For centuries, the fertile land of five rivers in the north of the Indian subcontinent was coveted by numerous empires and invaders. In this, the first major account of undivided Punjab, award-winning historian, biographer and scholar, Rajmohan Gandhi, traces its history during its most tumultuous phase from the death of Aurangzeb, in the early eighteenth century, to its brutal partition in 1947, coinciding with the departure of the British. Relying on fresh sources as well as previous accounts provided from opposing perspectives, the author gives us a compelling narrative about the great events of the time in the region – the battles and tragedies that routinely disrupted the lives of ordinary Punjabis, the sacking of iconic cities like Lahore, Amritsar, Multan and Jalandhar by a succession of conquerors, the ravages wrought by invaders like Nadir Shah, the rise of the Sikhs culminating in the storied reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Britain’s successful wars against the Sikh kingdom, the Great Rebellion of 1857 and its effect on Punjab, imperialist machinations, the influence on the people by leaders of the independence movement like Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Lala Lajpat Rai, as also key regional figures such as Fazl-i-Husain, Master Tara Singh, Sikander Hayat Khan and Khizr Hayat Tiwana, the devastation of Partition —and much else besides. Believing that modern India and Pakistan cannot be understood without comprehending the Punjab that was, the author also delves into the idea of Punjabiyat — Punjabiness — the literature and poetry of creative giants like Bulleh Shah, Waris Shah, Iqbal, Amrita Pritam and Saadat Hasan Manto, the spiritual teachings of the Sikh Gurus and Sufi saints, and, above all, the testimonials and narratives of ordinary Punjabis, to create an unforgettable portrait of a place – undivided

During the course of a long and distinguished career, historian and public intellectual, Romila Thapar has produced a unique body of work. Her original and path-breaking commentaries and essays on ancient Indian history, along with her incisive writings on culture, society, archaeology, philosophy, classical literature and education have inspired a growing number of historians, scholars, public intellectuals and ordinary people alike. In this Festschrift, Romila Thapar’s students and colleagues from across the world celebrate her contributions by applying her methods and insights to a range of historical, philosophical, sociological and cultural questions. Questioning Paradigms, Constructing Histories aims to bring Romila Thapar and her pioneering work to the attention of a wider audience. According to Romila Thapar: ‘…an enquiry should begin with a question… The question may be something quite simple, the answer to which will further qualify what you are saying. Or it may be a question that gives you the possibility of looking at the event or the person in history from different points of view. And that one question then leads to other questions that reflect these different points of view. So I would say that the fundamental approach to any piece of research or what one is working on grows out of a question.’ The book is divided into five parts—‘Political Processes’, ‘The Symbolic and the Social’, ‘Historical Consciousness and Reconstructions’, ‘Looking Beyond India’, ‘The Past and the Present: Dialogues and Debates’. Each part focuses on a theme that Romila Thapar has worked on and topics that she has returned to time and again. Together, they showcase her exceptional achievements as one among the best historians of our time.

Rajaraja Chola, King of Kings, Incomparable Chola, Great Saviour, Jewel of the Solar Dynasty, Lion Among Kings, was one of the greatest rulers of medieval India. During his reign, the Chola empire expanded through virtually all of the southern reaches of the peninsula and beyond, from the Krishna-Godavari delta in northern Andhra Pradesh to large parts of northern Sri Lanka. Born Arulmozhi Varman in 947 ce, he trained under his father and uncle for over a quarter of a century and then ruled for twenty-nine years. King of Kings is a fitting title for this multifaceted man who was brilliant, ambitious, ruthless, and a visionary. He fortified the foundations of what was till then a ragtag kingdom, put into place a meticulously organized system of administration, and led the kingdom to reign supreme in military might, as an economic powerhouse, and in art, architecture, literature, music, and dance. In this book, Kamini Dandapani explores the man behind the larger-than-life image of Rajaraja and the milieu in which he reigned. The origins of the Chola empire lie in the Sangam era around 2,000 years ago, when the first rulers of the family, men like Karikala and Kochengannan, ruled over small tracts of land around the Kaveri delta. By the middle of the ninth century, the ‘Imperial Cholas’ (as historians named them) began to consolidate power at the expense of rivals like the Pallavas, Rashtrakutas, Chalukyas, Cheras, Gangas, Pandyas, and other smaller kingdoms. Rajaraja became king in 985 ce and, during his reign, the Chola empire reached its zenith. All his major achievements are described in detail—victories on the battlefield, the expansion of territory, the building of the monumental Brihadeeshwara Temple, the gargantuan land survey, and much else besides. The book goes into every aspect of Chola society—the place of women, the flowering of culture, including the making of exquisite Chola bronzes, the spread of religion, and the lives of ordinary people. After the death of Rajaraja in 1014, his son Rajendra expanded the empire; others that followed had mixed fortunes and, a couple of centuries later, the dynasty succumbed to their greatest rivals, the Pandyas. However, in their heyday, and especially under their greatest king, few empires or emperors could compare with the Cholas and Rajaraja. This scrupulously researched and brilliantly told biography brings to vivid and compelling life one of India’s greatest empires and rulers.

