3 Review(s)

Exploring Early India up to c. AD 1300 offers a broad overview and connected narrative of early Indian history, taking into consideration major historical developments from the earliest times to c. AD 1300. Salient features of political, socio-economic and cultural history have been highlighted and discussed in great detail, and regional diversities in early Indian history have been commented upon keeping sight of commonalties at the subcontinental level. Rich in empirical details and containing relevant illustrations and maps, the book also offers critical readings of diverse primary sources such as field-archaeological, epigraphic, numismatic, textual and art-historical, and refers to various congruent, and contesting, images of the past which they generate. On the whole, it delves into the historiographical thrusts and shifts in the study of early India and is marked by attempts to demonstrate elements of change in early Indian history beyond dynastic shifts. This is the third edition of the book, and includes two new appendices on seafaring to the island of Socotra in light of recently discovered epigraphic data.