This Book Discuses The Ancient Historical Geography Of The Lower And Middle Sections Of The Ganga Plain. Its Basis Is A Field-Study Of The Distribution Of Archaeological Sites In The Region. This Extremely Significant Work Of Scholarship Has Detailed Maps And A Large Plate Section.

Illustrations: 24 Figures, 11 B/w Illustrations, 4 Maps Description: Based on archaeological field-work for six seasons (1999-2001, 2002-5), this book examines the problems of ancient political units, urban centres, and routes of the upper Ganga plain between Pratapgarh in the South and the foothills of Uttaranchal (Uttarakhand) in the north. Summary: This book demonstrates how it is possible to gain insights into the ancient historical reality of a region by going over the modern ground with a feel for the land, historical understanding, and the scholarship to back it. This is a path-breaking effort in Indian archaeology.

This book deals with roots of Indian geographical thoughts with reference to its historical base, cultural context and visionary message. As a consequence of long cultural history the resultant lifeworld in India converges like a drama and dance of space-time function with transference and transformation. In the passage of time emerged a metaphysical frame of thought, the varieties of heritagescapes, and simultaneously grown the senses to heritage ecology. Of course, attempts have been scanty but the richness always portrayed in literature and literary geography. Historical and cultural geographies in India have not caught that much attention in the academia; however on micro-level distinct attributes are interpreted in the recent literature. Going back to the ancient notions of nature theology, religioscapes and rituals have developed a complex network of belief systems in the Hindu traditions. In these traditions the motherly river Ganga serves as symbol, system and metaphor in the Indian culture. Continuity of cultural manifestations is actively maintained and continued in the Indian villages, where lives three-fourths of India’s population, and serve like a ‘place ballet’. India’s catastrophic march on the road of development and technology is entangled with obstacles and socio-spatial gaps that need to be re-considered in the light of cultural background and historical legacy. All these issues are examined, emphasising dualistic and complimentary perspectives in the West and the East. Contents: Viewpoints on the book: v-viii; List of Tables, List of Figures: xi-xvi; Foreword: Prof. Martin J. Haigh (Oxford Brooke University, UK): 1-8; Preface, Acknowledgements: 9-21, 1. Metaphysics and Sacred Ecology: Cosmos, Theos, Anthropos: 23-57, 2. Lifeworld, Lifecycle and Home: 58-97, 3. Landscape as Text: Literary Geography and Indian Context: 98-128, 4. Historical Geography of India: Trends in the 21st century: 129-162, 5. Cultural Geography of India: Trends in the 21st century: 163-195, 6. Geographic Milieu and Belief Systems: An Appraisal: 196-226, 7. Sacred space and Faithscape: 227-266, 8. The Ganga River: Images and Symbol of India: 267-302, 9. Indian Village: A Phenomenological Understanding: 303-350, 10. Heritagescapes of India: Appraising Heritage ecology: 351-393, and 11. Development in India: Appraising Self Retrospection: 394-422; index: 423-430; author 431.

This book explores the ways in which past cultures have been used to shape colonial and postcolonial cultural identities. It provides a theoretical framework to understand these processes, and offers illustrative case studies in which the agency of ancient peoples, rather than the desires of antiquarians and archaeologists, is brought to the fore.

In the third century BCE Ashoka ruled in South Asia and Afghanistan, and came to be seen as the ideal Buddhist king. Disentangling the threads of Ashoka’s life from the knot of legend that surrounds it, Nayanjot Lahiri presents a vivid biography of an emperor whose legacy extends far beyond the bounds of his lifetime and dominion.

This volume presents a comprehensive study of the urbanization of Bengal from ancient to postcolonial times. It analyses the notion of urban space, examines the institutions which constitute the ‘urban’, and explores the crises brought about by the Partition. The book highlights the key features of urbanization in colonial Bengal––the print culture, institutions of Western education and Western medicine, and the census as a ‘modern form of knowledge’. It also looks at the refugee movement and discusses the contribution of Partition refugees in urbanizing Bengal. Rich in archival sources, this book will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of urban history, urban studies, Indian history, colonial history, postcolonial studies, partition studies, and South Asian history, particularly those interested in Bengal.

This exploration of early paths for Buddhist transmission within and beyond South Asia retraces the footsteps of monks, merchants, and other agents of cross-cultural exchange. A reassessment of literary, epigraphic, and archaeological sources reveals hisorical contexts for the growth of the Buddhist saṅgha from approximately the 5th century BCE to the end of the first millennium CE. Patterns of dynamic Buddhist mobility were closely linked to transregional trade networks extending to the northwestern borderlands and joined to Central Asian silk routes by capillary routes through transit zones in the upper Indus and Tarim Basin. By examining material conditions for Buddhist establishments at nodes along these routes, this book challenges models of gradual diffusion and develops alternative explanations for successful Buddhist movement.