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Summary

A History of Indiapresents the grand sweep of Indian history from antiquity to the present in a compact and readable survey. The authors examine the major political, economic, social and cultural forces which have shaped the history of the Indian subcontinent. Providing an authoritative and detailed account, Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund emphasise and analyse the structural pattern of Indian history. Revised throughout, the fifth edition of this highly accessible book brings the history of India up to date to consider, for example, the elections of 2009. In addition a great deal more material on cultural history, art and architecture has been included in the book, including 20 new illustrations. Heavily illustrated with notes and glossary, this is an attractive and useful student guide to Indian history.

Author Biography

Hermann Kulke is Professor Emeritus of Asian History at the University of Kiel. He is the author of Kings and Cults: State Formation and Legitimation in India and Southeast Asia (1993) and editor of The State in India 1000-1700 (1995). In 2010 he was awarded the order 'Padma Shri' by the Indian government. Dietmar Rothermund is Professor Emeritus of History at the South Asian Institute, University of Heidelberg. His books include India in the Great Depression (1992), The Global Impact of the Great Depression, 1929-1939 (1996), The Routledge Companion to Decolonization (2006) and India: The Rise of an Asian Giant (2008).

List of illustrations	p. vii
Preface	p. viii
Acknowledgements	p. xi
Introduction: History and the Environment	p. xii
Early Civilisations of the Northwest	p. 1
Prehistory and the Indus civilisation	p. 1
Immigration and settlement of the Indo-Aryans	p. 12
The Great Ancient Empires	p. 26
The rise of the Gangetic culture and the great empires of the east	p. 26
Ashoka, the Beloved of the Gods	p. 38
The end of the Maurya empire and the northern invaders	p. 43
The classical age of the Guptas	p. 54
Subjection and alliance: Shakas and Vakatakas	p. 58
The rise of south India	p. 63
The Regional Kingdoms of Early Medieval India	p. 72
The rise and conflicts of regional kingdoms	p. 72
Kings, princes and priests: the structure of Hindu realms	p. 86
The emergence of regional kingdoms	p. 88
Gods, temples and poets: the growth of regional cultures	p. 96
India's impact on southeast Asia: causes and consequences	p. 106
Religious Communities and Military Feudalism in the late Middle Ages	p. 113
The Islamic conquest of northern India and the sultanate of Delhi	p. 113
The problems of administrative penetration	p. 125
The states of central and southern India in the period of the sultanate of Delhi	p. 127
The Rise and Fall of the Mughal Empire	p. 139
The great Mughals and their adversaries	p. 139
Indian land power and European sea power	p. 155
The struggle for supremacy in India	p. 165
The Period of Colonial Rule	p. 178
Company Bahadur: trader and ruler	p. 178
The colonial economy	p. 190
The regional impact of British rule	p. 194
The pattern of constitutional reform	p. 207
The Freedom Movement and the Partition of India	p. 211
The Indian freedom movement	p. 211
The return to the constitutional arena	p. 221
The partition of India	p. 231
The Republic	p. 242
Internal affairs and political development	p. 242
External affairs: global and regional dimensions	p. 269
Perspectives	p. 287
Glossary of Indian terms	p. 289
Chronology	p. 293
Bibliography	p. 301
Index	p. 320
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A History of India

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