History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century PDF
Preview History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century
A HISTORY OF ANCIENT AND EARLY MEDIEVAL INDIA FROM THE STONE AGE TO THE 12TH CENTURY Upinder Singh Delhi • Chennai • Chandigarh Upper Saddle River • Boston • London Sydney • Singapore • Hong Kong • Toronto • Tokyo Brief Contents Photographs, Maps, and Figures About the Author Preface Acknowledgements A Reader’s Guide Introduction: Ideas of the Early Indian Past 1. Understanding Literary and Archaeological Sources 2. Hunter-Gatherers of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Ages 3. The Transition to Food Production: Neolithic, Neolithic–Chalcolithic, and Chalcolithic Villages, c . 7000– 2000 BCE 4. The Harappan Civilization, c. 2600–1900 BCE 5. Cultural Transitions: Images from Texts and Archaeology, c. 2000–600 BCE 6. Cities, Kings, and Renunciants: North India, c. 600–300 BCE 7. Power and Piety: The Maurya Empire, c . 324–187 BCE 8. Interaction and Innovation, c. 200 BCE –300 CE 9. Aesthetics and Empire, c. 300–600 CE 10. Emerging Regional Configurations, c. 600–1200 CE A Note on Diacritics Glossary Further Readings References Credits Contents Photographs, Maps, and Figures About the Author Preface Acknowledgements A Reader’s Guide Introduction: Ideas of the Early Indian Past THE MAIN PHYSIOGRAPHIC ZONES OF THE SUBCONTINENT WAYS OF DIVIDING THE INDIAN PAST CHANGING INTERPRETATIONS OF EARLY INDIAN HISTORY NEW HISTORIES, UNWRITTEN HISTORIES 1 Understanding Literary and Archaeological Sources READING ANCIENT TEXTS FROM A HISTORICAL POINT OF VIEW Ancient palm leaf manuscripts THE CLASSIFICATION OF LITERARY SOURCES: LANGUAGE, GENRE, AND CONTENT THE VEDAS THE TWO SANSKRIT EPICS: THE RAMAYANA AND MAHABHARATA Archaeology and the Mahabharata The chronological layers in the Ramayana THE PURANAS THE DHARMASHASTRA Theory and practice in the Dharmashastra BUDDHIST LITERATURE Songs of Buddhist nuns JAINA LITERATURE SANGAM LITERATURE AND LATER TAMIL WORKS The stories of the two Tamil epics EARLY KANNADA AND TELUGU LITERATURE OTHER ANCIENT TEXTS, BIOGRAPHIES, AND HISTORIES Banabhatta and his royal biography THE NATURE OF ANCIENT INDIAN HISTORICAL TRADITIONS THE ACCOUNTS OF FOREIGN WRITERS Al-Biruni on the writing of the Hindus ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE EARLY INDIAN PAST SCIENTIFIC TECHNIQUES IN ARCHAEOLOGY Radiocarbon dating INTERPRETING ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE ETHNO-ARCHAEOLOGY The social and cultural aspects of technology PROTECTING SITES EPIGRAPHY: THE STUDY OF INSCRIPTIONS ANCIENT AND EARLY MEDIEVAL SCRIPTS LANGUAGES OF ANCIENT AND EARLY MEDIEVAL INSCRIPTIONS Deciphered and undeciphered scripts DATING THE INSCRIPTIONS How to convert ancient era dates into modern ones THE CLASSIFICATION OF INSCRIPTIONS Memorializing death in stone INSCRIPTIONS AS A SOURCE OF HISTORY NUMISMATICS: THE STUDY OF COINS A BRIEF HISTORY OF INDIAN COINAGE COINS AS A SOURCE OF HISTORY Counter-struck coins of the Kshatrapas and Satavahanas CONCLUSIONS 2 Hunter-Gatherers of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Ages THE GEOLOGICAL AGES AND HOMINID EVOLUTION What does it mean to be human? HOMINID REMAINS IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT PALAEO-ENVIRONMENTS CLASSIFYING THE INDIAN STONE AGE THE PALAEOLITHIC AGE LOWER PALAEOLITHIC SITES Typical lower palaeolithic tools Isampur: a centre of stone tool manufacture MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC SITES The Levallois technique UPPER PALAEOLITHIC SITES Upper palaeolithic tools PALAEOLITHIC ART AND CULTS Ostrich eggshell beads THE LIFE-WAYS OF PALAEOLITHIC HUNTER-GATHERERS Food resources—now and then THE MESOLITHIC AGE MESOLITHIC SITES Microliths Animal bones at mesolithic sites Graves, subsistence, and settlement patterns The journey to get chalcedony THE MAGNIFICENCE OF MESOLITHIC ART CONCLUSIONS 3 The Transition to Food Production: Neolithic, Neolithic–Chalcolithic, and Chalcolithic Villages, c . 