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History
is a vital part of any nation, community or individual’s being and a
link which provides rootedness to the present. The way history is
understood by most people has to be challenged and modified. It can be
questioned and theories and concepts can be open to debate and new
formulations. There have been major achievements in the past half
century of historical investigation. These include a rigorous analysis
of political processes, agrarian relations, social stratification and
the formation of regional cultures. There is a need to broaden the
canvas of history writing. Theory building requires a partnership with
empirical evidence and also inter-texuality. This means greater
attentiveness towards perspectives and voices of text, inscriptions,
artifacts and images. Essays in this book edited by Upinder Singh
widens the canvas by studying a period that has been neglected in
Indian history. Most of us studied the ancient period till the sixth
century and the medieval period started with the invasions of the
Muslims around the twelfth century. The interim period was relegated
to the backgroud.Upinder Singh has not only provided, in the Reader,
the history of the early medieval period but also provided linkages
between ancient and later medieval periods. The essays are well
researched and the historiography is of immense value to future
scholars. It highlights the complex and multilinear nature of
historical processes. The canvas of the book includes link between the
humans and their physical environment, filling the gaps in regional
histories, reconstructing the profiles of urban societies; including
women and gender relations and marginalised groups into integrated
social histories. The essays in the book are divided into four
parts. The first deals with theoretical models and political
processes. The first essay is by R.C.Sharma whose writings had sparked
off a major debate on the significant changes that happened between
seventh and twelfth centuries. He was the one who pointed out that
this period saw immense development in most fields. Sharma’s essay
is on whether we had a feudal order which can be compared to feudalism
as ascribed by most historians. The other two essays are on the
segmentery state by Burton Stein and on state formation by Hermann
Kulke. The second part is on village, town and society in early
medieval India. The focus is on land rights, commerce in towns,
society of Kakatiya of Andhra Pradesh, it also hones in on women power
in Kashmir. Part three is on religion and culture. It highlights major
developments in religious ideas and institutions as well as
exceptional vitality in the spheres of art and architecture. The
essay on religion looks at the topic in the historical context,
keeping in mind the philosophical and doctrinal undertones and details
of religious beliefs and practices. Leslie Orr studies a thousand
inscriptions in Tamil Nadu between ninth and thirteenth centuries
within a gendered framework. In the Hindu religion there were layered
religious domain: One corresponding to distinctive sectarian belief
and practice; the other a larger one arising out of a shared cultural
matrix. Another analysis is to move away from the assumption of fully
formed, mutually exclusive religious identities, they were evolving
and interacting parts of larger religious landscapes and historical
processes. The settling of politics, religion, language and
literature into an identifiable regional mould is usually seen as one
of the significant features of c-600-1300. This has been highlighted
in the essay of Kunal Chakarvarty and Kapila Vatsyayan. Development of
language and literary production both in Sanskrit and the regional
languages called ‘vernacularisation’ has been written about by
Pollock. Upinder Singh’s own essay is on politics, violence and
war, which she studies through the writings of Kamandakas-Nitisara. It
offers an organic account of the body politic and shows that the state
was not king centric. Also brought out is the political importance of
the royal household, especially the harem, courtiers, neighbouring
rulers and forest people. This perspective accords importance to
emotions, such as love, jealousy, anger and hate in its explication of
the political world. War was a central feature of the early medieval
history and the interplay between violence and non-violence in early
Indian thought thus forms an important subject of historical
investigation. A book of incisive and indepth intellectual and
historical writing, these essays fill gaps in history writing.
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Early Medieval India: A
Reader
This involves study of the complexities and
pluralities of the religious domain: Adopting a nuanced approach
towards literature, art and other elements of the aesthetic sphere;
recognising and exploring the rich philosophical and intellectual
production of this period. An attempt has been made to break out of
insular thinking and to look at the history within the larger
perspective of Asia.