The Bengalis are the third largest ethno-linguistic group in the world, after the Han Chinese and the Arabs. A quarter of a billion strong and growing, the community has produced three Nobel laureates, world-class scientists, legendary political leaders and revolutionaries, iconic movie stars and directors, and an unending stream of writers, philosophers, painters, poets and musicians of the first rank. But, bald facts aside, just who are the Bengalis? What is the community all about, stereotypically and beyond stereotype? In order to find the answers to these and related questions, the author (a Bengali born and steeped in his own culture but objective enough to give us a balanced reckoning of his fellows) delves deep into the culture, literature, history and social mores of the Bengalis. He writes with acuity about the many strengths of the community but does not flinch from showing us its weaknesses and tormented history. He points out that Bengalis are among the most civilized and intellectually refined people on earth but have also been responsible for genocide and racism of the worst kind. Their cuisine is justly celebrated but few remember the cause and effect of millions of Bengalis dying of famine. Renowned for their liberal attitudes, they are also capable of virulent religious fundamentalism. Argumentative and meditative, pompous and grounded, hypocritical and wise, flippant and deep… Bengalis are all this and much, much more. With erudition, wit and empathy, this book manages to capture their very essence. Unarguably, it is the definitive portrait of one of the world’s most vibrant and distinctive communities.

British ascendancy in the world was preceded by over two centuries of colonial intervention in Asia during the course of which the strength and independence of sovereign nations and polities in the region were undermined—their economies subjugated, their military strength weakened, and their societies penetrated. In The Colonial Subjugation of India, eminent historian Amar Farooqui tells the story of the formation of the British empire in India and presents a minutely detailed narrative of the violence inflicted on the people of this part of the world to conquer it and the instruments of coercion that were put in place to rule over it. Beginning with the arrival of Portuguese, Dutch, French, and, finally, British mercantile ships in the Indian Ocean throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, this book charts the course of Britain’s rise as the dominant colonial power in the Indian subcontinent. It traces India’s history of anti-colonial resistance starting with the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and explains how the country attained freedom through a long and sustained struggle extending over nearly two centuries; how the revolt of 1857 was an important moment in this struggle; and how the national liberation movement of the period between the 1920s and 1947 culminated in independence on 15 August 1947, representing the triumph of anti-colonial Indian nationalism over British imperialism. An important and groundbreaking study of a crucial period of modern Indian history, The Colonial Subjugation of India attempts to show that, no matter what traditional accounts of British colonialism and monarchy may state, empire was anything but benign.

This is the first detailed history of the Hippie Trail in the 1960s and 1970s. Going beyond the dozens of personal memoirs and travellers’ accounts that have been written about the legendary overland route between the West and South Asia, the book records the joys and pains experienced by the huge numbers of (mostly) young hippies on their travels to India and other ‘points east’ such as Nepal and Afghanistan. Written in a clear, simple style, it goes deep into the motivations and the experiences of hundreds of thousands of hippies who made the journey. This account is structured around a few key questions: Were the travellers simply motivated by a search for drugs, or was there something deeper that they were looking for? What was the truth about the love and sexual freedom that was supposed to be an integral part of the hippie subculture? Were they basically just budget tourists? Or were they pilgrims in thrall to the mysticism of the East? Besides an insightful analysis of the various aspects of the hippie phenomenon, the authors also take a look at how the travellers have been represented in films, novels and autobiographical accounts. In sum, The Hippie Trail should appeal to all those interested in a fascinating moment in cultural history, and its far-reaching effects on the generations that followed.

