Overview

India is generally regarded as a civilization with a set of intrinsic attributes that emerged in the age of the Vedas or, better still, in the Harappan times. In recent decades, historical studies have moved away from rigid perspectives of singularity in origin and expansion; the emphasis now is on pluralities and long-term processes spanning centuries and millennia. There is also an influential school of thought which rejects antiquity claims such as these and holds that India is a construct of the colonial and nationalist imagination. In his radical reinterpretation of India's past, Manu V. Devadevan moves away from these reifying assessments to examine the evolution of institutions, ideas and identities that are characterized, typically, as Indian. In lieu of endorsing their Indianness, he traces their emergence to specific conditions that developed in India between 600 and 1200 CE, a period which historians now call the 'early medieval'.

Full Product Details

Author:   Manu V. Devadevan
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.30cm , Height: 3.20cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.680kg
ISBN:  

9781108748513

ISBN 10:   1108748511
Pages:   524
Publication Date:   03 December 2020
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

List of tables; List of maps and figures; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part I. Institutions: 1. State formation and its structural foundations; 2. From the cult of chivalry to the cult of personality: the seventh-century transformation in Pallava statecraft; 3. Changes in land relations and the changing fortunes of the Cēra state; 4. Temple and territory in the Puri Jagannātha imaginaire; Part II. Ideas: 5. Svayamòbuddha's predilections: the epistemologies of time and knowledge; 6. Bhāravi and the creation of a literary paradigm; 7. Knowing and being: the semantic universe of the Kūdòiyātòtòamò theatre; 8. The invention of zero and its intellectual legacy; Part III. Identities: 9. The evolution of vernacular languages: a case study of Kannada; 10. Religious identities in times of Indumaulòi's grief; 11. Caste, gender and the landed patriarchy; 12. The making of territorial self consciousness (with particular reference to Kaliṅga); Bibliography; Index.

Reviews

'… Devadevan uses a truly impressive range of examples from politics, religion, philosophy, architecture, literature, and economy to support his thesis. … With an approach indebted to the work of the Keralan historian and epigraphist Kesavan Veluthat and a sweeping command of his material, Devadevan has produced a work that deserves to be read and discussed…' Brian Collins, Religon

Author Information

Manu V. Devadevan is Assistant Professor of History at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi. He specializes in religion and literary practices in South Asia, politics and economic processes of South Asia, and South Asian epigraphy. His most recent publication is an edited volume titled, Clio and Her Descendants: Essays for Kesavan Veluthat (2018).

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