This textbook offers a lucid and comprehensive account of pre-modern Indian thought and traditions. The book will serve as a helpful reference for undergraduate and post-graduate students of Political Science, Sociology, History and Social Work.This book can also be useful for UGC NET and Civil Service Aspirants It aims to unravel the ideas and thoughts of ancient and medieval thinkers and various intellectual traditions of the Indian sub-continent. The book departs from the conventional approach and carries a context-driven conceptualization of major strands of pre-modern Indian thought. Further, it provides a roadmap to orient the students to the main themes and traditions of Indian socio-political thought. Ancient and Medieval Indian Thought will help the reader to understand the basic concepts of Indian political thought and develop a critical understanding of the major themes and issues such as community, state, kingship, culture and religion as perceived by different thinkers. This multi-authored volume has been designed as a core and invaluable resource for the students, researchers and teachers of political science, sociology and history, and will also be useful for the scholars of other sub-fields of social sciences. Key Features: - Concise and well-balanced coverage of thoughts, ideas and traditions from multi-disciplinary perspective - Extensive summary and glossary terms at the end of each chapter to help the readers recapitulate better - Thought-provoking review questions and suggestions for further reading to enrich the teaching-learning experience

Publisher Description

This book attempts to comprehend the history of the Delhi Sultanate with reference to its Islamic identity. The Turkish chiefs, despite having a military advantage due to their expertise in horsemanship, could only consolidate their rule through adjustment and sharing of power with local kshatriya rulers, and, therefore, tended to incorporate an increasing number of Hindu chiefs in the ruling establishment. This process was sought to be made durable by conceding to the chiefs many of the pecuniary gains and social clout they had enjoyed before the conquests. According to Barani, the ulema endorsed the view that in the given situation, provisions of fiqah evolved in Arabia were not practicable in the Delhi Sultanate. By the same logic, settlements conceding to the village chiefs' important roles in the fiscal administration of rural tracts were justified. Additionally, the Islamic characteristics of the State system in the Delhi Sultanate were profoundly impacted by Sassanid and Turkish traditions of statecraft. With the passage of time many notions of Hindu caste culture also became influential in the mental makeup of the ruling elites of the Delhi Sultanate.

First published in 1965, The Culture and Civilisation of Ancient India in Historical Outline is a strikingly original work, the first real cultural history of India. The main features of the Indian character are traced back into remote antiquity as the natural outgrowth of historical process. Did the change from food gathering and the pastoral life to agriculture make new religions necessary? Why did the Indian cities vanish with hardly a trace and leave no memory? Who were the Aryans – if any? Why should Buddhism, Jainism, and so many other sects of the same type come into being at one time and in the same region? How could Buddhism spread over so large a part of Asia while dying out completely in the land of its origin? What caused the rise and collapse of the Magadhan empire; was the Gupta empire fundamentally different from its great predecessor, or just one more ‘oriental despotism’? These are some of the many questions handled with great insight, yet in the simplest terms, in this stimulating work. This book will be of interest to students of history, sociology, archaeology, anthropology, cultural studies, South Asian studies and ethnic studies.

“[A] brilliant disquisition on . . . mostly unpublished texts for three allied systems of tantric thought and praxis (sexual, alchemical, and hatha yogic).” —The Journal of Asian Studies The Alchemical Body excavates and centers within its Indian context the lost tradition of the medieval Siddhas. Working from previously unexplored alchemical sources, David Gordon White demonstrates for the first time that the medieval disciplines of Hindu alchemy and hatha yoga were practiced by one and the same people, and that they can be understood only when viewed together. White opens the way to a new and more comprehensive understanding of medieval Indian mysticism, within the broader context of south Asian Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Islam. “White proves a skillful guide in disentangling historical and theoretical complexities that have thus far bedeviled the study of these influential aspects of medieval Indian culture.” —Yoga World “Anyone seriously interested in finding out more about authentic tantra, original hatha yoga, embodied liberation . . . sacred sexuality, paranormal abilities, healing, and of course alchemy will find White’s extraordinary book as fascinating as any Tom Clancy thriller.” —Georg Feuerstein, Yoga Journal “Remarkable . . . a study of the language of mystic experience and expression—the multitudinous symbols, rituals, and doctrines of the medieval siddhis, yogis, and alchemists.” —Skeptic Meditations

Upinder Singh urges us to abandon simplistic stereotypes and instead think of ancient India in terms of the coexistence of five powerful contradictions-between social inequality and promises of universal salvation, the valorization of desire and detachment, goddess worship and misogyny, violence and non-violence, and religious debate and conflict. She does so using a vast array of sources including religious and philosophical texts, epics, poetry, plays, technical treatises, satire, biographies, and inscriptions, as well as the material and aesthetic evidence of archaeology and art from sites across the subcontinent. Singh's scholarly but highly accessible style, clear explanation, and balanced interpretations offer an understanding of the historian's craft and unravel the many threads of what we think of as ancient Indian culture. This is not a dead or forgotten past but one invoked in different contexts even today. Further, in spite of enormous historical changes over the centuries, the contradictions discussed here still remain.