This reader presents a new understanding of the early medieval period of Indian history (c. 600-1300 CE), highlighting the complex and multilinear nature of its historical processes. The book examines the major historiographical debates and also moves beyond them, throwing light on many important aspects of the social, economic, political, and cultural history of the pre-Sultanate and non-Sultanate early medieval. The volume brings together a careful selection of readings, including seminal essays as well as recent writing. Comprehensive and thought-provoking, it discusses: theoretical frameworks, namely the feudalism, segmentary state, and integrative/processual models; political processes, including the interaction between states and forest tribes; village and city life, with a focus on agrarian structure, urban patterns, trade, varn?a, j?ti, and gender; religion, art, and culture, within and beyond regional frameworks; histories of language, literature, ideas, attitudes, and emotions. The introduction provides presents a critical and incisive overview and analysis of debates and writings related to a wide range of historical issues. In doing so, it raises new questions, suggests new approaches, and opens up possibilities for future research. This book will interest students and teachers of ancient and medieval Indian history.
early medieval indian society rs sharma pdf download
When inscriptions began to be read as documents recording social and economic history, another world opened up. For instance, the importance of women donors and what we now know about the status and function of women at various levels of early Indian society. This was data that did not conform to either the negative image of the status of women in the dharmashastras or the high status projected in earlier histories of ancient India. The inscriptions suggested a varying status dependent on occupation, caste and wealth.
wealthy merchants became patrons of new religious sects propagating bhakti or devotional worship, dedicated to Vishnu, Shiva or other deities. But at the same time the local regional religious forms of worship and their deities were incorporated into the mainstream. The significance of the change to a feudal society, although most clearly reflected in a change in the political economy, was however not restricted to this alone. There was also the evidence for new religious and cultural movements and the creation of new castes. These aspects were studied by those who argued for feudalism, but also by those who saw the process of change somewhat differently, expressed in forms of state-formation, Puranic Hinduism and the lateral spread of clan identities converting into castes, in parts of northern India. 2ff7e9595c
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