Facets of Ancient Indian History and Culture: New Perception

Facets of Ancient Indian History and Culture: New Perception is an attempt to study various phases of ancient Indian history and culture in a new light and present fresh approaches to understanding and interpreting historical information and evidences. Prof. G. P. Singh here examines aspects of ancient Indian social, economic, cultural, religious and political life, propounding theories for discussion and opening up new avenues for research. Examining works on the subject by eminent scholars, he offers valuable information, full with rich insights and innovative viewpoints, on the Aryans, the Cinas, society in the period of the Buddha and Mahavira, formation of classes, castes, and social and economic associations and institutions in the latter half of the first millennium bc, religious foundations of society at the time of Manu and Patanjali, pre-Persian expeditions into north-west India and political status of Assam under the Guptas. For the purpose, he relies upon a vast number of sources — from texts of the Vedic and post-Vedic period and classical accounts of the Greeks and the Romans as also historical records of the Chinese, the French and the Germans to inscriptional and other findings, interpreting them all scientifically and objectively. The study explains facts and theories lucidly and with great stress on their historical accuracy, where concerned, and value, rendering the work extremely interesting and useful to students and scholars from varied disciplines — history, archaeology, anthropology and sociology.