History

The bronze age is one of the most advanced stages in prehistory where humans began to use metals and metallurgical practices for their industrial and domestic use. This seminal work by Childe discusses the emergence evolution and impact of the Bronze Age in the history of humankind. He discusses the discovery of metallurgical technology for daily usage and trading. The book also talks about the development of bronze tools and other objects used by the early humans. The author covers his hypothesis into three different stages notably the early middle and later phases of the Bronze Age. Though his work mainly concentrates on the European continent it is very important for studying world archaeology and global history. About the Author V. Gordon Childe (18921957) was an Australian archaeologist and linguist who specialized in the field of prehistory of Europe. He is also known as the ‘father of modern archaeology’. He is an alma mater of the University of Sydney and The Queen’s College Oxford. He authored seminal books such as The Aryans What Happened in History The Dawn of European Civilization etc.

This volume on the Sanskrit literature is considered a continuation of Max Weber’s History of Ancient Sanskrit Text as Weber’s work was strictly using the early Vedic age. The author begins his work from classical Vedic literature and later Vedic texts Brahmanas Sutras Epics and Sanskrit court epics. It talks about dramas fairy tales fables and the comparative assessment of Sanskrit literature and the West. About the Author Arthur A. Macdonell (18541930) was a Sanskrit scholar. He was educated at Gottingen University and Corpus Christi College Oxford and PhD from Leipzig University. He published selected works like A Sanskrit Grammar for Beginners Hymns from the Rigveda Lectures on Comparative Religion India’s Past: A Survey of her Literature Religions Languages and Antiquities etc.

A Sanskrit Reader is a critical study of Sanskrit literature from a linguistic perspective. Selected works such as Mahabharata Hitopadesha Kathasaritsagara Dharmasastra Rigveda Maitrayani Grihasutras and Brahmanas are taken by the author for literary assessment. Stories from the said texts are explained with vocabulary tables and com­mentary offered with translation for assessing its literature. This book is still taught as an introductory text in universities and is used as a stand­ard textbook in the Sanskrit classes. About the Author Charles Rockwell Lanman (18501941) was an American Indologist. He graduated from Yale University. He was the president of the American Philological Association (189091) American Oriental Society (18971907) and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1881. He translated the KarpuraManjari of RajaCekhara: A Drama by the Indian Poet Rajacekhara (About 900 a.d.) into English and contributed in Whitney’s translation of the AtharvaVeda Samhita.

This volume on the Sanskrit literature is considered a continuation of Max Weber’s History of Ancient Sanskrit Text as Weber’s work was strictly using the early Vedic age. The author begins his work from classical Vedic literature and later Vedic texts Brahmanas Sutras Epics and Sanskrit court epics. It talks about dramas fairy tales fables and the comparative assessment of Sanskrit literature and the West. About the Author Arthur A. Macdonell (18541930) was a Sanskrit scholar. He was educated at Gottingen University and Corpus Christi College Oxford and PhD from Leipzig University. He published selected works like A Sanskrit Grammar for Beginners Hymns from the Rigveda Lectures on Comparative Religion India’s Past: A Survey of her Literature Religions Languages and Antiquities etc.

Goa was conquered in 1500 by the Portuguese and was put under the Viceroy Dom Francisco de Almeida from the Adil Shahi Sultanate. This mini volume contains a brief description of Goa’s life under the Estado da India. The book contains the details of viceroys and the details of buildings built by the Portuguese. There is also a description of Jesuit priests and missionaries who brought Roman Catholicism to the region. The book will give some ideas about the Portuguese colonial rule in the Eastern countries. About the Author Denis Louis Cottineau de Kloguen was a Christian priest from France who spent most of his time in India and Britain. He was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society.

Father Antoni de Monserrate (15361600) was a Catalan Jesuit monk who travelled to India and Central Asia and was part of Jesuit delegation who visited Emperor Akbar’s court. He visited Delhi the Himalayas Himachal Pradesh Kashmir Punjab and the foothills of Tibet to Afghanistan. This book is the English translation of the Latin version of Mongolicæ Legationis Commentarius containing the description of Fr. Monserrate’s encounters in Akbar’s imperial court at Fatehpur Sikri in the mid1570s. He narrates the genealogy from Timur and Genghis Khan till contemporary times. He records the regions cultures and traditions followed in the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia. This book helps in understanding the Mughal Empire from a European perspective. About the Author J.S. Hoyland (18871957) was a Quaker missionary and worked as a missionary from 1912 to 1926. He was educated at Cambridge and Hartford Seminary School of Missions. He authored books like Indian Dawn Prayers for a OneYearOld A Brief History of Civilisation Digging with the Unemployed The Case for India etc. S.N. Banerjee was a professor of History at Mahindra College Patiala Punjab.

It is a collection of poems dedicated to the most prolific and influential person in Asia Siddhartha Gautama. This work is narrated in the form of a poetic style containing his journey from an ordinary prince to the stage of Enlightenment when he became the ‘Buddha’. The first few chapters contain the Buddha’s nativity his encounters with the moments when he encounters ‘sufferings’ which was his turning point and his journey to the path of meditation. The rest of the chapters of this book contain his sermons and his philosophy including the famous eightfold path and understanding of suffering and the ultimate solution. This book made Buddha and Buddhism famous in Western countries and became a source of inspiration for the Indian nationalist leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and the founder of the Theosophical Society Madame Blavatsky. About the Author Edwin Arnold (18321904) was an English poet and a journalist. He became the schoolmaster at Deccan College Poona and the EditorinChief of The Daily Telegraph. He authored books such as The Essence of Buddhism The Song Celestial BhagavadGîtâ (from the Mahâbhârata) Indian Poetry etc.

