History & Beyond - An Omnibus Edition of 4 Books

Author: Romila ThaparPublisher: Oxford University PressYear: 2011Language: EnglishPages: 454ISBN/UPC (if available): 0-19-566832-4 DescriptionThis classic omnibus edition of four significant works by a leading South Asian historian highlights and discusses seemingly discrete and different aspect of early Indian history, but which are in fact interconnected.In Interpreting Early India, the focus is historiography, and the discussion in this book moves beyond history to provide a glimpse of explorations of new historical territories relating to early India. Time, it is argued in time as a Metaphor of History, is an essential component of a historical perspective, and in India both linear and cyclic time were known. The third work in the volume, Cultural Transactions, suggests alternative ways of assessing early Indian tradition. Using more recent concepts of culture and tradition, it distances itself from the static notion of fixed traditions and exclusive high cultures. Finally, From Li