Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300 [Hardcover]

Romila Thapar (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520238990 | ISBN-13: 978-0520238992 | Publication Date: February 5, 2003 | Edition: 1

Early India represents a complete rewriting by Romila Thapar of her classic work, A History of India (the first volume in the Penguin History of India series), thirty-five years after it was first published. Thapar has incorporated the vast changes in scholarly understanding and interpretation of Indian history that have occurred during her lifetime to revise the book for a new generation of readers. This new work brings to life thousands of years of history, tracing India's evolution before contact with modern Europe was established: its prehistoric beginnings; the great cities of the Indus civilization; the emergence of mighty dynasties such as the Mauryas, Guptas, and Cholas; the teachings of the Buddha; the creation of heroic epics such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana; and the creation of regional cultures. Thapar introduces figures from the remarkable visionary ruler Ashoka to other less exemplary figures. In exploring subjects as diverse as marriage, class, art, erotica, and astronomy, Thapar provides an incomparably vivid and nuanced picture of India. Above all, she shows the rich mosaic of diverse kingdoms, landscapes, languages, and beliefs.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"Romila Thapar is the most eminent Indian historian. This superb book is not only the basic history of how India came to be and an introduction to how the writing of history takes shape, but also, not the least, a deconstruction of the historical myth and inventions on which is based the present intolerant and exclusivist Hindu nationalism. It is essential reading today."--Eric Hobsbawm

"One of the world's most eminent historians of India, Thapar gives us a thoroughly revised edition of her authoritative general history. This one contains the accumulated research of the last thirty years and includes richly textured accounts of life in ancient India. Like its predecessor, this is indispensable reading for anyone interested in India's long and complex history."--Thomas R. Metcalf, Professor of History and Sarah Kailath Professor of Indian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, and co-author of A Concise History of India

"Incorporating newer findings, methods, and interpretations, this thorough and outstandingly written addition to the author's highly acclaimed History of India, Volume One manifests her long and distinguished service to the study of Indian history. Thapar's skillful analysis of how India's past has been interpreted not only brings greater clarity to the understanding of contemporary India, but also contributes usefully to a broader study of history and historiography."--Peter L. Schmitthenner, Associate Professor of History, Virginia Tech

From the Back Cover

"Romila Thapar is the most eminent Indian historian. This superb book is not only the basic history of how India came to be and an introduction to how the writing of history takes shape, but also, not the least, a deconstruction of the historical myth and inventions on which is based the present intolerant and exclusivist Hindu nationalism. It is essential reading today."-Eric Hobsbawm "One of the world's most eminent historians of India, Thapar gives us a thoroughly revised edition of her authoritative general history. This one contains the accumulated research of the last thirty years and includes richly textured accounts of life in ancient India. Like its predecessor, this is indispensable reading for anyone interested in India's long and complex history."-Thomas R. Metcalf, Professor of History and Sarah Kailath Professor of Indian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, and co-author of A Concise History of India "Incorporating newer findings, methods, and interpretations, this thorough and outstandingly written addition to the author's highly acclaimed History of India, Volume One manifests her long and distinguished service to the study of Indian history. Thapar's skillful analysis of how India's past has been interpreted not only brings greater clarity to the understanding of contemporary India, but also contributes usefully to a broader study of history and historiography."-Peter L. Schmitthenner, Associate Professor of History, Virginia Tech

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 586 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (February 5, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520238990
• ISBN-13: 978-0520238992
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #323,411 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent but..., March 20, 2007

By 

Raveesh Varma (Aurora, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300 (Paperback)

