Majumdar and the Subalterns.
Our file answers all 14 items in the printed order, with each long answer close to the 400-word limit and each short note close to 200 words. Read it next to your BHIE 144 Study Material so every answer points you back to the unit it comes from.
BHIE 144 sample answers from the June 2026 paper
Two full answers from the June 2026 paper are shown here, Q1 from Section I and Q6 from Section II, each written to the 400-word length the paper asks for.
We picked one question from each section so you can judge both halves of the course: the early Indian sources and the Indo-Persian tradition. The other 12 answers follow the same layout.
1. Discuss the nature of historical consciousness in early India.
Introduction. Colonial writers such as James Mill argued that early India had no sense of history because it left no chronicle in the style of Herodotus or Thucydides. Historians today reject that view. Early Indians remembered and recorded the past with care, but they did it through forms that differ from modern history writing. Its nature is best seen through those forms, their purposes and the contexts that shaped them.
1. Embedded and externalised forms. Romila Thapar separates an embedded historical consciousness, where awareness of the past lies inside hymns, myths and epics, from an externalised one, where the past is recorded on purpose in chronicles, biographies and inscriptions. Early India moved from the first to the second as states grew larger and needed records.
2. Vedic beginnings. The Rigvedic danastutis praise chiefs who gave cattle and gifts to poets, and the gatha and narashamsi verses recited at sacrifices celebrated the deeds of heroes. These short pieces kept alive the names of rulers and the memory of who had given what to whom.
3. The Itihasa-Purana tradition. The Mahabharata and Ramayana were called itihasa, roughly 'thus it was'. The Puranas added vamshanucharita sections listing the Solar and Lunar lineages and later dynasties down to the Guptas, often in a prophetic future tense. Bards known as sutas and magadhas preserved these genealogies orally.
4. Buddhist and Jain memory. The Sangha kept track of councils, teachers and monasteries, and the Sri Lankan Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa turned this into chronicles dated from the Buddha's death. Jain monks kept lists of pontiffs, and Vimalasuri's Paumacariyam retold the Rama story from a Jain view.
5. Inscriptions, prashastis and charitas. Ashoka's edicts of the third century BCE are the first datable royal voice. Later prashastis, such as Harishena's Allahabad pillar inscription for Samudragupta and Ravikirti's Aihole inscription of 634 to 635 CE, recorded genealogies, conquests and dated eras like the Vikrama (57 BCE) and Shaka (78 CE). Banabhatta's Harshacharita and Bilhana's Vikramankadevacharita gave royal biography a literary shape.
6. Kalhana's Rajatarangini. Written in 1148 to 1149 CE, it used earlier chronicles, inscriptions and coins to trace the kings of Kashmir, and it is the nearest early India came to critical history writing.
7. Main features. This consciousness was closely tied to the legitimacy of kings and lineages. Time was cyclical in the yuga scheme but linear in genealogies and dated eras. The past was also used to teach dharma, and regional traditions such as the Sangam puram poems of the Tamil country added their own memory of chiefs and battles.
Conclusion. Early India did have a historical consciousness. It was plural, moving from hymns and epics to inscriptions, biographies and the Rajatarangini, and it always served social and political purposes. The colonial charge of a people without history mistook a different form of history for its absence.
6. Write a note on Barani’s contribution to historical narratives of the medieval period.
Introduction. Ziauddin Barani (c. 1285 to c. 1357) is the most important historian of the fourteenth-century Delhi Sultanate. His family served the Sultans, and his uncle Ala-ul-Mulk was kotwal of Delhi under Alauddin Khalji. Barani spent about seventeen years as a nadim, or companion, of Muhammad bin Tughlaq, and he lost favour under Firuz Shah Tughlaq, writing his major works in retirement.
1. His works. The Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi, completed in 1357, covers the period from Balban's accession in 1266 to the sixth year of Firuz Shah. It continues where Minhaj-us-Siraj's Tabaqat-i-Nasiri stops. The Fatawa-i-Jahandari is a political treatise giving advice to Muslim rulers on kingship and government.
2. A theory of history. Barani called history a noble science, close in value to the study of hadith. He held that a historian must be truthful, pious and of good birth, and that history should teach lessons, so that rulers learn from the success and failure of earlier Sultans. History for him was moral instruction as well as record.
3. Beyond the court chronicle. Earlier Persian chronicles mostly listed battles and reigns. Barani tried to explain causes and policies. His account of Alauddin Khalji's market control, with fixed prices, grain stores and controllers of the markets, and of his revenue measures in the Doab, is still a key source on the Sultanate economy.
