Indian Archaeology and Heritage Education: Historiographical and Sociological Dimensions

Contents: Preface. Part I:  Introduction. 1. Beginnings of Cartography in India and its Application in Early Antiquarian Investigations. 2. Colonel Colin Mackenzie and the Discovery of Iron Age Megalithic Sites in South India.  3. Birth of Prehistory in Europe: The India Connection Grace a Hugh Falconer.  4. Robert Bruce Foote and After: A Century of Writing Indian Prehistory.  5. Culture, Cognition and Gordon Childe: Some General Considerations. 6. On Some Historiographical Aspects of Indological Studies. 7. Some Observations about the Transition from Hunting-Gathering to Farming in India. 8. Place of Peninsular India in the Past: Pivotal, not Peripheral. 9. On Some Aspects of the Study of the Past in Andhra Pradesh. 10. Heritage Management with Special Reference to Modern Impacts on Archaeological Sites of Lower Deccan. Part II:  Introduction. 11. ‘Conquer the Whole World but Lose the Soul!’ Don’t We Need a Sociological Turn? 12. Writing Indian Prehistory and History: The Societal Dimension.  13. “The Past is a Foreign Country,” but Not in India: Crisis of Spirit Once Again?  14. The Other Archaeologists. 15. India’s Cultural Heritage and Public Education. 16. Ancient Indian Thought: A Component of Liberal Education.  17. Ancient Indian Ideals and Modern Realities. 18. Demystifying Anthropology.  19. Prehistoric or Deep Past and Its Contemporary Relevance. 20. Cultural Heritage as a Bridge Across Continents.  Index.

The twenty essays comprising this volume, some hitherto unpublished, represent additions to the small steps taken by me to strengthen the debate on general theoretical and methodological issues in Indian archaeology. The results of these efforts are already published as three books entitled Multiple Approaches to the Study of India's Early Past (2014), Revitalizing Indian Archaeology: Essays in Theoretical Archaeology (2016) and Methodological Issues in Indian Archaeology (2017). Three or four themes run through the present collection of essays. The first six essays seek to correct the mistaken equation of historiography with history of archaeology and argue that we stand to gain fresh insights into the discipline by undertaking a contextual examination of the contributions of earlier workers comprising both cartographers and antiquarian workers. Then there are three essays that emphasize the need for problem-oriented field investigations in prehistory, protohistory and early historical archaeology. The serious threats posed to the preservation of archaeological sites, especially the medium and small-size ones, due to the various ongoing land development schemes in different parts of the country, ranging from housing expansion to major river irrigation projects, constitute another major theme dealt within this volume. The essays in Part II shift the focus from epistemology to axiology and examine the larger societal dimensions of the study of the past. It is argued that there is a clear need to initiate regular sociological investigations of people's perceptions of the past and their use in day-to-day life in the country. The identity crisis that is being experienced now in the country, as reflected in the increasing number of conflicting statements about heritage emanating from both academic and public domains, render these investigations doubly relevant. In particular, attention is drawn to the necessity of instituting a comprehensive scheme of value-based heritage education at both pedagogic and public levels.