Perspectives on Indian History, Historiography, and Philosophy of History
Contents: Preface. Acknowledgements. Translation chart. 1. Was Herodotus of Greece the father of history? 2. History and philosophy. 3. History of history : from Vedic antiquity to modern times : an introduction. 4. A new approach to the study of historical data in the epic and Puranic Literature on ancient India. 5. The Puranic tradition of historiography in India. 6. The fundamental aspects of ancient Indian culture and civilization. 7. Sources of the history of Uttar Pradesh (Ancient Period). 8. The Dionysiaka : a classical (Greek) source of history of ancient India. 9. The colonial and cultural expansion of the Aryans outside India as gleaned from the Vedic literature. 10. Antiquity of Ayodhya and historicity of Rama : literary, archaeological and scientific perspectives. 11. Veda Vyasa, Manu Kautilya : a comparative study of their national philosophy in historical perspective. 12. The concepts of varna and jati in the Jaina and Buddhist Traditions. 13. The role of the Brahmanas in Anti-Alexander Movement in North-West India. 14. The concept of national integration in ancient India. 15. North-West India as described by the Greek and Assyrian travellers of the first century. 16. Trade and commerce in ancient India in the light of Jaina and Buddhist traditions bearing on its economic and cultural contacts with the Asian countries. 17. Politico-cultural relations of Tibet and Burma with Bihar and their impact : ancient and early medieval period. 18. Kalidasa\'s description of Raghu\'s conquest of Pragjyotisa : historical interpretations. 19. Historicity of Bilhana\'s account of Vikramaditya\'s invasion of Kamarupa. 20. Indian society and culture during medieval period. 21. Trade and commerce in Southern India : from the Persian, Arabic, Russian and Italian travellers\' accounts of 13 to 15 centuries. 22. Trade and commerce in Northern and Eastern India : from the narratives of 16 and 17 centuries travellers. 23. The Annals of tribal-Mughal conflicts in North-East India during the reign of Jehangir (1605-27). 24. The first Indian War of independence 1857-1859. Index.
"The volume is a collection of papers on certain aspects of Indian history, historiography and culture. The papers are fundamental, insightful and path-breaking to some extent. Combining literary, archaeological, scientific and other perspectives, they cover a range of subjects stretching from ancient to modern India. The volume deals with the Greek historians, the Indian epic and Puranic tradition of historiography, colonial and cultural expansion of the Aryans, the early history of North West India, society, trade and commerce in ancient India, economic, political and cultural contacts of India with other parts of Asia in ancient and medieval periods, and the 1857 War of independence in India. It takes up some very interesting and new subjects like role of Brahmanas in the Anti Alexander Movement in North-West India and the concept of national integration in ancient India. It explores the sources of history of Uttar Pradesh and the antiquity of Ayodhya and historicity of Rama in an interesting study.
The volume will be of immense use to historians and scholars of philosophy." (jacket)