4. Muhammad bin Tughlaq's projects. As an insider, Barani described the transfer of the capital to Daulatabad (1327), the token currency and the heavy taxation of the Doab. He judged these schemes harshly, but his detail lets modern historians reconstruct them.
5. Political ideas. In the Fatawa-i-Jahandari he argued that a ruler needs zawabit, or state laws, alongside the sharia, and that kingship rests on awe and firm control. He held up Mahmud of Ghazni as an ideal ruler.
6. High-born and low-born. Barani believed that only men of noble birth should hold office, and he attacked Sultans who promoted the low-born. This aristocratic bias shapes much of his judgement of individual rulers and officials.
Limitations. He wrote late in life, partly from memory, with few exact dates and a weak chronology. His religious and class prejudices colour his verdicts, and his praise of Firuz Shah was written while he hoped for patronage. Scholars such as Peter Hardy have read his history as a didactic work.
Conclusion. Despite these limits, Barani made Indo-Persian history writing analytical. By linking events to policy, economy and political theory, he left the fullest picture we have of the Delhi Sultanate from Balban to Firuz Shah.
Questions answered only in the full file
The remaining 12 items from the June 2026 paper are listed exactly as printed. Their answers are not on this page.
- Q2 In what way can the main Ashokan edicts be seen as sources of history ?
- Q3 What is the historical significance of ‘Rajtarangini’ ?
- Q4
- Q4(a) Ramayana
- Q4(b) Kavyas as literary creations and historical sources
- Q4(c) Genealogies and family histories in western India
- Q4(d) Amuktamalyada
- Q5 Discuss the Sufi hagiographies as sources for understanding history.
- Q7 Discuss the main ideas of Marxist historians.
- Q8
- Q8(a) Megesthenes
- Q8(b) Al-Biruni
- Q8(c) R. C. Majumdar
- Q8(d) Subaltern Historians
BHIE 144 Traditions of History Writing in India theme and unit wise syllabus
The BHIE-144 study material has 8 themes and 20 units, starting with what history means and ending with Marxist, Subaltern and newer approaches.
The unit list below follows the course page on eGyanKosh. Themes II and IV carry the most units, and they also supply most of the Section I questions.
| Theme | Unit | Key topics |
|---|---|---|
| Theme I: Past and History | Unit 1: What is History? | Meaning of itihasa; historical consciousness versus a historical tradition; the colonial claim that India lacked history |
| Theme II: History Writing in Early India | Unit 2: Myths, Danastutis, Gathas, Akhyanas and Epics | Rigvedic danastutis and gatha-narashamsi verses; the Mahabharata and Ramayana; transition to the Itihasa-Purana tradition |
| Theme II: History Writing in Early India | Unit 3: Buddhist and Jain Traditions | The Sangha as keeper of the past; Buddhist biographies and the Sri Lankan chronicles; Vimalasuri's Paumacariyam |
| Theme II: History Writing in Early India | Unit 4: Kathas and Charitas | Banabhatta's Harshacharita; Bilhana's Vikramankadevacharita; kavya as a carrier of royal memory |
| Theme II: History Writing in Early India | Unit 5: Inscriptions and Prashastis | Ashokan edicts in Prakrit; the shift to Sanskrit prashastis; Harishena's Allahabad prashasti and Ravikirti's Aihole inscription |
| Theme II: History Writing in Early India | Unit 6: Kalhana | The Rajatarangini of 1148 to 1149 CE; its eight tarangas on Kashmir's kings; Kalhana's use of earlier chronicles and inscriptions |
| Theme III: History Writing in South India | Unit 7: Sangam Literary Tradition | Akam and puram poems; chiefs and the three crowned kings in Tamil memory; post-Sangam kavyas of peninsular India |
| Theme III: History Writing in South India | Unit 8: Amuktamalyada and Rayavachakamu | Krishnadevaraya's Telugu Amuktamalyada and its rajaniti section; Rayavachakamu as a Nayaka-period view of Vijayanagara |
| Theme IV: Regional Traditions of History Writing | Unit 9: Hagiographies and Bhakti Traditions | Bhakti saint lives and Vaishnava hagiography; Sufi tazkiras and malfuzat; hagiography as evidence for social history |
| Theme IV: Regional Traditions of History Writing | Unit 10: Genealogies and Family Histories | Teerth (pilgrim-priest) genealogies; Kulagranthas of Bengal; bardic family records of western India |
| Theme IV: Regional Traditions of History Writing | Unit 11: Bakhar and Buranji | Marathi bakhars and the Maratha polity; Ahom buranjis as court chronicles of Assam |
