How can the complexities of ancient India be comprehended? This book draws on a vast array of texts, inscriptions, archaeology, archival sources and art to delve into themes such as the history of regions and religions, archaeologists and the modern histories of ancient sites, the interface between political ideas and practice, violence and resistance, and the interactions between the Indian subcontinent and the wider world. It highlights recent approaches and challenges in reconstructing South Asia's early history, and in doing so, brings out the exciting complexities of ancient India. Authoritative and incisive, this revised Penguin edition-with two new chapters-is essential reading for students and scholars of ancient Indian history and for all those interested in India's past.

This volume offers a collection of several of Professor Habib's essays, providing an insightful interpretation of the main currents in Indian history.

This book presents a complete and accessible description of the history of early India. It starts by discussing the origins and growth of civilizations, empires, and religions. It also deals with the geographical, ecological, and linguistic backgrounds, and looks at specific cultures of the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Vedic periods, as well as at the Harappan civilization. In addition, the rise of Jainism and Buddhism, Magadha and the beginning of territorial states, and the period of Mauryas, Central Asian countries, Satvahanas, Guptas, and Harshavardhana are also analysed. Next, it stresses varna system, urbanization, commerce and trade, developments in science and philosophy, and cultural legacy. Finally, the process of transition from ancient to medieval India and the origin of the Aryan culture has also been examined.

Contents: Introduction, The Geographical Background, How Nehru Discovered Ancient India-I, How Nehru Discovered Ancient India-II, The Economic History of Ancient India, Trade and Commerce in Ancient India, Town- Planning and House-Building in Ancient According to Silpasastras, Art and Architecture, Ancient House-Planning, Naming A Child or A Person, Mantra, Yantra and Tantra.

History as a social science is arguably more self-reflective than associated disciplines in that family. Other social scientists seem to see little reason to look beyond the paradigm they are developing in the present times. Historians on the other hand, tend to depend on the cumulative process of the development of their craft and the fund of accumulated knowledge. Yet, while this is acknowledged in the practice of research, Historiography in itself as a subject of study has rarely found its place in the syllabi of Indian universities. Knowledge of Historiography is taken for granted when a scholar plunges into research. In an attempt to address this lacuna, the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) has planned a series of volumes on Historiography comprising articles by subject specialists commissioned by the ICHR. The first volume in the series, Approaches to History: Essays in Indian Historiography brings to the readers the first fruits of that endeavour. While the essays encompass areas of research presently at the frontiers of new research, scholars will also find the bibliographies accompanying the essays of significant appeal.

This volume brings together, for the first time, several of Professor Habib's essays, representing three decades of scholarship and providing an insightful interpretation of the main currents in Indian history from the standpoint of Marxist historiography.

This exploration of key terms related to social and political order, found in early Indian texts, challenges the idea of a unified ancient India and a unified national identity at that time. This collection explores what may be called the idea of India in ancient times. Its undeclared objective is to identify key concepts which show early Indian civilization as distinct and differently oriented from other formations. The essays focus on ancient Indian texts within a variety of genres. They identify certain key terms—such as janapada, desa, var?a, dharma, bh?va—in their empirical contexts to suggest that neither the ideas embedded in these terms nor the idea of Bharatavarsha as a whole are “given entities,” but that they evolved historically. Professor Chattopadhyaya examines these texts to unveil historical processes. Without denying comparative history, he stresses that the internal dynamics of a society are best decoded via its own texts. His approach bears very effectively on understanding ongoing interactions between India’s “Great Tradition” and “Little Traditions.” As a whole, this book is critical of the notion of overarching Indian unity in the ancient period. It punctures the retrospective thrust of hegemonic nationalism as an ideology that has obscured the diverse textures of Indian civilization. Renowned for his scholarship on the ancient Indian past, Professor Chattopadhyaya’s latest collection only consolidates his high international reputation.

Contents: Introduction, Studies in Indian Architecture, Fort Architecture in Ancient and Medieval India, Art and Architecture: Northern India, Art and Architecture: South India, The Aspect and Orientation in Hindu Architecture, Kalinga Style of Architecture, Symbolism of the Dome, Art and Architecture, Muslim Architecture in India, A Plea for Indian Architecture.

Essays in Ancient Indian Economic History is part of a three-volume set focusing on the developments in the economic history of India during the last millennium. The essays in this volume provide an outline of the change in the status and orientation of early Indian economic history and in the approach to the economic features of ancient Indian history. The essays traverse diverse subjects such as the function of property, family and caste, the origin of the state in early India; agriculture, surplus appropriation and distribution, and labour; the role of crafts and craftsmen in the economy of early India; and trade and trade organizations, and coinage. In doing so, the volume attempts to provide a chronological and spatial view of early Indian economy. Re-issued in a revised form to synchronize with the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of the Indian History Congress, the essays are accompanied by a new Preface and an Introduction that highlight the changing contours of emphases, shifting focus and methodologies and projections of research, both encouraged and documented under the aegis of the Indian History Congress.