This volume – the third and conclusive one of a history of India since the early human settlements – examines the political economic and social evolution of India from independence to the 2014 general election. It argues that the period is subdivided into two main phases the Longer Nehruvian Era which extended well after Nehru’s death in 1964 and the Neoliberal Age. The book shows that the Longer Nehruvian Era was articulated in two stages. In the first which ended with Nehru’s death the features which characterized India until the late 1980s and early 1990s came into being. The main ones were a secular democracy a dominantparty system and an economy where the state played a crucially important economic role. The second stage of the longer Nehruvian era was characterized by the decline of these characterizing features which however were still in place at the end of the 1980s. The years 19891991 – here examined in depth – saw the tumultuous transition to a new historical phase. This new phase the Neoliberal Age was characterized by the eclipse of the dominant party system and the implementation of neoliberal economic policies. The neoliberal policies speeded up development but in spite of some governmental efforts to protect the lower social strata widened social and economic disparities. The Neoliberal Age was also characterized by the rise of Hindutva. Already in power in the years 19992004 it made a comeback in the 2014 general election whose detailed analysis concludes this volume. About the Author Michelguglielmo Torri a former Harkness Fellow a retired full pro­fessor Asian History (University of Turin) presently the president of ‘Asia Maior an Italian think tank on Asia’ is the doyen of the Italian historians working on South Asia. He has widely published in Italian and English. Some of his articles have appeared in ‘Asian Survey’ the ‘Economic and Political Weekly’ the ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society’ ‘Modern Asian Studies’ ‘Studies in History’ and ‘The Indian Economic and Social History Review’.

The significant role of the Indian Army in the Gallipoli Campaign has often been overlooked. This well researched work tells the story of the Sikh infantrymen and artillery gunners who fought there. The enormous casualties suffered by the 14th Ferozepore Sikhs during the Third Battle of Krithia in June 1915 bear testimony to their dedication and valour. With Colonel Hundal’s book a forgotten chapter of India’s military history has been written and he has brought new information to the historiography of the Indian involvement in the Great War.’ – Sir Mark Tully a renowned former BBC journalist (as facilitated by Sqn. Ldr. Chhina) Even a century after the raw courage and indomitable spirit of an Indian soldier in the face of all odds in the Great War has generally been well accepted across the globe without any exceptions. An extensive exploration of the contribution of Indian troops along the Western Front while has produced an intensive research commentary the contribution of the Indian troops in military operations on the peninsula of Gallipoli with an exception of a few has however not been adequately researched. Though the sacrifices and bravery of the Indian troops in spite of not being given due recognition and acknowledgement has never been subjected to scrutiny the finer aspects have definitely eluded the memory. Due to limited research the dimensions related to the mobilization of the Indian troops for Gallipoli their trials and tribulations while on the peninsula and the administrative facets of the campaign from an Indian perspective have never come to the fore. In the absence of research the casualties of Indian troops both fatal and nonfatal have continued to be a subject of an intense debate and immense speculation. Addressing all these domains of the campaign from an absolutely Indian perspective the book is a unique and singular attempt to honour the memory of sixteen thousand Indian troops who participated in the Gallipoli Campaign of the First World War from April 1915 to December 1915. About the Author Col Tejinder Hundal VSM PhD is a serving Indian Army Officer with twentyfive years of military experience. His academic qualifications include an MPhil degree in International Relations and a Doctorate in Defence and Strategic Studies from Panjab University Chandigarh. Along with a profound interest in the participation of Indian troops in the two World Wars the author is also a keen follower of developments in the emerging geostrategic construct of IndoPacific along with the associated ramifications. His first book delineated the geostrategic relationship between India and Australia under the overarching dimension of IndoPacific region in context of three specific themes of Defence Diplomacy and Diaspora. This is the second book of the author.

This is the second of a threevolume history of India characterized by three main arguments: (a) Indian history has been crucially conditioned by the manifold and twoway connections linking the Indian sub­continent to the remainder of the world (b) Indian society was never static but always crisscrossed by powerful currents of change (c) colonialism caused both the crystallization of a ‘traditional’ society – which in that shape had never really existed before – and at the same time the rise of modernity. This volume examines the history of India from the collapse of the Mughal Empire to the end of colonialism in 1947. It analyses the features of the most important precolonial Indian states and the role played by the British colonialism in their destruction or reduction to political irrelevance. Second the volume highlights the contradictory role of the colonial order in freezing a previously evolving society causing the coming into being of a ‘traditional India’ and at the same time somewhat unwittingly triggering the rise of a new modern India. Furthermore the volume analyses the role of India in supporting the British Empire both economically and militarily and how the imple­mentation of the liberal economic policy by the colonial rulers resulted in the loss of millions of Indian lives. Finally the volume closely examines the rise and evolution of Indian nationalism the reasons that forced the British to end their rule and last but not least the causes of partition and the responsibilities of the parties and political leaders involved. About the Author Michelguglielmo Torri a former Harkness Fellow a retired full pro­fessor Asian History (University of Turin) presently the president of ‘Asia Maior an Italian think tank on Asia’ is the doyen of the Italian historians working on South Asia. He has widely published in Italian and English. Some of his articles have appeared in ‘Asian Survey’ the ‘Economic and Political Weekly’ the ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society’ ‘Modern Asian Studies’ ‘Studies in History’ and ‘The Indian Economic and Social History Review’.