Preface and Acknowledgements
By the Same Author
1. Ancient Indian History as an Area of Conflict:
The Case of the Indian Council of Historical
Research (ICHR) and Related Issues
I. Historical Research in India in the
Pre-ICHR Phase
II. Historical Research in India in the
Post-ICHR Phase
III. Assessment of the ICHR Situation under the
Communists by Arun Shourie
IV. The ICHR under the BJP Control
V. The Idea that Nationalist Thoughts Pose a
Danger to an Objective Study of Ancient India
VI. How the ‘Progressives’ Tried to Build an
Image for Themselves as Historians against
Obscurantist Values
VII. Various Issues Related to Archaeology
VIII. The General Course of Ancient Indian
Historical Studies
2. The British Initiative in Laying Down the
Historical Frame of Ancient India: Mountstuart
Elphinstone, Vincent Arthur Smith and E.J. Rapson
I. Some British Authors in the Background:
James Mill, H.S. Murray, G.R. Gleig,
E. Thornton, R. Sewell, W. Hamilton
I.1. James Mill
I.2. The Scottish Geographer Hugh Murray
I.3. G.R. Gleig, a Soldier who was also a
Priest
I.4. John Marshman of the Serampore
Mission
I.5. Edward Thornton, the Author of Some
Indian Gazetteers, and Robert Sewell
of the Indian Civil Service
I.6. W. Hamilton, a Geographical Appraisal
of the Land
II. Ancient India in the Writings of Mountstuart
Elphinstone and Vincent Arthur Smith
II.1. Mountstuart Elphinstone (1779-1859)
II.2. Vincent Arthur Smith (1843-1920)
II.3. E.J. Rapson (1861-1937)
III. Observations
3. Indian Historians of Ancient India from the
Late 19th Century to c. 1950
I. The First Phase, till c. 1910
I.1. Rajendra Lala Mitra (1822-91)
I.2. Bhagavanlal Indraji (1839-88)
I.3. Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar
(1837-1925)
I.4. Ramesh Chandra Dutta (1848-1909)
I.5. Haraprasad Sastri (1853-1931)
II. Observations
III. The Second Phase, c. 1910-1950
III.1. Radhakumud Mukherjee (Mookerji)
(1884-1963)
III.2. Kasi Prasad Jayaswal (1881-1937)
III.3. Ramesh Chandra Majumdar (1884-1980)
IV. The Concept of Greater India and the
Notion of Hindu Colonies in Southeast
Asia: R.C. Majumdar
V. Further Developments till the 1950s
V.1. Dynastic History
VI. South India
VII. Books on Regional Histories
VIII. First Steps in Economic History
IX. Aspects of Ancient Indian Art History
X. Scientific Achievements of Ancient India
XI. Observations
4. The Concept of the History of People Early in
the 20th Century: Rabindranath Tagore and
Sister Nivedita
I. Bharatavarsher Itihas (‘History of
Bharatavarsha’) by Rabindranath Tagore
II. Sister Nivedita
5. Indian Historians of Ancient India from about
1950 to the Present
I. The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Series
‘The History and Culture of the Indian People’
I.1. The Vedic Age (1951)
I.2. The Age of Imperial Unity (1951)
I.3. The Classical Age (ad 320-750), 1954
I.4. The Age of Imperial Kanauj
(ad 750-1000), 1955
I.5. The Struggle for Empire
(ad 1000-1300), 1957
II. New Developments Since the 1960s
III. Communists in Control of Ancient Indian
Historical Research: The Case of the ICHR
and Other Issues
III.1. D.D. Kosambi
III.2. R.S. Sharma
IV. The Notion of Early Mediaeval India
V. Other Variants of Communist Approach to
Ancient India
V.1. Upinder Singh
V.2. Kumkum Roy
VI. India was always a Colony: ‘Scientific’
Archaeologists of the Country
VII. The Politics of the Aryan Hypothesis in India
VIII. The Issue of the Sarasvati
IX. Seeds of Nationalism in Indian Archaeological
and Historical Research since 1975
IX.1. The Beginning of Iron Technology
and Other Aspects of Metallurgy
IX.2. The Dismantling of the Diffusionist
Hypotheses – the Frame of Indian
Borderlands and Boundaries
IX.3. The Problem of Agricultural Origins
IX.4. A Nationalist Perspective of Trade
and Trade Routes
IX.5. Regional Histories and the Wider
Sub-Continental Dimensions
IX.6. Brahmi Writing in South India and
the Scope of Historical Geographical
Investigations on the Basis of
Inscriptions in Tamil Nadu
IX.7. Ganga Plain Survey
IX.8. Socio-politics of the Past
X. An Introduction to the Series ‘History of
Ancient India’ Sponsored by the
Vivekananda International Foundation
and Aryan Books International, Delhi
XI. Observations
6. Summary and Conclusions
References
Index