Having recently finished reading Ms. Thapar's work on Indian History up to AD 1300 (Penguin), I must conclude that it is a very impressive volume. A great deal of research and study must have gone into the creation of such a remarkable opus. I thought it was all-in-all, very respectful of its subject, and especially effective in peeling away centuries of pre- and mis-conceptions imposed by colonial/western commentators. I did not consider the book, in any way, anti-India or anti-Hindu. Anyway, a few points I will make are as follows:
1. Ms. Thapar introduces many remarkable and unusual ideas at the very start of her book (in my opinion, the best part), such as race being a colonial construction. But, she fails to discuss these adequately, and very often allows her thoughts to pass on to oblivion, rather than to a definite conclusion. Maybe, a "definite conclusion" does not exist, at this point-of-time, but a more in-depth approach would have been preferred (even if it added pages to the book).
2. Secondly, the quotes used on the back cover seem to imply, that this book should be primarily taken as rebuttal to farfetched claims made about Indian history, within India today. I don't think this is how this book should be advertised. It is so much more than just that.
3. The material presented deals primarily with the social, and even economic, history of India. There is a great deal to be found on art, literature, science and architecture. But, my impression was off cultural, social and religious history, rather than political history. I understand that kings do not constitute the alpha and omega of history, but Ms. Thapar barely even mentions kings of influence, such as Kanishka, or even travelers and chroniclers, such as Fa-Hein, in any detail.
4. Along that same line, I do not see why it is advertised to be the history of India up to AD 1300. The political history of the thirteenth century is dealt with in maybe 2 lines, if that. I will be very, very curious to see how Ms. Thapar will start volume 2, using a base as inadequate as this!
5. My greatest reservation about Ms. Thapar's work has to do with her presentation of Sanskrit/Hindi words using the Latin alphabet. She follows the colonial tradition of ending almost all the words with the ritual "a". This may be to account for every consonant in Hindi (vyanjan) having a vowel (svar) attached to it. But, she could have made better use of pronunciation aids such as a line overhead to indicate the drawn-out "aa" sound. Some examples were just absurd, such as "pida" for "pidha"/pain. English is not a very phonetic language at all. However, it appears that Ms. Thapar wishes to inhabit the aural world of the colonialists from about 150-200 years ago, but she must realize that by doing so, she is only selling short her otherwise magnificent work.
6. I should also point out that this book is not as beautiful a read as say, Prof. Basham's wonderful "The Wonder That Was India", or the collection of his 7 lectures, compiled into "The Origin and Development of Classical Hinduism". I will still recommend these books, unreservedly, to anyone with an interest in Indian history or culture. But, Ms. Thapar's book deserves to be read carefully as well.

21 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent work on general history, March 14, 2004

By 

Lakshmi Srinivas (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300 (Paperback)

It's an excellent work despite the detractors who would view Thapar's works judgmentally, considering she has made no efforts to hide her Marxian credentials.

As someone said, it's not a revision but a totally rewritten work. While I agree with this, it would bear pointing out that there is a basic unity of purpose in the two works viz., her stress on the study of the evolution and growth of polities by means of analysis of larger socio economic trends, supported by study of material and other evidence. To this end, there is a long first chapter on historiography incl sources. Her approach is a contrast to the royal chronicle style of writing Indian history, a legacy of the British colonial times still in evidence in the new nationalist histories.

It's a riveting narration of facts and interpretation. The book is of uniform quality although there are one or two aspects where it could do with improved treatment.

I have the chapter titled "The Peninsula: Emerging Regional Kingdoms" in mind. The current work still carries the treatment of the Tamil bhakti movement over from the original Penguin edition. This is in effect a retrofitting of the character of medieval north Indian bhakti onto Tamilnadu of almost a millennium before. Inadequate knowledge of the Tamil bhakti texts on the part of Thapar as well as her informants such as R Champakalakshmi, refered to in the author's preface, might be to blame here. Some insight into religious traditions and practice might have helped here to place the bhakti movement in appropriate socio economic context and thus evaluate its contribution to the emerging polity.

Barring a few blemishes, it is a magisterial presentation and is unlikely to be bettered for quite a while.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good..but not very professional, November 22, 2006

By 

Frozen_Oasis (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300 (Paperback)

I really liked the section on archeology and scientific methods in the begining of the book. But as I read on...I could not find any correlation between the conclusions drawn and the archeological evidence or methods that was discussed earlier in the book. If the author intended to, it did not clearly stand out in the book.
I am sure I would have to provide more references for my graduate thesis than this book provides for some of the major statements it makes.Its like talking about gravitation as philosophy and not science.

Overall, a good book if you want to reinforce what you already probably know (or don't know) about early Indian History. But very unprofessional, given this reads like a fictonal novel and not like a history book.

Still looking for a good history book on India which stands on the weight of the Author's extensve research and object analysis of scientifically plausible sources.