Supplement Presidential Address
Summary
The supplement contains historian Narendra Nath Law's presidential address delivered at the 19th Session of the Indian History Congress in Agra on 25 December 1956. Law stresses the responsibilities of historians in independent India and calls for collaborative research and scientific rigour. He critiques K. P. Jayaswal's proposal that a universal flood marks the upper limit of royal genealogies, reviewing flood legends from biblical and Mesopotamian traditions, summarising the biblical timetable of Noah's flood and noting that many scientists reject the idea of a universal deluge based on evidence from ethnology, geology, zoology and botany. Law discusses Sir Leonard Woolley's excavations at Ur, which uncovered an eight‑foot layer of silt and showed that the flood was local to the lower Tigris–Euphrates valley. He recounts the flood story from the Satapatha Brahmana, in which Manu builds a ship at the behest of the fish Matsya and survives the deluge. The address explains that in Indian cosmology floods occur at the end of each manvantara and cannot date dynasties. Law urges historians to discard mythological chronologies and adhere to evidence‑based methods.
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Conclusion
The address concludes by urging historians to approach ancient myths critically and to adopt collaborative, scientific research methods. Law argues that floods mentioned in the Bible and Indian texts are either local or cosmological events and cannot serve as historical chronometers. He encourages historians to employ epigraphic, archaeological and textual evidence responsibly in reconstructing India's past.