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Index
Contents
Extracts
Illustrations
Figures
Maps
Preface
Four major eras of ancient Indian history
1 Introduction
Three terms in context: ‘India’, ‘ancient’, ‘Hindu’
Why study ancient India?
Time, space and people
Chronological signposts
Physical geography and its impact on history
Myths and sacred geography
Social and cultural diversity
Primary sources and the historians
Reconstructing the history of ancient India
Notes
2 From Africa to Mehrgarh
Earliest phases of human settlement and activity
The Palaeolithic era
The Mesolithic era
The Neolithic Revolution and the rise of agriculture
Main Neolithic regional concentrations
The socio-economic consequences of agriculture
The Early Harappan phase: proto-urban settlements of the late Neolithic period
Evidence from three proto-urban sites: Amri, Kot Diji and Kalibangan
Evidence from Mehrgarh
RELEVANT QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
Notes
3 The Harappan Civilisation
Phases of progress in Harappan archaeology
Understanding the Mature Harappan phase
The extent and hierarchy of settlements
Civic planning and great structures
Food security, occupations and trading systems
Secular power and religion
Sculpture, script and mathematics
The eclipse of the Harappan Civilisation
Notes
4 The Indo-Aryans in the Vedic Age
The Aryan background
The Indo-European dimension
The Indo-Iranian dimension
Some revisionist arguments and counter-arguments
The Aryan expansion
The Vedic world
Pastoralism, farming and trades
Pottery and iron: the material base as evinced from archaeology
The patriarchal family
Political power and social differentiation
The religion of the sacrifice
Vedic literature and learning
Notes
5 Formative centuries of the pre-Mauryan era
Politics and the geography of power
Clan states and kingdoms
The supremacy of Magadha
Two foreign intrusions
Second urbanisation and the rise of heterodoxy
The growth of towns
Dissent and heterodoxy
Varieties of literature
Notes
6 The paradox of Mauryan imperialism
Advising and observing at the court of Chandragupta Maurya
Kautalya and his Arthashastra
Megasthenes and his Indica
The Dhamma of Ashoka
The Ashokan edicts and their message
The Mauryan world
Agriculture
Urban life
Administration
Architecture and sculpture
The decline of the empire: some causes
Notes
7 Diffusion and dynamism after the Mauryas
New dynasties and new centres of power
The Gangetic heartland: Shungas, Kharavela
The northwest: Indo-Greeks, Pahlavas, Shakas
From the Aral Sea to Kashi: the trans-Asiatic empire of the Kushans
The Satavahanas of the Deccan: their prosperity and piety
Gujarat and Malwa: the Western Shakas
The international trade of India
The infrastructure
The overland trade route through the Kushan territories
India and Rome
New trends in Indian religions
Mahayana Buddhism
Vaishnava and Shaiva traditions
The Dharmashastra of Manu
Secular literature, sciences and the arts
Sanskrit literature
Tamil literature
Advance in sciences
Architecture and sculpture
Notes
8 Stability and change under the imperial Guptas
The empire and the emperors
Two great Guptas (335–415)
Decentralisation and devolution of power
Imperial organisation
Gupta power maintained intact (415–67)
Guptas in decline (467–c. 550)
Gupta society: a world in transition
Land grants and the early beginnings of feudalism
Varying fortunes of faiths and sects
Caste mobility
The ‘flowering’49 of Gupta Classical culture
Mathematics and technology
Sanskrit literature
Dissemination of knowledge: the Nalanda monastic college
The Vakataka achievement at Ajanta
Notes
9 The post-Gupta era and the rise of the south
North India fractured
Harsha’s kingdom
Yashovarman and Lalitditya
The Arab seizure of Sind
Chalukyas and Pallavas: the Deccan and the deep south
The Chalukyas
The Pallava kingdom
Political and economic perspectives
Sources of royal legitimacy
The mandala and the samanta
Political accommodation within the Islamic context
Political and economic strategy behind land grants
The state of agriculture
New directions in India’s international trade
Cross-currents of culture
The religious landscape
Sanskrit literature
Southern literary culture
Temple architecture in the south
Translations and transmission of ideas
Notes
10 Regionalism and feudalism
Three regional kingdoms
The Gurjara–Pratihara kingdom in Madhyadesha
The Pala kingdom of Bengal and beyond
The majesty of the Rashtrakuta in the Deccan
Political economy in the feudal era
The debate on feudalism
Kingdom formation and dynastic legitimation: the northern context
The Arab mercantile impact
Commerce and urbanisation
Cultural highlights of the age
Shankara, the master philosopher of India
Piety, art and wealth at Ellora
Language and literature
Pala patronage of Buddhism
Indian scientific influence at Baghdad
Welcoming the adherents of non-Indic faiths
Notes
11 Chola domination in the south and Turco-Afghan plunder in the north
State and society under the Cholas
Three great Chola kings
Royal authority and local autonomy in a regional kingdom: the Chola model
The international context of Chola commercial prosperity
Turco-Afghan incursions into north India
Regional kingdoms of north India
The background to the Turco-Afghans
Mahmud of Ghazni’s raids
The Ghurid conquest of north India
Evaluating the Turkish impact
Fortunes of three Indic religions
Diversity within Hinduism
The caste system
Decline of Buddhism: some explanations
The resilience of the Jains
Literature and great temples
Three literary masterpieces
The glory of Indian temples
Notes
Afterword
Glossary of Indic terms
Glossary of selected ancient Indic place-names
Classification of ancient Indian texts by subjects
Bibliography
Index
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