DEVAÇRANA

1.A narrative of events; a story. 2. a. A chronological record of events, as of the life or development of a people or institution, often including an explanation of or commentary on those events: a history of the Vikings. b. A formal written account of related natural phenomena: a history of volcanoes. c. A record of a patient’s medical background. d. An established record or pattern of behavior: an inmate with a history of substance abuse. 3. The branch of knowledge that records and analyzes past events: “History has a long-range perspective” Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. 4. a. The...

The term history stands for three related but sharply differentiated concepts: (a) past human events; past actuality; (b) the record of the same; (c) the process or technique of making the record. The Greek historia, which gives us the Latin historia, the French histoire, and the English history, originally meant inquiry, investigation, research, and not a record of data accumulated there by the usual present-day meaning of the term. It was only at a later period that the Greeks attached to it the meaning of “a record or narration of the results of inquiry.” In current usage the...

The Problem of Error ERROR IN INFORMAL SOURCES Informal sources (remains) are always trustworthy in se. Error in regard to them is possible only in attempts to explain, to interpret, or to draw conclusions from them. Thus, frequently a mistake is made in the attempt to account for a phenomenon that results from some routine process of nature, or that occurs independently of observation. A skeleton may show traces of violent death, but whether by murder or accident or the play of some physical force, is a question it may not be possible to answer beyond doubt. So also a variety of causes may be...