The Period Ad 300-1000 Is Often Described As The 'Golden Age' Of Indian History, Phenomenal And All-Round Intellectual Advancement Was Perhaps The Distinctive Characteristic Of This Age. Vigorous Religious, Cultural And Philosophical Pursuits Encompassed Every Sphere Of Life-The Arts, Architecture And Music, Dance And Literature. Such Activity Resulted In Competition And Rivalry That Were Never Irrational, Soulless Or Destructive. Indeed The Central Spirit Was One Of Tolerance, Mutual Respect And Even Correlational Adaptation And Reciprocal Acceptance. It Is Equally Interesting To Observe That The Rise And Fall Of Dynasties And Political Powers, Big Or Small, Did Little To Hamper The Growth And Activities Of Religious Sects, And Schools Of Philosophy, Art And Literature, That Flourished During The Period Under Review.

The First Part Of Volume I, The Dawn Of Indian Civilization Upto 600 Bc, Published Earlier, Traces The Development Of Civilization In India Upto The End Of The Vedic Age. The Second Part Presented Here Begins With The Epics, The Sutras Formulating Systems Of Philosophies, The Sciences And The Hererodox Movements, And Goes On To Trace Upto 300 Ad The Emergence Of A New Civic Order In The Ancient Lands Of Taxila And Pataliputra Among Others. This Efflorescence Is Reflected In The New Traditions Of Art Beginning With The Mauryan Emperor Asoka, In The Enrichment Of Meterial Culture As Evidenced In The Arthasastra, In The Expansion Of Oceanic Trade Eloquently Described In The Periplus Maris Erythraei And In The New Movements Of Universal Salvation Such As Mahayana. Here For The First Time Historians, Philosophers And Scientists Have Joined Hands To Help Create A New Understanding Of The Human Past In The Indic Context.

Using recontructive ideas available in classical Indian original works, this book makes a departure in the style of modern writings on Indian moral philosophy. It presents Indian ethics, in an objective, secular, and wherever necessary, critical manner as a systematic, down-to-earth, philosophical account of moral values, virtues, rights and obligations. It thereby refutes the claim that Indian philosophy has no ethics as well as the counter-claim that it transcends ethics. It demonstrates that moral living proves that the individual, his society and the world are really real and not only taken to be real for behavioral purposes as the Advaitins hold, the self is amoral being a non-agent, moksa is not a moral value, and the Karmic theory, because of involving belief in rebirth, does not fuarantee that the doer of an action is also the experiencer of its results, contrary to what is commonly held, and Indian ethics can sustain itself even if such notions are dropped. Rajendra Prasad calls Indian ethics organismic because, along with ethical concerns, it also covers issues related to professions, politics, administration, sex, environment, etc. Therefore, in one format it is theoretical and applied, normative and metaethical, humanistic and non-humanistic, etc., of course, within the limits of the then cognitive enquiry.