Historiography, the study of the history and methodology of the discipline of history, is an unknown term to many. Projects and workshops on the subject are seldom organised in universities. To address the shortcoming the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) has planned a series of books on historiography.

On July 28 the first volume, Approaches to History, was released at Oxford Bookstore. The book, edited by Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, former chairman of ICHR, is a collection of essays on tribal society, maritime history of ancient India, Christian history, ancient technology etc.

Another book on the same lines, The Varied Facets of History, Essays in Honour of Aniruddha Ray, was also released on the occasion. It throws light on the extensive research conducted by Ray, a medieval historian and a retired professor of Calcutta University. Prominent historians have contributed to this collection. The book is edited by Ishrat Alam and Syed Ejaz Hussain.

Suranjan Das, the vice-chancellor of Calcutta University, and the chief guest, remembered how as students they would pose irrelevant questions to Ray, to be turned away with “mild chidings”.

“Historiography is yet to find its niche. It’s our responsibility to keep the ball rolling in this field,” he added.