Description
The rich oeuvre of historical literature that Romila Thapar has authored holds a mirror to her remarkable personality. Like her writings do, she exudes confidence, conviction and commitment. She is honest, forthright and passionate. These qualities have made her the most articulate advocate of secularism and nationalism. She is neither a feminist nor a Marxist, but a humanist in whom all isms enter into a dialogue.
— K.N. Panikkar
CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction: The Role of Religion in Political Conflicts Indian Society and the Secular
Redefining the Secular Mode for India
Is Secularism Alien to Indian Civilisation?
Historical Interpretations and the Secularising of Indian Society
Understanding Secularism
Contemporary Politics and the Rewriting of History in India
Communalism and the Historical Legacy: Some Facets Can Genetics Help Us to Understand Indian Social History?
Rethinking the Concept of Civilisation as History
The Politics of Religious Communities
Justice in Gujarat
Past as Present and the Present as Past Index
Cover design and photo by Asad Zaidi
Romila Thapar
Romila Thapar is the most celebrated historian of India. She is Emeritus Professor of History at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, where she taught ancient Indian history to at least three generations of students.
Romila Thapar is also an Honorary Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and has been Visiting Professor at Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania as well as the Collège de France in Paris. In 1983 she was elected General President of the Indian History Congress, and in 1999 a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. She is recipient of the prestigious Kluge Prize, awarded to her in 2008.
Among her publications are Early India; Ashoka and the Decline of the Mauryas; Ancient Indian Social History: Some Interpretations; From Lineage to State; History and Beyond; Sakuntala: Texts, Readings, Histories; Somanatha: The Many Voices of a History; Cultural Pasts: Essays on Indian History. She has also written a book for children titled Indian Tales. Her forthcoming book soon to be out is The Past Before Us: Historical Tradition of Early North India.
She is a public intellectual of great standing, having concerned herself with issues of history and culture as they impinge on contemporary concerns, particularly how history is taught in schools and colleges, the politics of education and syllabi revisions. She has been very outspoken against chauvinist and parochial approaches, is a champion for secularism, and has spoken on and written for many public forums on religion, culture and democracy. She is co-author of Communalism in the Writing of Indian History, and had also done a textbook on ancient Indian history for school children which was a part of the NCERT syllabus for the CBSE examinations for many years, till the ruling NDA government removed it as part of its assault on secular history in India.
