The Archaeology of Early Medieval and Medieval South Asia
The Archaeology of Early Medieval and Medieval South Asia

Author: Swadhin Sen

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-11-30

Total Pages: 303

ISBN-13: 1000780759

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This book looks at the ways in which archaeological methods have been used in debates concerning the early medieval and medieval periods in South Asia. Despite the incorporation and use of archaeological data to corroborate historical narratives, the theories and methods of archaeology are largely ignored in and excluded from the dominating, institutionalized, and hegemonic disciplinary discourses. The volume offers contesting insights, polemical narratives, and new data from archaeological contexts to initiate a debate on many foundational premises of archaeological and historical narratives. It focuses on the much-neglected region of the Eastern Ganga-Brahmaputra Basin as a spatial frame to do this and studies themes such as spatial and temporal scales of concepts and methods, multi-scaler factors and processes of continuity and changes, the settlement archaeology of the alluvial landscape, changing patterns of agrarian transformation, and material cultures, including coins, inscriptions, pottery, and sculptures, in their contexts in sub-regional, regional, and supra-regional intersections. Dedicated to historian Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya, this volume presents a crucial and unprecedented intervention in the study of the early medieval and the medieval periods. It will be useful for scholars and researchers of archaeology, ancient history, medieval history, water history, earth sciences, palaeoecology, historical ecology, epigraphy, art history, material culture studies, Indian history, and South Asian studies in general.

Approaches to History
Approaches to History

Author: Sabyasachi Bhattacharya

Publisher: Primus Books

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 9380607172

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History as a social science is arguably more self-reflective than associated disciplines in that family. Other social scientists seem to see little reason to look beyond the paradigm they are developing in the present times. Historians on the other hand, tend to depend on the cumulative process of the development of their craft and the fund of accumulated knowledge. Yet, while this is acknowledged in the practice of research, Historiography in itself as a subject of study has rarely found its place in the syllabi of Indian universities. Knowledge of Historiography is taken for granted when a scholar plunges into research. In an attempt to address this lacuna, the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) has planned a series of volumes on Historiography comprising articles by subject specialists commissioned by the ICHR. The first volume in the series, Approaches to History: Essays in Indian Historiography brings to the readers the first fruits of that endeavour. While the essays encompass areas of research presently at the frontiers of new research, scholars will also find the bibliographies accompanying the essays of significant appeal.

Religion in Early Assam
Religion in Early Assam

Author: Rena Laisram

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2019-04-18

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13: 1527533468

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This volume offers a fresh approach to the existing literature on religion in Early Assam, bringing together perspectives from the fields of archaeology, religion, history and heritage. For decades, the Naraka legend has been incorporated into history without due critical attention and analysis of the historical context, while archaeological studies in religion have been largely descriptive. The sacred landscape of the erstwhile Prāgjyotiṣa and Kāmarūpa kingdoms had linkages with the history of other parts of India, and beyond. This book offers a comprehensive reconstruction of religion in Early Assam based on an exhaustive use of archaeological sources. It opens with a useful overview of the conceptual and methodological foundations of religion, archaeology and history. Heritage conservation of sacred sites such as Kāmākhyā which face the impact of rapid urbanization illustrates implications for Assam’s history and identity.

Encyclopaedia of North-East India
Encyclopaedia of North-East India

Author: Col Ved Prakash

Publisher: Atlantic Publishers & Dist

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 544

ISBN-13: 9788126907038

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This 5-Volume, Encyclopaedic Study Of India S North-East Is The Result Of The Author S 11 Years Of Service Extended Over Three Tenures In The Region, Followed By 6 Years Of Library Research After His Retirement. Being The First Of Its Kind, Given Its Contents And Sheer Size, Over 2,500 Pages, It Is A Unique Book.Writing On The North-East Is Not An Easy Exercise, Given Its Diversity (Ethnic, Racial, Religious And Linguistic), Size, History And Geography. If India Is Microcosmic World, The North-East Is Microcosmic India. Of The 5,653 Communities In India, 653 Are Tribal Of Which The 213 Are Indigenous To The North-East. Of The 213, 111 Are Found In Arunachal Pradesh Alone. Illumined By An Equally Amazing Linguistic Diversity, It Is Home To 325 Of The 1,652 Languages Spoken In India. Yet Again, North-East S Total Population Of 3,84,95,089 (2001) Constitutes 2.69 Per Cent Of India S 1,02,70,15,247, While Its Area Of 2,55,088 Sq Km Is 7.75 Per Cent Of India S 32,87,263 Sq Km.

Change, Continuity and Complexity
Change, Continuity and Complexity

Author: Jae-Eun Shin

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-05-30

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0429831021

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The Mahāvidyās are the representative Tantric feminine pantheon consisting of ten goddesses. It is formed by divergent religious strands and elements: the mātṛ and yoginī worship, the cult of Kālī and Tripurasundarī, Vajrayāna Buddhism, Jain Vidyādevīs, Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava faith, Śrīvidyā, the Brahmanical strand of Puranic traditions, etc. This volume is the first attempt to explore the historical process, through which these traditions culminated in the Mahāvidyā cult and the goddesses with different origins and contradictory attributes were brought into a cluster, with special reference to socio-political changes in the lower Gaṅgā and Brahmaputra Valley between the 9th and 15th centuries CE. Based on a close analysis of Purāṇas, Tantras and inscriptional evidence, and on extensive field research on archaeological remains as well as sacred sites, Jae-Eun Shin discusses the two trajectories of the Mahāvidyās in eastern Śākta traditions. Each led to the systematization of Daśamahāvidyās in a specific way: one, as ten manifestations of Durgā upholding dharma in the cosmic dimension, and the other, as ten mandalic goddesses bearing magical powers in the actual sacred site. Their attributes and characteristics have neither been static nor monolithic, and the mode of worship prescribed for them has changed in a dialectical religious process between Brahmanical and Tantric traditions of the region. This is the definitive work for anyone seeking to understand goddess cults of South Asia in general and the history of eastern Śākta traditions in particular. To aid study, the volume includes images, diagrams and maps. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Himalayan Architecture
Himalayan Architecture

Author: Ronald M. Bernier

Publisher: Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 9780838636022

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This broad treatment of architecture throughout the region of the Himalaya mountains is the first book of its kind. The author has based this study on many years of research in Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Assam, and the Darjeeling area of northeast India, northern Pakistan, and Himachal Pradesh in India's northwest. These areas make up an artistic and, to some degree, a cultural unit. It is unique and definable for its design qualities as well as its use of materials. Dramatic and lofty structures rise as towering palaces and as temples dedicated to Hindu and Buddhist ideals. The impact of neighboring Tibet and India is often evident in the art, but other influences are found as well. The area has not been isolated, as some studies suggest, but was in fact always linked to the rest of Asia and to the West by means of the Silk Road, at least since the second century B.C. This study progresses from east to west, beginning in the foothills of India's Assam. It is richly illustrated with photographs, most of which are the author's or his wife's, and many of the photographs are published here for the first time. The archives of the Archaeological Survey of India and the Department of Archaeology of His Majesty's Government of Nepal are also used here.