Understanding the Past India in the Mirror of History

Contents: Preface. I. Ancient India: 1. Making of our perspectives to the study of Ancient India and some contemporary historical issues/P.S. Caturvedi. 2. The Mahabharata motif of agni going into hiding and the germ of the idea in the Rigveda/Prashant Srivastava. 3. Chakra from an ordinary wheel to cosmic wheel in Indian tradition/Pragya Chaturvedi. 4. A case of dissent within the fold of the Dharmasastra tradition, as reflected in the Parasara smrti/A.P. Ojha. 5. Dana in Buddhism: transition from Nissaya to Parikhara/Anand Singh. 6. Maitreya image in asian Buddhist fine arts/Sanchita Ghosh. 7. Tibetan conception of the self in the Kalacakra Mandala/Piyush Bhargava. 8. Water harvesting in Candella epigrpahs/Surabhi Srivastava. 9. Urbanization in early medieval Northern India: a historiographical survey/Asalam Sher. II. Medieval India: 1. Diseases and medicines in the medieval world/Ishrat Alam. 2. Badaun a centre of learning: with special reference to Madrasa Muizzia during the 13th and 14th century/Mohammad Nafeesh. 3. Socio-cultural life of the Shamsi nobles/Fazeela Shahnawaz. 4. Intellectual fervor during the reign of Sultan Qutb-ud-din Aibek/Aneesa Iqbal Sabir. 5. Shamsuddin iltutmish: sovereign or usurper/Samana Zafar. 6. Sufi literary tradition in Awadhi: a study of Madhumalti of Shaikh Manjhan/Jaya Kakkar. 7. Merchants attire in Mughal Gujarat/Monika Sharma. 8. Constructional activity of the Mughal nobility in Gujarat/Sadaf Fatma. 9. The women in Akbar’s life/Syeda Fariya Asif. 10. Akbars policy towards Raja Madhukar 1556-1592/Amir Ahmad. III. Modern India. IV. Summaries. The essays included in this volume endeavour to fulfill these expectations from the historians and in the process brings to light the historical processes in India over the millennium. Another objective of this volume is to provide and avenue to a large number of scholars who are working on multifarious aspects of the history of the region to share their valuable researches and writings with their peers in the field.…