Thapar - A history of India. Volume one

PENGUIN BOOKS

A HISTORY OF INDIA

VOLUME ONE

Romila Thapar belongs to a Punjabi family and spent her early years in various parts of India. She took her first degree from the Punjab University and her doctorate at London University in 1958. She was a Lecturer in the Ancient History of South Asia at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, subsequently a Reader at Delhi University, and in 1970 was appointed to the Chair in Ancient Indian History at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, where she is now Emeritus Professor of History. She is an Honorary Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and has been a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Cornell University and at the University of Pennsylvania and has frequently lectured at the Collge de France. In 1983 she was elected General President of the Indian History Congress. In 1999 she was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy.

Field research linked to a project in Buddhist cave sites took her to China in 1957, and this included the site of Tun Huang in the Gobi Desert. Since then she has travelled extensively, visiting sites in South Asia. She has lectured on early South Asian history at a large number of universities in various parts of the world.

Among her other publications are a study of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka in Aoka and the Decline of the Mauryas; a collection of papers, Ancient Indian Social History: Some Interpretations; three others, From Lineage to State, Time as a Metaphor of History: Early India and Interpreting Early India, published in an omnibus edition entitled History and Beyond; an essay in literature and history, Sakuntala: Texts, Readings, Histories; two lectures published as The Mauryas Revisited and another two as Narratives and the Making of History; a further collection of papers, Cultural Pasts; and a childrens book, Indian Tales.

ROMILA THAPAR

VOLUME ONE

PENGUIN BOOKS

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First published by Pelican Books 1966

Reprinted in Penguin Books 1990

Copyright Romila Thapar, 1966

All rights reserved

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

ISBN: 978-0-14-194976-5

For Sergei

The discovery of India Changing approaches to Indian history The archaeological background

Sources of evidence The political organization of the Aryan tribes Caste and other social institutions Vedic religion

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Evolving political patterns The rise of the kingdom of Magadha The rule of the Nandas North-western India and contacts with Persia The growth of towns The rise of heterodox sects Jainism and Buddhism

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The Mauryan kings Mauryan contacts with neighbouring states Society and economic activity Mauryan administration Ashoka and his policy of Dhamma The decline of the Mauryan empire

The political fragmentation of the sub-continent: The Shunga dynasty, King Kharavela of Kalinga, The Indo-Greek kings, The Shakas, The Kushanas, The Satavahana dynasty, South Indian kingdoms Trade routes and communications

Guilds Roman trade with south India Interaction of Indian and Hellenic ideas in northern India Indias contacts with China and south-east Asia Changes in society Education and literature Buddhist art and architecture Mahayana Buddhism Developments in Hinduism The coming of Christianity

The rule of the Guptas Hun invasions Some post-Gupta dynasties The reign of Harsha Changingagrarian relations Trade The pattern of living Education and learning Hindu art and architecture Development in Buddhism Changes in Hinduism Philosophical schools Indian contacts with China and south-east Asia

The Chalukya, Pallava and Pandya conflicts Political organization and administration The Agrarian system The status of the brahman The philosophy of Shankara The growth of Tamil literature The Tamil devotional cult Mural painting in the Deccan Temple architecture

The rise of the Cholas Chola administration The village in the Chola economy Trade The role of the temple in Chola society The development of the languages of the peninsula Popular cults and sects The philosophy of Ramanuja and Madhva Architecture and sculpture

Political struggle between the Rashtrakutas, Pratiharas, and Palas The arrival of the Arabs in Sind Rise of new kingdoms Growth of Rajput power Campaigns of Mahmud of Ghazni The Afghan army Muhammad Ghuri

Beginnings of regional loyalty Emerging pattern of agrarian relations Social structure Literature in Sanskrit and in the newly developing languages Temples and sculpture Changes in Hinduism, the devotional cult, and the Tantric sects Decline of Buddhism The arrival of the Sufis

Source material on the Delhi Sultanate The Slave dynasty and the Khalji dynasty Political organization The Tughluq dynasty Relations between the rulers and the ruled The Sayyid and Lodi dynasties The kingdoms of Gujarat, Mewar, Marwar, and Bengal

Trends in the impact of Islam on India Balance of power between king and theologian Administrative structure of the Sultanate The economy The social framework Religious expression as seen in the Bhakti movement and the Sufis New languages and literatures Miniature painting Islamic architecture

The rise of the Vijayanagara and Bahmani kingdoms in the Deccan Changes in the socio-economic background Trade Religion

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