| Theme V: Indo-Persian Traditions of History Writing | Unit 12: Ziauddin Barani | Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi; Fatawa-i-Jahandari; the high-born and low-born distinction |
| Theme V: Indo-Persian Traditions of History Writing | Unit 13: Muhammad Qasim Ferishta | Ferishta's history written at Bijapur; Deccan sultanates in an all-India narrative; his handling of earlier sources |
| Theme V: Indo-Persian Traditions of History Writing | Unit 14: Abul Fazl | The Akbarnama and Ain-i-Akbari; Mughal imperial ideology; statistical description of the empire |
| Theme VI: India as Seen by the Others | Unit 15: Greek, Chinese, Arab and Persian Accounts | Megasthenes' Indica; Faxian and Xuanzang; Al-Biruni's Kitab-ul-Hind and the Chachnama |
| Theme VI: India as Seen by the Others | Unit 16: European Travel Accounts | Nuniz on Vijayanagara; Sir Thomas Roe at the Mughal court; Bernier and Manucci |
| Theme VII: History Writing in Colonial India | Unit 17: Colonial History Writing | James Mill's History of British India; Elliot and Dowson's translations; Vincent Smith |
| Theme VII: History Writing in Colonial India | Unit 18: Nationalists | R. G. Bhandarkar and K. P. Jayaswal; R. C. Majumdar; the answer to colonial stereotypes |
| Theme VIII: History Writing after Independence | Unit 19: Marxists and Subalterns | Modes of production in Indian history; Marxist historians of early and medieval India; Ranajit Guha and Subaltern Studies |
| Theme VIII: History Writing after Independence | Unit 20: Emerging Themes in History Writing | Women's history; environmental history; labour history |
BHIE 144 paper pattern and marks split
The BHIE 144 Question Paper has eight questions in two sections; you answer any five in three hours, with at least two from each section, for 100 marks.
Every question carries 20 marks. Q4 and Q8 are split into two short notes of 10 marks each, chosen from four options. This layout has stayed the same in every paper from June 2022 to June 2026, which you can confirm in any IGNOU Previous Year Question Paper for this course.
| Part | Question type | Marks | Length or time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section I, Q1 to Q3 | Three long questions on early Indian sources | 20 each | About 400 words |
| Section I, Q4 | Short notes, any two of four | 10 + 10 | About 200 words each |
| Section II, Q5 to Q7 | Three long questions on regional, Indo-Persian and modern historiography | 20 each | About 400 words |
| Section II, Q8 | Short notes, any two of four | 10 + 10 | About 200 words each |
| Rule | Attempt any five questions, at least two from each section | 100 total | 3 hours |
A sensible split is three long answers and two short-note questions, or four long answers and one short-note question. Short notes reward exact names and dates, so they suit students who revise sources well.
Topics IGNOU keeps repeating in BHIE 144
Hagiographies and Buddhist or Jain traditions appeared in all seven official BHIE-144 papers we checked, from June 2022 to December 2025.
We read every IGNOU BHIE 144 Question Paper we could find on webservices.ignou.ac.in and ignou.ac.in: June 2022, June 2023, December 2023, June 2024, December 2024, June 2025 and December 2025. The December 2022 paper could not be found, so it is not counted.
| Topic | Unit | Sessions asked | Papers (of 7) | In June 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hagiographies and Bhakti traditions (saint lives, Vaishnava, Sufi tazkirat) | Unit 9 | Jun 2022, Jun 2023, Dec 2023, Jun 2024, Dec 2024, Jun 2025, Dec 2025 | 7 | Yes, Q5 (Sufi) |
| Buddhist and Jain traditions of the past | Unit 3 | Jun 2022, Jun 2023, Dec 2023, Jun 2024, Dec 2024, Jun 2025, Dec 2025 | 7 | No |
| Inscriptions, prashastis and Ashokan edicts | Unit 5 | Jun 2022, Jun 2023, Dec 2023, Dec 2024, Jun 2025, Dec 2025 | 6 | Yes, Q2 |
| Genealogies and family histories | Unit 10 | Jun 2022, Jun 2023, Dec 2023, Jun 2024, Dec 2024, Jun 2025 | 6 | Yes, Q4(c) |
| Greek, Chinese, Arab and Persian accounts | Unit 15 | Jun 2023, Dec 2023, Jun 2024, Dec 2024, Jun 2025, Dec 2025 | 6 | Yes, Q8(a) and Q8(b) |
| Nationalist historians (Jayaswal, Bhandarkar, Majumdar) | Unit 18 | Jun 2022, Dec 2023, Jun 2024, Dec 2024, Jun 2025, Dec 2025 | 6 | Yes, Q8(c) |
| Epics, akhyanas and the Itihasa-Purana tradition | Unit 2 | Jun 2022, Jun 2023, Dec 2023, Jun 2024, Dec 2025 | 5 | Yes, Q4(a) |
| Sangam literature and historical memory | Unit 7 | Jun 2022, Dec 2023, Dec 2024, Jun 2025, Dec 2025 | 5 | No |
