Main entry:

Thapar, Romila.

Title & Author:

Cultural pasts : essays in early Indian history / Romila Thapar.

Publication:

New Delhi ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2000.

Description:

xi, 1156 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
I. Historiography -- 1. Ideology and the Interpretation of Early Indian History -- 2. Durkheim and Weber on Theories of Society and Race Relating to Pre-colonial India -- 3. The Contribution of D.D. Kosambi to Indology -- 4. Early India: An Overview -- 5. Regional History: The Punjab -- 6. Regional History with Reference to the Konkan -- 7. Society and Historical Consciousness: The Itihasa-purana Tradition -- 8. Historical Consciousness in Early India -- 9. Antecedents, Religious Sanctions and Political Legitimation in the Ladakh Chronicles -- II. Social and Cultural Transactions -- 10. The Oral and the Written in Early India -- 11. Dissent and Protest in the Early Indian Tradition -- 12. The Image of the Barbarian in Early India -- III. Archaeology and History -- 13. A Possible Identification of Meluhha, Dilmun and Makan -- 14. Society in Ancient India: The Formative Period -- 15. The Archaeological Background to the Agnicayana Ritual -- 16. Archaeological Artifacts and Literary Data: An Attempt at Co-relation -- IV. Pre-Mauryan and Mauryan India -- 17. The Evolution of the State in the Ganga Valley in the Mid-first Millennium BC -- 18. The Early History of Mathura: Up to and Including the Mauryan Period -- 19. State Weaving-Shops of the Mauryan Period -- 20. Asoka and Buddhism as Reflected in the Asokan Edicts -- 21. Literacy and Communication: Some Thoughts on the Inscriptions of Asoka -- 22. Epigraphic Evidence and Some Indo-Hellenistic Contacts During the Mauryan Period -- 23. The Mauryas Revisited -- i. Towards the Definition of an Empire: The Mauryan State -- ii. Text and Context: Megasthenes and the Seven Castes -- V. Forms of Exchange -- 24. Dana and Daksina as Forms of Exchange -- 25. Indian Views of Europe: Representations of the Yavanas in Early Indian History -- 26. Black Gold: South Asia and the Roman Maritime Trade -- 27. Patronage and the Community -- VI. Of Heroes and History -- 28. The Historian and the Epic -- 29. Some Aspects of the Economic Data in the Mahabharata -- 30. The Ramayana: Theme and Variation -- 31. Death and the Hero -- 32. As Long as the Moon and the Sun Endure -- VII. Genealogies and Origin Myths as Historical Sources -- 33. Genealogical Patterns as Perceptions of the Past -- 34. Origin Myths and the Early Indian Historical Tradition -- 35. Clan, Caste and Origin Myths in Early India -- 36. The Mouse in the Ancestry -- VIII. The Renouncer in a Social Context -- 37. Sacrifice, Surplus, and the Soul -- 38. Ideology, Society and the Upanisads -- 39. Ethics, Religion and Social Protest in the First Millennium BC in Northern India -- 40. Renunciation: The Making of a Counter-culture? -- 41. The Householder and the Renouncer in the Brahmanical and Buddhist Traditions -- 42. Millenarianism and Religion in Early India -- IX. The Present in the Past -- 43. Imagined Religious Communities? Ancient History and the Modern Search for a Hindu Identity -- 44. The Tyranny of Labels -- 45. Secularism and History -- 46. Syndicated Hinduism -- 47. A Historical Perspective on the Story of Rama -- 48. The Ramayana Syndrome -- 49. The Defence of the Variant -- 50. The Politics of Religious Communities -- 51. The Theory of Aryan Race and India: History and Politics.
Current Copyright Fee: GBP22.50 0.
Dust jacket.

Summary:

Cultural Pasts collects essays on a range of subjects in early Indian history. Its focus is on historiography and the changing dimensions of social and cultural history. The essays are divided into nine thematic groups: historiography, both current and from earlier periods; social and cultural transactions; archaeology and history; pre-Mauryan and Mauryan India; forms of exchange; the society of the heroes in the epics and the later tradition of venerating the hero; genealogies and origin myths as historical sources; the social context of the renouncer; and the past in the present--the use of the early past in current ideologies.

Resources:
Publisher description

ISBN:

0195640500
9780195640502

Subject:

Geschichte Anfänge-1000.
India History To 324 B.C.
India History 324 B.C.-1000 A.D.
Inde Histoire Jusqu'à 324 av. J.-C.
Inde Histoire 324 av. J.-C.-1000.
India.
Indien

Form/genre:

History.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 215859
Call No.: DS451 .T4 2000
Status: Available