About the Book

Bharata Before the British and Other Essays explores a number of fundamental questions regarding the history of early India: Did the British bring India into existence or is she an ancient nation? Was Kashmir ‘unique’ and isolated or thoroughly connected with the rest of India? Is myth the antithesis of history or the self-expression of historical communities? Was there an Indic vision of history and time as different from modern Western notions? Was Sanskrit an elitist language or one with public reach and relevance? Did it also speak for the weak and powerless, including animals? Could Indic architecture be an instrument of liberation (moksha)? What was the ancient idea of erotics (kama) and how did it relate to society? How did it feel—smell, sound, touch, appear—to live in our earliest cities? What is the state of Indian history today and where do we go from here? Filling gaps in our knowledge about India and its regions, correcting misplaced perspectives, and offering culture-sensitive methods with which to work through our texts and traditions, this outstanding collection of 17 fascinating essays invites us to rethink our understanding of India and Indology. Written in a lucid and engaging style, it brings exciting new insights from the world of scholarship to the general reader who is curious to learn authentically about our past.

About the Author

Shonaleeka Kaul is India’s leading cultural and intellectual historian, specialising in Sanskrit literature. She is Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and has also been the Malathy Singh Distinguished Lecturer in South Asian Studies at Yale University (USA), the Jan Gonda Fellow in Indology, Leiden University (The Netherlands), and Visiting Professor of History at the South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University (Germany).