R.S. Sharma, one of the best-known historians of early India, provides a comprehensive yet accessible text on the ancient period of Indian history. Beginning with topics such as historiography and the importance of Ancient Indian history, he goes on to cover the geographical, econological and linguistic settings, before looking at specific cultures of neolithic, chalcolithic types, the Harappan civilization, the Vedic period, the rise of Jainism and Buddhism, Magadha and the beginning of territorial states, the age of the Mauryas, Satavahanas, Guptas, and Harshavardhana. While taking the reader on this journey through time, he highlights important phenomena such as the beginning of urbanization and monarchy in India, invasions, the Varna system, commerce and trade, developments in philosophy and cultural efflorescence. He ends this insightful volume with a comments on the transition from the Ancient to the Medieval.
This book also addresses a number of issues which have become current in discussion on Ancient Inida today, such as the Identity of the Aryan Culture, and Historical Construction. This is a volume meant for all those who want a masterly, lucid, yet eminently readable introduction to and overview on India's early history by one of the master-scholars of Indian history - be it students, tourists, or the interested lay reader
Author(s): R.S. Sharma
Edition: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 387
City: New Delhi
1 The Significance of Ancient Indian History
2 Modern Historians of Ancient India
3 Nature of Sources and Historical Construction
4 Geographical Setting
5 Ecology and Environment
6 The Linguistic Background
7 Human Evolution: The Old Stone Age
8 The Neolithic Age: First Food Producers and Animal Keepers
9 Chalcolithic Cultures
10 Harappan Culture: Bronze Age Urbanization in the Indus Valley
11 Identity of Aryan Culture
12 The Age of the Rig Veda
13 The Later Vedic Phase: Transition to State and Social Orders
14 Jainism and Buddhism
15 Territorial States and the Rise of Magadha
16 Iranian and Macedonian Invasions
17 State Structure and the Varna System in the Age of the Buddha
18 The Maurya Age
19 The Significance of Maurya Rule
20 Central Asian Contact and Mutual Impact
21 The Satavahana Phase
22 The Dawn of History in the Deep South
23 Crafts, Commerce, and Urban Growth (200 BC–AD 250)
24 Rise and Growth of the Gupta Empire
25 Life in the Gupta Age
26 Spread of Civilization in Eastern India
27 Harsha and His Times
28 Brahmanization, Rural Expansion, and Peasant Protest in the Peninsula
29 Developments in Philosophy
30 Cultural Interaction with Asian Countries
31 From Ancient to Medieval
32 Sequence of Social Changes
33 Legacy in Science and Civilization