| Bakhars and Buranjis | Unit 11 | Jun 2023, Dec 2023, Jun 2024, Jun 2025, Dec 2025 | 5 | No |
| Colonial history writing (James Mill, Elliot and Dowson) | Unit 17 | Jun 2022, Dec 2023, Dec 2024, Jun 2025, Dec 2025 | 5 | No |
| Ziauddin Barani | Unit 12 | Jun 2022, Dec 2023, Jun 2024, Dec 2024 | 4 | Yes, Q6 |
| Marxist and Subaltern historiography | Unit 19 | Jun 2023, Jun 2024, Dec 2024, Jun 2025 | 4 | Yes, Q7 and Q8(d) |
| European travel accounts (Nuniz, Roe, Manucci, Bernier) | Unit 16 | Jun 2022, Dec 2023, Jun 2024, Dec 2024 | 4 | No |
| Historical consciousness and tradition in early India | Unit 1 | Jun 2022, Dec 2024, Dec 2025 | 3 | Yes, Q1 |
| Kalhana and the Rajatarangini | Unit 6 | Jun 2022, Jun 2024, Jun 2025 | 3 | Yes, Q3 |
| Kavyas (Kalidasa and post-Sangam kavyas) | Units 4 and 7 | Jun 2022, Jun 2023, Jun 2025 | 3 | Yes, Q4(b) |
| Amuktamalyada and Rayavachakamu | Unit 8 | Jun 2023, Jun 2024, Dec 2024 | 3 | Yes, Q4(d) |
| Ferishta | Unit 13 | Jun 2023, Jun 2025, Dec 2025 | 3 | No |
| Emerging themes (labour, environmental and women's history) | Unit 20 | Jun 2022, Jun 2023, Jun 2024 | 3 | No |
Two patterns stand out. Barani was asked in four of the seven papers and returned as a long question in June 2026, and the Buddhist and Jain unit missed June 2026 after appearing every time before. For predicted questions on the next session, see our IGNOU Important Questions page.
How our BHIE 144 answers are written and checked
Each BHIE 144 answer is written from the matching eGyanKosh unit, sized to the printed word limit, and checked for every date, name and text title before release.
Answers open with a short introduction, move through numbered points with the key source or historian in bold, and close with a one-line conclusion. That structure suits how examiners mark a 20-mark history answer: they look for sources, examples and a clear argument.
Prateek Talwar leads the writing, and Sheetal Kirola reviews each answer against the units. Facts that cannot be confirmed, such as an uncertain date, are left out instead of guessed. This is why the IGNOU BHIE 144 Solved Question Paper reads the same way an examiner expects a careful student to write.
Previous BHIE-144 papers also guide emphasis. When a topic such as genealogies has come up six times, the answer gives it fuller treatment of the examples IGNOU tends to ask for.
BHIE 144 solved file index for all 14 answers
The solved file holds 14 answers: 2 are on this page and 12 are in the full file only.
Use the index to see which unit each question comes from. If you also want other papers from the same programme, look for the BAHIH Question Paper collection.
| Question | Topic as printed | Course unit | Where to read the answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Discuss the nature of historical consciousness in early India. | Unit 1, What is History? | On this page |
| Q2 | In what way can the main Ashokan edicts be seen as sources of history ? | Unit 5, Inscriptions and Prashastis | Full file only |
| Q3 | What is the historical significance of ‘Rajtarangini’ ? | Unit 6, Kalhana | Full file only |
| Q4(a) | Ramayana | Unit 2, Myths, Danastutis, Gathas, Akhyanas and Epics | Full file only |
| Q4(b) | Kavyas as literary creations and historical sources | Unit 4, Kathas and Charitas | Full file only |
| Q4(c) | Genealogies and family histories in western India | Unit 10, Genealogies and Family Histories | Full file only |
| Q4(d) | Amuktamalyada | Unit 8, Amuktamalyada and Rayavachakamu | Full file only |
| Q5 | Discuss the Sufi hagiographies as sources for understanding history. | Unit 9, Hagiographies and Bhakti Traditions | Full file only |
| Q6 | Write a note on Barani’s contribution to historical narratives of the medieval period. | Unit 12, Ziauddin Barani | On this page |
| Q7 | Discuss the main ideas of Marxist historians. | Unit 19, Marxists and Subalterns | Full file only |
| Q8(a) | Megesthenes | Unit 15, Greek, Chinese, Arab and Persian Accounts | Full file only |
| Q8(b) | Al-Biruni | Unit 15, Greek, Chinese, Arab and Persian Accounts | Full file only |
| Q8(c) | R. C. Majumdar | Unit 18, Nationalists | Full file only |
| Q8(d) | Subaltern Historians | Unit 19, Marxists and Subalterns | Full file only |
Programmes that study Traditions of History Writing in India
Traditions of History Writing in India is studied in two IGNOU programmes, and the June 2026 paper header names both: BAG and BAHIH.
