Customer Reviews

Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I have to concur with the later reviews. The problem with the book isn't (as those RSS propoganda-inspired reviews below like to whine) that Thapar is a Marxist. The problem rather is that her writing style is just dry. And it's not an issue of dumbing down the text to suit a mass audience, it's simply a matter of good writing.

Academic giants like Thapar should be able to do that (she's been writing books alone for 40 odd years or more, right?). When you're trying to find a solid introductory history to India both our of fascination with its culture and a firm belief that, along with China, it's destined in the century ahead to become a major world power, this is can make you wanna pull your hair out! Why is it that finding something scholarly, but readable is so hard? I wish this were the book to do it, sadly it's not.

And to the communalists who wrote reviews below, you should go read Ashutosh Varshney's "Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life," Chetan Bhatt's "Hindu Nationalism," Christophe Jaffrelot's "The Hindu Nationalist Movement in India," or especially for the person from Agra, Paul R. Brass's "The Production of Hindu-Muslim Violence in Contemporary India" for the truth about the Hindutva movement. The RSS is a terrorist organization and terrorism isn't hinduism, any more than it's Islam or Christianity, so find another way to express your anger at the world.

Here is something I've learned about Indian history: It is pretty controversial to write anything about Indian History. There is very little you can actually say or write about Indian history without angering someone who cares very passionately about the subject your are speaking or writing about. Undoubtably, the single biggest factor in aggravating the debate on Indian historical subjects is the "Hindu Nationalism Movement." People in the US who are even aware of this phenomenon typically describe it in political terms, for example, when writing about the actions of the BJP or "Bharatiya Janata Party" but it should surprise no one that Hindu Nationalist ideas extend directly into historical research, writing and debate. Hindu Nationalism inspired ideas take many forms in the discussion of Early Indian History.

First, there is the debate, now largely won, by the way, over whether the initial Vedic migration into India was an "invasion" or not. Obviously, Hindu Nationalists would rather have it be said that there was no invasion, and many would further argue that India is the home of ALL Indo European Languages. Well, the good news: No Aryan invasion, more like small scale migration over many years. The bad news: There is no way that the Indo European language family originated in North West India, so call that one a draw. Even finding a "neutral" source on this subject is difficult, but Romila Thapar does a good job of presenting the current historical facts in a non-inflammatory fashion.

Another major area of dispute colored by Hindu Nationalism are the pre-Mughal Turkish led raids into Western India, which allegedly resulted in temple destruction and the building of a mosque over said temple location. These disputes have resulted in back and forth terrorist activity as well as the occasional mass killing. Here, Thapar notes that the raids seem not to have bothered the locals at the time, or rather they didn't see it as anything "out of ordinary" and that any later mosque building was done with the consent of the native community, not at the behest of an "outside" Muslim ruler.

In addition to the controversial subjects, Thapar does a solid job bringing the reader up to date on current "hot topics" in the field of Early Indian History, like "Did the medieval Indian state formation process constitute a variation of European defined feudalism?" She also does a remarkably thorough job of discussing the caste formation process in ancient India- I confess to say that it's complexity, even at this level of generality, somewhat escaped my comprehension, but the writing is so clear and concise that I will likely revisit her discussion in a few months.

All in all this was a solid introduction to the field of Early Indian history- worth a read for someone seeking a foundation in the subject.

The book is, no doubt, the best for early indian history. It is a revised and expanded edition of the author's earlier work after a long gap of 35 years, and incorporates all the modern research on early india. The older volume of this work has been a staple for all who wanted to learn anything about ancient india. It has been a required reading in almost all the universities in India. The author is one of the most prominent indian historian and she is an authority on ancient india. Without saying much, it would be sufficient to state that this book is a must for anyone who wants to have a insightful glimpse of ancient indian culture and society. Any reviewer giving less then 5 star does not know much about indian history and historians. And mind you, it is not a 'coffee table' book but a serious read.

If you really want to learn about the history of India, then you'll need to examine the historiography of India, that is, the writing of history. This is where Thapar begins this book, by examining the different schools of thought regarding the history of India.
Some think Indian history can be boiled down to the Hindu vs Muslim angle, or the lost Golden Age angle, or the Victorian or Marxist angle. Thapar does not agree.
She considers how these different perspectives have shaped the current understanding of Indian history, and then dives into the history itself. Along the way she considers and weighs different perspectives.
She isn't limited to the Great Man approach, and does a particularly good job of considering different social layers, as well as the ebb and flow of Hindu/Buddhist/Jaina influence.
Her book is not a fast read, and it's not a rousing adventure story, as many good histories are. This is a thoughtful, considered examination of the history of ancient India. If you want knowledge, look here. If you want an adventure, look elsewhere.

This book provides an excellent coverage of a critical period in India's history. The subject is approached in a comprehensive manner, using the findings of history, archaeology, and literature. Throughout the book, Thapar is fair-minded and balanced. Other Americans who have read this book have uniformly had a positive reaction. I therefore cannot understand the bile that has been spilt by the reader from Agra. Perhaps Indians like their history to be little more than propaganda for the country. Praise Heaven that Thapar takes a more intellectually honest route.

Romila Thapar has updated her classic history of ancient India, and extended the story down to 1300 AD. The early version was the best balanced study of the period. The updating takes account of developments in scholarship, in history and archaeology, over the last 35 years. The result is a magisterial work, that may not please everyone, but will certainly provide food for thought for any intelligent person.

Read this book. India is a great country, and this will explain to you, better than any other (I have read literally dozens), without sugarcoating or dumbing down, what have been the enduring issues down the ages, and that still drive, at times inflame, at others divide, but more often unite, Indian society.

Romila Thapur is one of the greatest living historians of India. There is a misguided campaign by right wing Hindu nationalists, extremists who have no interest in a secular pluralistic India, to label her as communist, which she is not. Using the internet and other means such as some of the reviews here, they are attempting to distort her important message about the pluralistic origins of India. Her unearthing of Sanskrit texts, records and other evidence calls into question their claims that India's ancient roots are purely Hindi. This is a remarkable scholar, her work unparalleled for its rigor. Her long career demonstrates she believes in facts, not polemics.