Ancient India by Upinder Singh
In Ancient India: Culture of Contradictions one of India's most distinguished historians takes readers on an exhilarating voyage of discovery into the distant past. Upinder Singh urges us to abandon simplistic stereotypes and instead think of ancient India in terms of the coexistence of five powerful contradictions--between social inequality and promises of universal salvation the valorization of desire and detachment goddess worship and misogyny violence and non-violence and religious debate and conflict. She does so using a vast array of sources including religious and philosophical texts epics poetry plays technical treatises satire biographies and inscriptions as well as the material and aesthetic evidence of archaeology and art from sites across the subcontinent. Singh's scholarly but highly accessible style clear explanation and balanced interpretations offer an understanding of the historian's craft and unravel the many threads of what we think of as ancient Indian culture. This is not a dead or forgotten past but one invoked in different contexts even today. Further in spite of enormous historical changes over the centuries the contradictions discussed here still remain. Beautifully written deeply true and profusely illustrated with masterpieces of ancient medieval and modern art the book brings to life the rich complexity of ancient India and its connections with the present in a vivid and compelling manner.
Singh, Upinder: - Upinder Singh is Professor and Head of the Department of History, University of Delhi. After studying in St Stephen's College and the University of Delhi, she obtained her PhD from McGill University, Montreal. She taught in St Stephen's College from 1981 to 2004. She has been a recipient of the Netherlands Government Reciprocal Fellowship (1985-1986), Ancient India and Iran Trust/Wallace India Visiting Fellowship (2009), Daniel Ingalls Fellowship at the Harvard-Yenching Institute (2005), and Erasmus Mundus Fellowship at the University of Leuven (2010). In 2009, she was awarded the Infosys Prize in Social Sciences-History by the Infosys Science Foundation.
She is the author of Kings, Bramhman. as, and Temples in Orissa: An Epigraphic Study (AD 300-1147) (1994); Ancient Delhi (1999); The Discovery of Ancient India: Early Archaeologists and the Beginnings of Archaeology (2004); and A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the Twelfth Century (2008). She has edited Delhi: Ancient History (2006); Ancient India: New Research (co-edited with Nayanjot Lahiri, 2009); Rethinking Early Medieval India (2011); Asian Encounters: Exploring Connected Histories (co-edited with Parul Pandya Dhar, 2014); and Buddhism in Asia: Revival and Reinvention (co-edited with Nayanjot Lahiri, 2016). She has also written a book for children, Mysteries of the Past: Archaeological Sites in India (2002). Her current research interests include ancient Indian political ideas and the connections between South and Southeast Asia.
She is the author of Kings, Bramhman. as, and Temples in Orissa: An Epigraphic Study (AD 300-1147) (1994); Ancient Delhi (1999); The Discovery of Ancient India: Early Archaeologists and the Beginnings of Archaeology (2004); and A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the Twelfth Century (2008). She has edited Delhi: Ancient History (2006); Ancient India: New Research (co-edited with Nayanjot Lahiri, 2009); Rethinking Early Medieval India (2011); Asian Encounters: Exploring Connected Histories (co-edited with Parul Pandya Dhar, 2014); and Buddhism in Asia: Revival and Reinvention (co-edited with Nayanjot Lahiri, 2016). She has also written a book for children, Mysteries of the Past: Archaeological Sites in India (2002). Her current research interests include ancient Indian political ideas and the connections between South and Southeast Asia.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9789390652617 |
| ISBN 10 | 9390652618 |
| Title | Ancient India |
| Author | Upinder Singh |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Aleph Book Company |
| Year published | 2021-10-05 |
| Number of pages | 286 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |