Nationalism In The Study Of Ancient Indian History

Preface and Acknowledgements

1. Ancient Indian History as an Area of Conflict: The Case of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) and Related Issues

I. Historical Research in India in the Pre-ICHR Phase

II. Historical Research in India in the Post-ICHR Phase

III. Assessment of the ICHR Situation under the Communists by Arun Shourie

IV. The ICHR under the BJP Control

V. The Idea that Nationalist Thoughts Pose a Danger to an Objective Study of Ancient India

VI. How the ‘Progressives’ Tried to Build an Image for Themselves as Historians against Obscurantist Values

VII. Various Issues Related to Archaeology

VIII. The General Course of Ancient Indian Historical Studies

2. The British Initiative in Laying Down the Historical Frame of Ancient India: Mountstuart Elphinstone, Vincent Arthur Smith and E.J. Rapson

I. Some British Authors in the Background: James Mill, H.S. Murray, G.R. Gleig, E. Thornton, R. Sewell, W. Hamilton

I.1. James Mill

I.2. The Scottish Geographer Hugh Murray

I.3. G.R. Gleig, a Soldier who was also a Priest

I.4. John Marshman of the Serampore Mission

I.5. Edward Thornton, the Author of Some Indian Gazetteers, and Robert Sewell of the Indian Civil Service

I.6. W. Hamilton, a Geographical Appraisal of the Land

II. Ancient India in the Writings of Mountstuart Elphinstone and Vincent Arthur Smith

II.1. Mountstuart Elphinstone (1779-1859)

II.2. Vincent Arthur Smith (1843-1920)

II.3. E.J. Rapson (1861-1937)

III. Observations

3. Indian Historians of Ancient India from the Late 19th Century to c. 1950

I. The First Phase, till c. 1910

I.1. Rajendra Lala Mitra (1822-91)

I.2. Bhagavanlal Indraji (1839-88)

I.3. Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar (1837-1925)

I.4. Ramesh Chandra Dutta (1848-1909)

I.5. Haraprasad Sastri (1853-1931)

II. Observations

III. The Second Phase, c. 1910-1950

III.1. Radhakumud Mukherjee (Mookerji) (1884-1963)

III.2. Kasi Prasad Jayaswal (1881-1937)

III.3. Ramesh Chandra Majumdar (1884-1980)

IV. The Concept of Greater India and the Notion of Hindu Colonies in Southeast Asia: R.C. Majumdar

V. Further Developments till the 1950s

V.1. Dynastic History

VI. South India

VII. Books on Regional Histories

VIII. First Steps in Economic History

IX. Aspects of Ancient Indian Art History

X. Scientific Achievements of Ancient India

XI. Observations

4. The Concept of the History of People Early in the 20th Century: Rabindranath Tagore and Sister Nivedita

I. Bharatavarsher Itihas (‘History of Bharatavarsha’) by Rabindranath Tagore

II. Sister Nivedita

5. Indian Historians of Ancient India from about 1950 to the Present I. The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Series ‘The History and Culture of the Indian People’

I.1. The Vedic Age (1951)

I.2. The Age of Imperial Unity (1951)

I.3. The Classical Age (ad 320-750), 1954

I.4. The Age of Imperial Kanauj (ad 750-1000), 1955

I.5. The Struggle for Empire (ad 1000-1300), 1957

II. New Developments Since the 1960s

III. Communists in Control of Ancient Indian Historical Research: The Case of the ICHR and Other Issues

III.1. D.D. Kosambi

III.2. R.S. Sharma

IV. The Notion of Early Mediaeval India

V. Other Variants of Communist Approach to Ancient India

V.1. Upinder Singh

V.2. Kumkum Roy

VI. India was always a Colony: ‘Scientific’ Archaeologists of the Country

VII. The Politics of the Aryan Hypothesis in India

VIII. The Issue of the Sarasvati

IX. Seeds of Nationalism in Indian Archaeological and Historical Research since 1975

IX.1. The Beginning of Iron Technology and Other Aspects of Metallurgy

IX.2. The Dismantling of the Diffusionist Hypotheses – the Frame of Indian Borderlands and Boundaries

IX.3. The Problem of Agricultural Origins

IX.4. A Nationalist Perspective of Trade and Trade Routes

IX.5. Regional Histories and the Wider Sub-Continental Dimensions

IX.6. Brahmi Writing in South India and the Scope of Historical Geographical Investigations on the Basis of Inscriptions in Tamil Nadu

IX.7. Ganga Plain Survey

IX.8. Socio-politics of the Past

X. An Introduction to the Series ‘History of Ancient India’ Sponsored by the Vivekananda International Foundation and Aryan Books International, Delhi

XI. Observations

6. Summary and Conclusions

References

Index