The Indians : histories of a civilization

The Indians is one of the most ambitious projects yet undertaken to map the origins, evolution, and present-day reality of India's civilization and people. Written by over one hundred of South Asia's foremost scholars and domain experts, the essays in the book cover a period of some 12,000 years-from the last Ice Age to the twenty-first century. The book is divided into seven sections. The first part looks at the evolution of humans in South Asia through the lens of the early 'Indian' population, their migrations, and the climate. The second part focuses on the emergence of different civilizations in the region through the domestication of plants and animals and other factors and how these civilizations eventually begin to decline. The third part discusses the languages and philosophies that defined ancient India-Buddhism, Jainism, Sanskrit, Indo-Iranian languages, and Pali literature, among others. The fourth part is a detailed study of society and culture in various geographical regions--the North, South, Northeast, the Deccan, East, and West India. The fifth part looks at the advent of colonialism and its impact on the country's economy, social fabric, and knowledge systems. The sixth part looks at Adivasi movements, Ambedkarite politics, Gandhian resistance, and other events that would come to form the bedrock of the independent republic. And, finally, the seventh part looks at contemporary India--the workings of the Constitution and urbanism, liberalization, and other aspects of the modern Indian experience. Taken together, the essays in the book provide remarkable insights into Indian history and society--Front jacket flap Half-Title Page Title Page Copyright Page CONTENTS Introduction PART I: THE EVOLUTION OF HUMANS AND THEIR LIFE CONDITIONS 1. The Early Indian Population and Population Admixture 2. The Oxygen Isotope Stages: Human Adaptations during the Last 200,000 Years 3. The Migrations that Shaped Indian Demography 4. Rock Shelters and Caves: Prehistoric Settlements 5. Microliths before the Holocene 6. Post-glacial Climate Change and its Impact on Life: 18000 YBP to Present 7. Weather Patterns 8. Holocene Climate from the Perspective of South Asia 9. Anthropological Man PART II: FOUNDATIONS, EMERGENCE, AND THE DECLINE OF CIVILIZATION 10. Primeval Hunter–Gatherer Societies of India 11. Domestication of Animals in India 12. The Nomadic Pastoralists in Prehistory and Protohistory 13. Domestication of Plants: Origins and Development of Agriculture 14. Prehistoric Agriculture 15. The Ideology of the Indus Civilization 16. Rise of Urban Habitats 17. Decline and Transformation of Urban Habitats 18. Social Formation: Archaeological Scholarship of the Indus Civilization 19. The Pre-Vedic and the Vedic Sarasvati 20. Varna and Jati: Consolidation of Social Hierarchy PART III: THE LANGUAGE MIX AND PHILOSOPHIES IN ANCIENT INDIA 21. Sanskrit, its History, and its Indo-European Background 22. Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Ancient Dialects 23. Contact with Indo-European/Indo-Iranian Languages 24. Vedic Tradition 25. Vedic Divinities 26. Scientific Achievements of Traditional India 27. Buddhism 28. Buddhism in Early India 29. Non-Pali Buddhist Literature 30. The Emergence and Spread of Jainism 31. Philosophy through Controversies and Commentaries 32. Early Inscriptions 33. Pali Language and Literature 34. Prakrit Literature 35. The Brahmi Script and Indian Languages 36. Ideas and Metaphysical Foundations of ‘Dravidian’ 37. Dravidian Language Family 38. Language Families of India Other than Indo-Aryan PART IV: CULTURES, SUB-NATIONALITIES, AND REGION 39. Medieval Tamil India: Pre-Vijayanagara Phase 40. Early Kannada Literature 41. Medieval Karnataka 42. Lingayatism 43. Early History of Kerala in Social Perspective 44. Early and Medieval Kerala 45. Early Telugu Literature 46. Telangana: An Overview of the Medieval Period 47. Cultural Heterogeneity Telangana 48. The Modern South 49. The Kerala of Narayana Guru: A Historical Perspective of Ideas and Society 50. Christianity in India before the Protestant Evangelicals 51. Goa 52. Cultural Confluence in Pre-modern Deccan 53. Maharashtra before Shivaji 54. Tribal History of Middle India 55. Progressive Thought in Maharashtra 56. Ancient and Medieval Gujarat 57. Nomadic Communities in Western India 58. Rajasthan 59. Sindh 60. The Northeast: Prehistoric and Ancient Past 61. Assam: The Long View 62. Sikkim 63. Multilingual Pre-modern Bengal 64. Late Medieval and Early Modern Bengal 65. Odisha in Pre-modern Times 66. The Bhakti Movement: Pre-colonial Social Transition 67. The Emergence and Spread of Sufi Thought in Medieval India 68. India’s Ties with the Arab World and Iran 69. Islam in South Asia 70. Punjab 71. The Western Himalayan Region 72. Northern India: Medieval and Colonial 73. Medieval Uttar Pradesh 74. Delhi: The Last Millennium 75. The Idea of Delhi PART V: COLONIALISM 76. The Impact of Colonial Rule on the Indian Economy 77. The Asiatic Society and its Impact on Indian History 78. Interaction with Colonial Ideas 79. Print Technology and Modernity 80. Perceptions of Colonialism (1800–1950) 81. Colonial Forest Laws and the Forest-dwellers PART VI: TOWARDS FEDERALISM—SOCIAL AND POLITICAL MOVEMENTS 82. Adivasi Movements in Santal and Munda Regions 83. Caste and Reforms: Modern Period 84. B. R. Ambedkar and the Making of Modern India 85. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi 86. Ambedkar and Gandhi: Visions for Modern India 87. Emergence of the Idea of Freedom (1900–1947) 88. The Freedom Struggle: The Early Phase 89. The Freedom Struggle: The Final Phase 90. India’s Struggle for Independence: The Last Phase PART VII: INDIA SINCE INDEPENDENCE 91. The Rise of Identity Politics 92. The 1947 Partition of India 93. The Partition of India 94. Linguistic State Formation (1900–2000) 95. The Working of the Constitution 96. Nehruvian India 97. India and the Making of Bangladesh 98. Urbanism in India 99. Identity Politics since Independence 100. People’s Movements since Independence 101. India since Liberalization Afterword Contributors Notes and References Bibliography Acknowledgements