Author: Romila Thapar
Publisher: Popular Prakashan
Year: 1998
Language: English
Pages: 372
ISBN/UPC (if available): 817154852x
Description
This volume of essays, contributed by eminent historians of India, serves as a unique guide to interpretations of early Indian history currently being discussed by the historians and other scholars working on the past of India.
Over the last couple of decades the study of history has gradually changed. History is no longer a mere study of the events of the past but its scope has broadened. Along with discoveries of new inscriptions and relics, the hitherto neglected areas like socio-economic, environmental, ecological, linguistic and historical changes have slowly come into focus in recent writings. This subtle but identifiable change in perspective has led to history being regarded as a social science. One development resulting from this is the adoption of an interdisciplinary approach.
The focus of each essay in the book is on new trends in the research in particular fields. An attempt has been made to introduce the key concepts which have now entered the study of early Indian history, as, for example, material culture, state formation, typologies of societies, belief systems and ideologies. The contributors to this volume have understood the term 'recent' to mean the last three decades.
Edited by Romilla Thapar, the most eminent historian of India, this collection of essays is intended to draw the attention of readers to some of the recent researches on various aspects of early Indian history and will be of interest to a general reader probing the early history of India.