Customer Reviews

A Brief History of India

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This thoroughly "reader friendly" history of India provides a synthesis of events and a survey of the development of India's civilization, social system, and diversity of cultures, races, languages and religions. In examining the changing trends of the country Danielou also creates an intriguing survey of how India's courses have affected the world.

I was rather interested by the Library Journal critic concerning "A Brief History of India"(128 N° 2, February, 1)
With regard to the point of view expressed about Moghul and British colonisation, I feel that the critic has an unconscious Western bias, which is one of the main sores in India even today.
Of course, both these invaders also brought something positive with them, but we must remember that prior to their arrival India was one of the richest countries in the world and after their departure one of the poorest.

When you see the destruction made by the Muslims and in particularly by the Moghul Emperor Aurangzeb in Benares, you understand some of the material effects of these invaders, but their permanent attack on the Hindus' social and religious system was even worse.

In any case, I deem Daniélou's point of view is much more realistic that that of the French writer Guy Deleury who wrote recently in `L'Inde continent rebelle - Le Seuil 2000'

Page 257/258

The Indian sub-continent can look back with neither regret nor shame on its short century of British domination, to which it owes its telegraph, its railways, its neo-gothic railway stations, the gaudy uniforms of its sepoy corps d'élite, its metropolitan ports, masonic lodges and even - the supreme paradox - the Congress Party, which led it to independence

I was keen to read a brief history of India before reading about the Bristish Raj. Most parts of India history are not very attractive for someone not very aware of it, and it is not a fault of the author but because most of that history are wars of conquest, from the Greek, Afghans, Arabs, Mongols and Europeans. The Arabs were particularly violent in its wars of domination, sacking India and leaving its people in impoverishment. Then, the last part of the book, and the most interesting for me, present the European involvement in India, first in search of trading and later, as a struggle for dominance of the country by the British, prior defeat of the French. The depiction of India independence is by far the best part of the book, succintly explaining the bloody division of India into a Muslim Pakistan and Hindu India and the influence of Ghandi in the liberation movement. Another thing that this book show is the evolution of the religions of India that are very interesting to know.

This book does not focus on any part of the history, so to get a deep knowledge of events like British conquest or Mahatma Ghandi, you need to find other sources. Finally, one important thing needed badly in this brief history are maps to follow the reading --- 3,5 stars!

This is an older history that innocently tells the tale of Indian religion unaware of the now politically correct viewpoints dominant that make discussion of Indian history controversial.
Danielou's history has its own scholary weaknesses, no doubt, but that should not drive away anyone who wants to get a hold of the simple and open clue to Indian historical culture and religion: in Danielou's rendering, before the debate over the historicity of the Aryan migration, we see the antiquity of the Indian tradition before the Aryan phase in the Dravidian cultures. That simple solution to what historians of Vedic Hinduism have turned into an insoluble mystery can lead the confused student to some clarity on Indian history, if he can evade some of the other questionable ideas that Danielou produces to embroider his simple solution to the basic questions. Either Vedism is the source of yoga or it is not, and if not where did it come from. Danielou provides the basic hints required to answer that question. His discussion of Shaivism, Jainism can help to resolve the hopeless quandary created by the misguided debate over the Aryan invasions.

An honest attempt by author to provide glimpse of Indian History. But the book is lacking in one big respect 'MAPS', we have this book on Indian History which discusses Indian history upto 6000 years back but has only two maps in the whole books. If you are not from India and are not versed with generic terms (used to describe states/area) then you should stay away from this book. Even if you are versed with Indian geography, you will still need access to couple of good maps to grasp authors point. Also there are no photographs in this book.

Recommended if you know Indian geography very well.

This book covers the thousands of rulers that have governed India and the thousands of battles its fought over 6000 years. And that's about it. There are a handful of pages covering Gandhi and then onwards until 1971, when the book really ends. It is a tedious read. Although the book has a publication date of 2003, the only addition since 1971 is a three page note by the editor providing a couple of updates.

