An Introduction to the Study of Indian History

• Scope and Methods • Special methods needed for Indian history • Available materials • The underlying philosophy • The Heritage of Pre-class Society • Prehistoric archaeology • Tribal society • Tribal survivals • The Vetala cult • Higher local cults • Festival and rites • Civilization and Barbarism in the Indus Valley • The Indus cities • Indus trade and religion • Maintenance of class structure • Food production • The Aryans in the Land of the Seven Rivers • Aryans outside India • Rigvedic information • Panis and new tribes • Origins of caste • Brahmin clans • The Aryan Expansion • Aryan as a mode of living • Study of legend and myth • Yajurvedic settlements • The eastward drive • Tribes and dynasties • The mark of primitive tribes • The new brahminism • Beyond brahminism; ritual, food production and trade • The need for radical change • The Rise of Magadha • New institutions and sources • Tribes and kingdoms • Kosala and Magadha • Destruction of tribal power • New religions • Buddhism • Appendix: Punch-marked coins • The Formation of a Village Economy • The first empire • Alexander and the Greek accounts of India • The Asokan transformation of society • Authenticity of the Arthashastra • The pre-Asokan state and administration • The class structure • Productive basis of the state • Interlude of Trade and Invasions • After the Mauryans • Superstition in agrarian society • Caste and the village; the Manusmriti • Changes in religion • The settlement of the Deccan plateau • Commodity producers and trade • The development of Sanskrit • Social functions of Sanskrit literature • Feudalism from Above • Early feudal developments • Growth of villages and barbarism • The India of the Guptas and Harsa • Religion and the development of village settlement • The concept of property in Land • Maryurasarman's settlement in the west coast • Village craftsmen and artisans • Feudalism from Below • Difference between Indian and English feudalism • The role of trade in feudal society • The Muslims • Change to feudalism from below; slavery • Feudal prince, landlord and peasant • Degeneracy and collapse • The bourgeois conquest == Reception ==