ANCIENT INDIA CULTURE OF CONTRADICTIONS

by Singh, Upinder

• ISBN13: 9789390652617
• ISBN10: 9390652618
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2021-10-05
• Publisher: Rupa Publications India

Summary

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.

Author Biography

Upinder Singh is Professor of History at Ashoka University. Her interests range over ancient Indian history and archaeology, the history of ideas, and India’s connections with the wider world. She is the author of Kings, Brahmanas, and Temples in Orissa: An Epigraphic Study (ad 300–1147); Ancient Delhi; The Discovery of Ancient India: Early Archaeologists and the Beginnings of Archaeology; A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the Twelfth Century; The Idea of Ancient India: Essays on Religion, Politics, and Archaeology; and Political Violence in Ancient India. She has edited Delhi: Ancient History; Rethinking Early Medieval India; and The World of India’s First Archaeologist: Letters from Alexander Cunningham to J .D. M. Beglar; and co-edited Ancient India: New Research; Asian Encounters: Exploring Connected Histories; and Buddhism in Asia: Revival and Reinvention.