Someone said sardonically on time that history is just "one d*** thing after another." This is a true history book, then, because the author does a good job in describing how the civilizations in India continuously fought or fended attacks from neighbors, rival tribes, invading armies, hostile renegrades,just about any one who crossed the Indus Valley. It all becomes a bit overwhelming at times, the names, dates and places. The author however brilliantly presents the material in such a way that it does not become too confusing by dividing the history of India into epochs based on marauding invaders.

But if the material becomes overwhelming there is a good reason for that. The civilizations which coalesced into the nation of India span thousands and thousands of years,and there is a lot of history there. They are still discovering great cities and settlements which necessarily push back the archeological clock.

I've read some of the reviews of this book. Some indicate that the author's thesis that the Arian civilizatipon predate the civilizations in the Mediterranean area, principally in Greece, Crete and Lebanon, is conjecture and not fact. The author's thesis is that the Aryan peoples before reaching the Indus Valley originated in and spawned those civilizations. Being of Greek descent and speaking the language, this does not seem as far featched as one may seem. Some Greek words and roots are strikingly similar to Hindi words and roots. The author describes the interminlgings of these peoples from the Age of ALexander, but those roots began long before. Another author, Tilak, concluded from several passages in the Rig Veda that the Aryan peoples began their migration to the Indus Valley when the Ice Age began or around 12,000 to 10,000 B.C. This author does not go that far.

Still this is a worth-while read and worth the read.

I suppose the fact that the word 'brief' is included in the title of the book should have been an instant give away that this was a mere skimming of the History of India. I consulted this book with the aim to learn more about Indian Civilization before the Common Era. My first hint of trouble was the large type and the well spaced text in the book. There is a lot less actual meat to the book than the number of pages would have you believe. With a lot less written about each topic, a large part of the book reads like a list of events rattled off in sequence. Danielou must have assumed that his readers would be fairly familiar with the culture and religions of India since any descriptions included are brief and no more than a few paragraphs.

The author ploughs into the history of one of the oldest civilizations on Earth with a plethora of his personal opinions and with little nuggets of information that are tossed out to the reader without any mention of his resources or logic for making certain claims. An example from page 16 :'Brahminism managed to penetrate only superficially, and only during the first centuries of the Christian Era, at the same time as Buddhism, Christianity and Judaism.' How he dates the advent of Christianiy and Judaism to India is not explained. There are numerous theories about how the Jewish community got to India but from Danielou there is nary a word beyond this vague claim.

Furthermore he presents the dates of the Poetic Academies or Sangams as valid ones and states that just because archaelological evidence does not exist is no reason to deny or question the validity of the dates. However, if History is not based on archaelogical evidence, how can any one opinion be more valid than any other? And further, without his claims being backed by evidence how is the reader to know when he is stating an opinion as opposed to what is recognised as a fact?

Perhaps this style of hypothetical history writing is appealing to some but if you are looking for a scientifically based history of the subcontinent you may need to look elsewhere. I have enjoyed Romila Thapar's book 'The history of India' as well as the DVD 'The Story of India' by Michael Wood. Either would be a better choice than this book.

I travel to India quite frequently, and I bought this book as a way to get to know the history of India better. I am an avid reader of history, mostly European and American history, so this was going to be an interesting change. The book turned out to be a major disappointment. First, you couold describe Danielou as a Hindu-phile, meaning that he interprets the Muslim culture in a negative light in all aspects: art, government, literature, etc. He also gives the ancient Indian culture credit for much of the mythology of Greece, Persia, and Judaism. These are provocative findings if true. However, he does not provide any footnotes or endnotes to support them. This continues throughout the book. And finally, the organization of the book is poor. With only three very small maps in a book of over 300 pages, one is not left with a very good understanding of the ebb and flow of the various cultures and kingdoms.

I was very disappointed in this book, as the author quite frequently adds unsubstantiated opinions and biases and cites them as fact. Those looking for a balanced and useful history of India should look elsewhere. Among my issues with the book: the author seems to dismiss any parts of Indian history he does not agree with and just ignores them (in one area, he says "From the moment when the Muslims reached India, its history has no further interest. It is a long and monotonous recital of murders massacres, plunder and destruction"; in another area, says "Hindu scholar looked upon Gandhi as a sort of Antichrist, and made thank-offerings when he was assasinated. But it was too late. while he was alive, none dared oppose his baneful influence."