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Presenting a grand sweep of Indian history, this work covers antiquity to the later half of the 20th century. The authors examine the major political, social and cultural forces which have shaped the history of the Indian subcontinent. This third edition of the text has been updated to include current research as well as a revised preface, index and dateline.
The expansion of the Cholas from their base in the Kaveri Delta saw this growing power subdue the kingdoms of southern India, as well as occupy Sri Lanka and the Maldives, by the early eleventh century. It was also during this period that the Cholas initiated links with Song China. Concurrently, the Southeast Asian polity of Sriwijaya had, through its Sumatran and Malayan ports, come to occupy a key position in East-West maritime trade, requiring engagement with both Song China to the north and the Chola kingdom to its west. The apparently friendly relations pursued were, however, to be disrupted in 1025 by Chola naval expeditions against fourteen key port cities in Southeast Asia. This volume examines the background, course and effects of these expeditions, as well as the regional context of the events. It brings to light many aspects of this key period in Asian history. Unprecedented in the degree of detail assigned to the story of the Chola expeditions, this volume is also unique in that it includes translations of the contemporary Tamil and Sanskrit inscriptions relating to Southeast Asia and of the Song dynasty Chinese texts relating to the Chola Kingdom.
This Felicitation Volume Concentrates Mainly On Herman Kulke`S Contributions On Indian History And Orissa In Particular. The Study Is Divided In Three Parts: Ways Of Questioning: Historians And Historiography, Issues In South And South-East Asian History, Politics Of Identity And Culture. Contributors Include Bhairabi Prasad Sahu, Dietmar Rothermund, Snigdha Tripathy, Ranabir Chakravarti, Upendra Singh, Ishita-Banerjee Dubey, Yaaminey Mubai, Biswamoy Pati, Georg Pfeffer, G.C. Tripathi Among Many Others.
Since the 1940s, revaluations of the nature of the State have been a major preoccupation among historians worldwide. There has been a debate on the extent to which the State is independent of the interests of the ruling class. Pre-colonial India provides a unique testing ground for such debates, for it provides examples of State forms which vary enormously. Yet serious consideration of the nature of State forms in India was often overwhelmed by a focus on 'caste' and 'brahminism'. Now, however, as Professor Kulke demonstrates in his Introduction to this book - which consists of all the major essays on this important theme - several basic forms of the State can be isolated. Although the notion of 'centralized empire' still dominates the historiography, alternative models such as 'the segmentary state' and 'the patrimonial state' have given rise to productive debates.
"Buddhism across Asia is a must-read for anyone interested in the history and spread of Buddhism in Asia. It comprises a rich collection of articles written by leading experts in their fields. Together, the contributions provide an in-depth analysis of Buddhist history and transmission in Asia over a period of more than 2000 years. Aspects examined include material culture, politics, economy, languages and texts, religious institutions, practices and rituals, conceptualisations, and philosophy, while the geographic scope of the studies extends from India to Southeast Asia and East Asia. Readers' knowledge of Buddhism is constantly challenged by the studies presented, incorporating new materi...
This Book Contains A Selection Of Articles On Various Aspects Of Ksatra And Ksetra, The Inter Connected Domains Of Temporal And Sacred Power In Medieval India And Southeast Asia. Thematically These Papers Are Intertwined By A Study Of Quest Of Medieval Rulers For Legitimation Through Religious Institutions. About Half Of The Papers Focus On Puri In Orisa And Its Jagannatha Cult. South Indian Is Represented By Two Papers On Religious Policy Of The Colas And The Early Rulers Of The Vijayanagara . Four Papers Deal With Southeast Asia.
This Is A Revised And Enlarged Edition Of The Book First Published In 1989. Seventeen Well Researched Papers In The Volume Address Important Questions Thrown Up By Contemporary Research On Hinduism: Do Conventional Notions Of Hinduism Need To Be Reformulated On The Basis Of New Evidence And Modern Theories? Is It Prudent To Interpret Hinduism Without An Inter-Disciplinary And Contextual Approach. In Short, What Does Hinduism Mean.The Papers Reflect A Wide Variety Of Opinions On What Hinduism Means And Help Us Better Understand Hinduism Which Cannot Be Forced Into Watertight Inflexible Categories.
Southeast Asia has sometimes been portrayed as a static place. In the ninth to fourteenth centuries, however, the region experienced extensive trade, bitter wars, kingdoms rising and falling, ethnic groups on the move, the construction of impressive monuments and debate about profound religious issues. Readers of this volume will learn much of how people lived in Southeast Asia five hundred to one thousand years ago; the region today cannot be comprehended without reference to the seminal developments of that period.
This handbook presents a multilayered and multidimensional history of state formation in premodern India. It explores dense and rich local and subregional historiography from the mid-first millennium BC to the eighteenth century in South Asia. Shifting the focus away from economic and political factors, this handbook revises the conventional understanding of states and empires and locates them in their quotidian conduct and activity on socio-cultural and concomitant factors. Comprehensive in scope, this handbook addresses a range of themes connected with the idea of state formation in the subcontinent. It includes discussions and debates on ritual practices and the Brahmanical order in early...
A comprehensive and analytical assessment of the history of the Indian subcontinent until 1750 CE, History of Precolonial India situates Indian history in the wider context of its Asiatic background in an effort to accommodate the ongoing cultural transactions, intersections, and overlaps.This, it is hoped, will allow the reader to go beyond the usual brief flirtations with Asian history and appreciate the historical significance of the cultural and political interactions across the shifting and permeable regional borders.Divided into three parts, the book begins with an exploration of ancient and medieval South Asian history. The second part focuses on the major debates in precolonial Indian history such as periodization, the Indo-Aryan problem, state formation, and the Indian Ocean trade. The final sectioncomprises a thematically arranged and exhaustive bibliography.In bringing out the changing historiographical contours through time, this volume focuses on facets of connected histories that went into the shaping of the cultural fabric of South Asia.