About The Book
Rootsl divisions in contemporary India have a long and complex history. This collection of eleven Essays in the Themes in Indian History series, discusses various historiographical approaches to the Study of marginalized Society in early India in the period before 1500 AD.
This volume analyses the historical Roots of social oppression and exclusion of the 'other' that have marked the making of identities in the Indian subcontinent. With contributions from Romila Thapar, Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya, Vivekanand Jha, eleanor Zelliot, Uma Chakravarti, Dagmar Hellman-Rajanagayam, and other renowned scholars, the book highlights how the Indian Civilization dealt with problems of diversity and yet did not let go of hierarchical social relations. In view of how easily historical sources are appropriated and misinterpreted today, the essays discuss source material in different historical and ideological contexts so that simplistic generalizations privileging one Tradition or viewpoint can be rejected.
The substantive introduction by Aloka Parasher-Sen situates these readings in their ideological and historiographical contexts and simultaneously hinges these essays on the central concern-identities in contemporary India and their not so recent history born of ritual exclusion. An important reader for students, teachers, and scholars of Indian history and society, this volume will also greatly interest Indologists, social and Political activists, and the informed general reader.
Contents
Tamil Naduon
I. SUBORDINATE GROUPS :
1. The Despised Castes : North-east India in Buddha's Time/Richard Fick
2. Slavery in Ancient India : As depicted in Pali and Sanskrit Texts/Dev Raj Chanana
3. Evolution of Untouchability in Tamil Nadu up to AD 1600/K.R. Hanumanthan
4. Candala and the Origin of untouchability/Vivekanand Jha
5. Women, Men, and Beasts : The Jatakas as Popular Tradition/Uma Chakravarti
6. Chokhamela and Eknath : Two Bhakti Modes of Legitimacy for modern Change/Eleanor Zellit
II. Marginal GROUPS :
7. 'Foreigner' and 'Tribe' as Barbarian (Mleccha) in early North India/Aloka Parasher Sen
8. Is there a Tamil Race?/Dagmar Hellman Rajanayagam
9. The Tyranny of Labels/Romila Thapar
10. Representing the other? Sanskrit Sources and the Muslims/Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya
11. Vaisnava Perceptions of Muslims in Sixteenth-Century Bengal/J.T.O'Connell
List of Contributors
1. Aloka Parasher-Sen is Professor, Department of History, School of Social Sciences, University of Hyderabad.
2. The late Richard Pick was a renowned Indologist and scholar of Buddhism.
3. The late Dev Raj Chanana was Professor of History, University of Delhi.
4. K.R. Hanumanthan retired as Professor of History, Madurai-Kamaraj University, Madurai.
5. Vivekanand Jha was formerly the editor of Indian Historical Review, Delhi.
6. Uma Chakravarti was formerly Professor of History, University of Delhi.
7. Eleanor Zelliot is Laird Bell Professor of History, Carleton College, University of Minnesota.
8. Romila Thapar is Emeritus Professor of History, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
9. Dagmar Hellman-Rajanayagam teaches at the Unit of Strategic and Security Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia.
10. Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya is Professor of History, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
11. J.T. O'Connell, based in Toronto, Canada, is a well-known scholar of religion in medieval India
Review
'...A commendable attempt...edited by one of the most distinguished authorities on the eighteenth century. It contains fifteen essays...by noted scholars...as Irfan Habib, Burton Stein, Bernard Cohn, Chris Bayly, John F. Richards, among others...excellent Introduction written by Marshall.' - The Statesman
'...This volume offers...a selection of writings that have...helped configure and reconfigure what is possibly one of the most important and contested themes of Indian history...the book succeeds in questioning arcane but enduring assumptions about Islam in India.' - The Telegraph
'...Some of the most significant articles on trade in Indian history...The editor provides a masterly long overview, and a most useful annotated bibliography at the end. The book...is excellent, consistently stimulating, judicious and throughout most scholarly. - Economic and Political Weekly
'Kerr's collection...includes...interesting essays by notable authors, including Marx, Gandhi, and Daniel Thorner...Kerr provides a long and informative introduction...and a useful research note and annotated bibliography on the history of the Indian railways.' - The Statesman