Walking the Roadless Road: Exploring the Tribes of Nagaland is a comprehensive history of the Naga tribes who live within the borders of Nagaland. Kire begins with an overview of migration narratives—both mythical and historical—of the various tribes, starting in the nineteenth century. She then delves deep into the origins of the Nagas, their early history as forest-dwellers, how the discrete Naga territories were formed, the written and unwritten history of the villages, the various struggles that have convulsed Naga society down the ages, as well as the sweeping changes that have transformed the community in the twenty-first century. The book is divided into four sections. ‘An Overview of Nagaland’ details the origins and history of the various tribes; it also gives an overview of the society and culture of the Naga tribes. ‘Christianity and the Naga Society’ is an analysis of the community before and after the coming of the Baptist Christian missionaries. ‘From British Colonization to Statehood’ delves into the history of the two world wars and the troubled political relationship between. India and the underground Naga leaders. ‘Turning Points in Naga History’ features key moments in Naga history and also gives us a picture of the Nagas in the twenty-first century. Drawing on oral narratives and current scholarship, Walking the Roadless Road is an engrossing account of one of the country’s most distinctive communities.

‘Pound for pound, Amitava Kumar is one of the best nonfiction writers of his generation…’—Siddharth Chowdhury. ‘Amitava Kumar is a sensitive, probing, erudite writer, always ready to question others and himself.’—Edmund White. When Lord Macaulay introduced English as the instrument of education in India, he also bequeathed to us a legacy of language-use that is often stiff and bureaucratic. This awkwardness plagues academic, journalistic, legal, even creative writing in India. You fail as a writer if your writing is not concrete, if it is vague and abstract, and your reader is unable to see what you mean. Writing Badly is Easy is a style guide for those who want to write well. It presents advice given by award-winning creative writers—including Jonathan Franzen, Jennifer Egan, Suketu Mehta, Marilynne Robinson, George Saunders and Colson Whitehead—and noted thinkers like Alain de Botton, Andrew Ross, Anna Tsing, Kathleen Stewart and Rob Nixon, as well as numerous others. Amitava Kumar’s own essays on writing, including his collaboration with Teju Cole, demonstrate the importance of blurring the line between critical and creative writing. A manifesto for writing that is exuberant, imaginative and playful, Writing Badly is Easy will change the way you think about reading and writing, and reveal the pleasures to be had in the inventive use of language.

SAGE Reference is proud tannounce the Encyclopedia of Immigration and Migration in the American West The Encyclopedia provides a complete and definite history of racial and ethnic groups that populated the American West, those states west of the 100th meridian The volumes cover the settling of the West and include coverage of movements of native American tribes, African Americans and the often underreported role of women in the Wests development Key features and benefits include: - illustrations, maps and photos from international archives; - bilbiographical entires detailing the settling of the American West; - unique coverage of the migration of native American tribes; - discussion of the role of African Americans in the development of the American West; - focus on women in the migration and immigraton of the American West Key themes: - American Natives - Biographies - Cities and Towns - Economic Change and War - Ethnic and Racial Groups - Immigration Laws and Policies - Libraries - Natural Resources Events and Laws - The Way West The Encyclopedia of Immigration and Migration in the American West is a unique addition tany academic or public library

The study of material culture is concerned with the relationship between persons and things in the past and in the present, in urban and industrialized and in small-scale societies across the globe The Handbook of Material Culture provides a critical survey of the theories, concepts, intellectual debates, substantive domains, and traditions of study characterizing the analysis of things This cutting-edge work examines the current state of material culture as well as how this field of study may be extended and developed in the future The Handbook of Material Culture is divided intfive sections: Section I maps material culture studies as a theoretical and conceptual field Section II examines the relationship between material forms, the human body and the sensesSection III focuses on subject-object relationsSection IV considers things in terms of processes and transformations in terms of production, exchange and consumption, performance and the significance of things over the long-term Section V considers the contemporary politics and poetics of displaying, representing and conserving material and the manner in which this impacts on notions of heritage, tradition and identityThe Handbook charts an interdisciplinary field of studies that makes a unique and fundamental contribution tan understanding of what it means tbe human It will be of interest tall whwork in the social and historical sciences, from anthropologists and archaeologists thuman geographers tscholars working in heritage, design and cultural studies