READINGS IN HISTORYCULTURAL HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL INDIAEdited by Meenakshi Khanna

282 pages 215x140 mm 10 illustrations
Paperback Rs 230
ISBN 978-81-87358-30-5HISTORY, SOCIOLOGY, CULTURE STUDIES
Pub date July 2007


Cultural History of Medieval India is a part of the series, Readings in History. The books in this series have been edited and put together by eminent historians for their students.
This anthology of readings seeks to explore Indian culture in the medieval period through five themes: kingship traditions, social processes of religious devotion, inter-cultural perception, forms of identities, and aesthetics.

Written by well-known scholars, the eleven essays in this book present sub-cultures in diverse regional settings of the subcontinent. These readings introduce a new way of understanding medieval Indian history by engaging with interdisciplinary methods of research on issues that are significant to everyday existence in a plural society like that of India.
This book will be of great value to students of history, as well as to other readers interested in the culture of the medieval period in India.

Meenakshi Khanna is Reader in History, Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi.

READINGS IN HISTORY
DELHI: ANCIENT HISTORY
Edited by Upinder Singh

250 pages 215x140 mm
Paperback Rs 220
ISBN 978-81-87358-29-9
HISTORY, ARCHAEOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY
Pub date July 2006



NOT MANY people know that the busy and bustling capital city of Delhi and its surroundings have a long past, going back thousands of years. Prehistoric stone tools have surfaced here and many ancient remains have been found, sometimes accidentally by farmers tilling their fields, and at other times by archaeologists carrying out systematic excavations. A mound one passes everyday or a narrow strip of stream tells a story of ancient times. Centuries of history coexist with metro stations and plush cars.

The readings in this book give us glimpses of the lives of people who lived in the Delhi area over the centuries, and how these details have been pieced together by historians. It brings into focus the importance of the historian’s method and the sources of information found in ancient texts, archaeology and even legends and folklore, sometimes hanging on the thread of a slender historical fact.

The editor of the volume, points to the urgency of further exploration and documentation to fill in the still all-too-meagre details of Delhi’s ancient history. However, she ends on a note of caution, bordering on alarm, when she points out that invaluable evidence of the city’s past is being extensively destroyed due to quarrying and the construction of new roads and buildings. Such activities are an integral part of the modernization of a living city but the balance between modernization and the preservation of ancient remains is indeed very fragile and needs to be maintained from an informed and realistic perspective.
This collection of essays has been put together by a teacher for students of history, but will also be of enormous value to a large number of other interested readers.

Upinder Singh teaches ancient Indian history at the University of Delhi.