7000– 2000 BCE THE NEOLITHIC AGE AND THE BEGINNINGS OF FOOD PRODUCTION WHY DOMESTICATION? THE IDENTIFICATION OF DOMESTICATION AND FOOD PRODUCTION IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD The analysis of ancient plant remains THE TRANSITION TO FOOD PRODUCTION IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT THE EARLIEST VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT, C. 7000–3000 BCE The north-west The Vindhyan fringes and other areas NEOLITHIC, NEOLITHIC–CHALCOLITHIC, AND CHALCOLITHIC COMMUNITIES, C. 3000–2000 BCE The north and north-west Did people actually live in the Burzahom pits? Rajasthan The Malwa region The western Deccan The middle Ganga plain and eastern India South India The mystery of the ash mounds Community feasting at neolithic Budihal THE LIFE OF EARLY FARMERS CHANGES IN CULTIC AND BELIEF SYSTEMS Female figurines—ordinary women or goddesses? CONCLUSIONS 4 The Harappan Civilization, c . 2600–1900 BCE CIVILIZATION AND URBANIZATION: DEFINITIONS AND IMPLICATIONS The 10 characteristics of cities, according to Childe RECENT DISCOVERIES AND CHANGING PERSPECTIVES HARAPPAN, INDUS, OR SINDHU–SARASVATI CIVILIZATION? ORIGIN: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE EARLY HARAPPAN PHASE The problems with diffusionist theories THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE EARLY AND MATURE HARAPPAN PHASES THE GENERAL FEATURES OF MATURE HARAPPAN SETTLEMENTS PROFILES OF SOME HARAPPAN CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES THE DIVERSITY OF THE HARAPPAN SUBSISTENCE BASE Animal bones at Shikarpur HARAPPAN CRAFTS AND TECHNIQUES Sculpture in stone and metal The making of long carnelian beads NETWORKS OF TRADE Shortughai—a Harappan trading post in Afghanistan THE NATURE AND USES OF WRITING RELIGIOUS AND FUNERARY PRACTICES The ‘fire altars’ THE HARAPPAN PEOPLE How healthy were the Harappans? THE RULING ELITE Defining a state THE DECLINE OF URBAN LIFE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE LATE HARAPPAN PHASE CONCLUSIONS 5 Cultural Transitions: Images from Texts and Archaeology, c . 2000–600 BCE PERSPECTIVES FROM TEXTS USING THE VEDAS AS A HISTORICAL SOURCE The date of the Rig Veda WHO WERE THE INDO-ARYANS? THE CULTURE REFLECTED IN THE FAMILY BOOKS OF THE RIG VEDA SAMHITA Tribes and wars Hymn to arms ( Rig Veda Samhita 6.75) Lineage, clan, tribe Pastoralism, agriculture, and other occupations Varna in the Rig Veda Women, men, and the household The family and the household Religion: sacrifices to the gods Hymn to Indra ( Rig Veda 2.12) The soma plant and its juice THE HISTORICAL MILIEU OF LATER VEDIC AGE TEXTS Aspects of everyday life The emergence of monarchy The ceremony of the jewel offering The varna hierarchy The Purusha-sukta ( Rig Veda 10.90) Gender and the household Religion, ritual, and philosophy The Nasadiya hymn ( Rig Veda 10.129) The sacrificial arena The atman , according to Uddalaka Aruni Popular beliefs and practices Atharva Veda spells ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROFILES OF DIFFERENT REGIONS OF THE SUBCONTINENT, c . 2000–500 BCE NEOLITHIC–CHALCOLITHIC AND CHALCOLITHIC CULTURES The north-west and north The Indo-Gangetic divide, the upper Ganga valley, and the doab The Sanauli cemetery The copper anthropomorph Black and Red Ware Western India The middle Ganga valley Eastern India The North-east The cultural sequence in central India The chalcolithic farmers of the Deccan The Daimabad bronzes Food, nutrition, and health among the people of Inamgaon Goddesses with and without heads Neolithic–chalcolithic sites of South India Pictures on stone FROM COPPER TO IRON: EARLY IRON AGE CULTURES OF THE SUBCONTINENT A clarification about the Indian megaliths The north-west The Indo-Gangetic divide and the upper Ganga valley: the Painted Grey Ware culture Painted Grey Ware The evidence from Rajasthan The middle and lower Ganga valley Central India The Deccan South India The enigma of the megalithic anthropomorphs THE IMPACT OF IRON TECHNOLOGY THE PROBLEM OF CORRELATING LITERARY AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE CONCLUSIONS 6 Cities, Kings, and Renunciants: North India, c . 600–300 BCE THE SOURCES: LITERARY AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL Panini and his Ashtadhyayi Northern Black Polished Ware THE 16 GREAT STATES
The list of books you might like