In the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) History programme it is a Semester VI Discipline Specific Elective, taken near the end of the degree after the core History of India papers. Its focus on sources and historians makes it a natural partner to those core courses.
Bachelor of Arts (General) students with History as a discipline can also choose BHIE-144 as an elective. They sit the same paper as Honours students, so the same 14 answers serve both groups.
Get the full BHIE 144 Solved Question Paper on WhatsApp
Message WhatsApp 9899436384 with the code BHIE 144 and the session June 2026 to get the complete file with all 14 answers.
Our team replies with the price and shares the PDF once you confirm. Along with the two samples above, you get the 12 answers not shown here, including the Rajatarangini, Sufi hagiographies, Marxist historians and all eight short notes.
The file is laid out in the same order as the printed paper, so you can revise section by section and pick your five questions with confidence.
BHIE 144 Traditions of History Writing FAQs
Quick answers to what students ask most about the BHIE 144 June 2026 solved file and exam.
What does the BHIE 144 Solved Question Paper June 2026 contain?
It contains complete answers to all 14 answerable items in the June 2026 BHIE-144 term-end paper: six long questions worth 20 marks each and eight short notes worth 10 marks each from Q4 and Q8. Long answers run to about 400 words and short notes to about 200, matching the limits printed in the paper. Q1 and Q6 are shown on this page as samples.
How do I get the full BHIE 144 solved file on WhatsApp?
Send a message to WhatsApp 9899436384 with the code BHIE 144 and the session June 2026. Our team replies with the price and shares the PDF once you confirm. The file holds all 14 answers, which means the two samples on this page plus the 12 answers not shown here, arranged in the same Section I and Section II order as the printed paper.
How many questions must I attempt in the BHIE 144 Traditions of History Writing in India exam?
You attempt any five questions in three hours, with at least two from each section. The paper prints eight questions, four in Section I and four in Section II, and every question carries 20 marks for a total of 100. Questions 4 and 8 are short-note questions where you pick any two of four options, each worth 10 marks.
Which BHIE 144 topics come up most often?
In the seven official papers from June 2022 to December 2025 that we checked, hagiographies and Buddhist or Jain traditions appeared in all seven. Inscriptions, genealogies, foreign accounts of India and nationalist historians appeared in six each. Barani and Marxist or Subaltern history appeared in four. The repeat table on this page names every session for each topic.
Is BHIE 144 a core course or an elective?
BHIE 144 is a Discipline Specific Elective. On eGyanKosh it sits in Semester VI of the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) History programme (BAHIH), and the June 2026 paper is also printed for Bachelor of Arts (General) students (BAG). Its study material has eight themes and 20 units, running from Vedic danastutis and Kalhana to Marxist and Subaltern historians.
Who prepares and checks the BHIE 144 answers?
The answers are authored under Prateek Talwar and reviewed by Sheetal Kirola against the eGyanKosh units before release. Each answer is checked for dates, author names and text titles, such as the 1357 completion of Barani's Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi or Kalhana writing the Rajatarangini in 1148 to 1149 CE. Weak or doubtful claims are removed rather than padded.
Can I use the BHIE 144 June 2026 answers for the December 2026 exam?
Yes, for revision. IGNOU sets a fresh BHIE-144 paper every session, but the same units return often, so the June 2026 answers on Kalhana, Barani, Sufi hagiographies and Marxist historians cover topics with a strong repeat record. Use them alongside your eGyanKosh units and the earlier official papers, rather than memorising them word for word.
In which language are the BHIE 144 solved answers written?
The answers are written in simple English with British spelling, matching the English half of the bilingual June 2026 paper. Each long answer follows an introduction, main points and conclusion layout, with sources, dates and historians placed early so an examiner spots them quickly. If you write the exam in Hindi, ask us on WhatsApp 9899436384 before ordering.