How does one reconstruct past? Is history faithful in capturing it? Is history a discovery or an invention? History is the study of past societies, cultures, and civilisations. Historians analyse material remains of old civilisations such as archaeological diggings, artifacts, documents, and literature to build their narrative. They write about events removed many - hundreds and thousands – of generations from their time. Cultures and civilisations are the product of human thought. And thoughts change with time Stones do not speak. Mind, with its ideas, is not fossilised. Zeitgeist is not recorded on imperishable tablets. Sketchy written documents, if any are available, never relate a cogent, verifiable narrative. How do historians then collate history of ideas from the material evidence they study? When the evidence is so feeble, what is it that allows an historian to read the mind of historical figures, to discover intentions behind their apparent actions, to comment on their mo...