From Dasarajna to Kuruksetra
Making of a Historical Tradition
Price: 1795.00 INR
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ISBN:
9780190130695
Publication date:
17/11/2021
Hardback
576 pages
Price: 1795.00 INR
We sell our titles through other companies
Disclaimer :You will be redirected to a third party website.The sole responsibility of supplies, condition of the product, availability of stock, date of delivery, mode of payment will be as promised by the said third party only. Prices and specifications may vary from the OUP India site.
ISBN:
9780190130695
Publication date:
17/11/2021
Hardback
576 pages
Kanad Sinha
Is it true that the ancient Indians had no sense of History? The book begins with this question, and points out how the ways of perceiving the past could be culture-specific and how the concept of historical traditions can be useful in studying the various ways of memorising and representing the past, even if those ways do not necessarily correspond to the methodology of the Occidental discipline called 'History'. Ancient India had several historical traditions, and the book focuses on one of them, the itihasa. It also shows how the Mahabharata is the best illustration of this tradition, and how a historical study of the contents of the text, with comparison with and corroboration from other contemporary sources and traditions, may help us restore the text in its original context in the bardic historical tradition about the Later Vedic Kurus. Is the Mahabharata then an authentic history? This book does not claim so. However, it shows how the text had originated as a critical reflection on a great period of transition, how it dealt with the conflicting philosophies of the transitional period, how it propounded its thesis by creating new kinds of heroes such as Yudhisthira and Krsna, and how the text was reworked when it was canonized by the brahmanas
Rights: World Rights
Kanad Sinha
Description
Is it true that the ancient Indians had no sense of History? The book begins with this question, and points out how the ways of perceiving the past could be culture-specific and how the concept of historical traditions can be useful in studying the various ways of memorising and representing the past, even if those ways do not necessarily correspond to the methodology of the Occidental discipline called 'History'. Ancient India had several historical traditions, and the book focuses on one of them, the itihasa. It also shows how the Mahabharata is the best illustration of this tradition, and how a historical study of the contents of the text, with comparison with and corroboration from other contemporary sources and traditions, may help us restore the text in its original context in the bardic historical tradition about the Later Vedic Kurus. Is the Mahabharata then an authentic history? This book does not claim so. However, it shows how the text had originated as a critical reflection on a great period of transition, how it dealt with the conflicting philosophies of the transitional period, how it propounded its thesis by creating new kinds of heroes such as Yudhisthira and Krsna, and how the text was reworked when it was canonized by the brahmanas
About the author:
Kanad Sinha is the Head of the Department of Ancient Indian and World History, The Sanskrit College and University.
Kanad Sinha
Table of contents
Foreword
Romila Thapar
Preface
List of Diacritical Marks Used
List of Abbreviations
1. The Mahabharata and the End of an Era
2. Bharatas, Purus, Kurus, and the Vedas: A Politico- textual History
3. The Great Saga of the Bharatas
4. New Text, New Era, New Hero: Vasudeva Krsna and His Svadharma
5. The Bharata beyond the Bharata War
Bibliography
Kanad Sinha
Kanad Sinha
Description
Is it true that the ancient Indians had no sense of History? The book begins with this question, and points out how the ways of perceiving the past could be culture-specific and how the concept of historical traditions can be useful in studying the various ways of memorising and representing the past, even if those ways do not necessarily correspond to the methodology of the Occidental discipline called 'History'. Ancient India had several historical traditions, and the book focuses on one of them, the itihasa. It also shows how the Mahabharata is the best illustration of this tradition, and how a historical study of the contents of the text, with comparison with and corroboration from other contemporary sources and traditions, may help us restore the text in its original context in the bardic historical tradition about the Later Vedic Kurus. Is the Mahabharata then an authentic history? This book does not claim so. However, it shows how the text had originated as a critical reflection on a great period of transition, how it dealt with the conflicting philosophies of the transitional period, how it propounded its thesis by creating new kinds of heroes such as Yudhisthira and Krsna, and how the text was reworked when it was canonized by the brahmanas
About the author:
Kanad Sinha is the Head of the Department of Ancient Indian and World History, The Sanskrit College and University.
Read MoreTable of contents
Foreword
Romila Thapar
Preface
List of Diacritical Marks Used
List of Abbreviations
1. The Mahabharata and the End of an Era
2. Bharatas, Purus, Kurus, and the Vedas: A Politico- textual History
3. The Great Saga of the Bharatas
4. New Text, New Era, New Hero: Vasudeva Krsna and His Svadharma
5. The Bharata beyond the Bharata War
Bibliography
