Publisher's Synopsis
Have you ever wondered?
- Why the largest Hindu and Buddhist temples in the world are outside India?
- Why Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are so similar to India in culture and language?
- Why Indians are so varied in language, ethnicity, culture, cuisine, customs, costumes, religious practices, architecture etc. and yet are included in one extraordinary modern nation?
- Why it is almost impossible to discuss "Indian" history without reverting to regional histories or colonial stereotypes?
- Why Hinduism remains an active and vital religion, unlike other ancient polytheistic religions like those of the Norse, Mesopotamian, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans?
- Why places like Kandahar, Peshawar, Ayutthaya, Singapore etc. have Indic names?
"The Lords of India: The Evolution of Imperial Identity From Ajatashatru to Alamgir"
is a book that attempts to provide a succinct yet comprehensive look at the history of
India through the evolution of its imperial states in order to provide answers to these and
other such fascinating questions. The history of India isn't a simple linear story like those
of smaller countries like that could easily fit inside most Indian states, or newer ones like
the US which has only existed for less than three centuries. The origins of an imperial
state in India goes back at least two and a half millennia, and how the rise of different
sovereign states that have succeeded in positioning themselves as the paramount power in
a majority of the modern nation of India while engaging with other contemporary states,
religious movements and participating in cultural exchanges with the wider world is the
focus of this book. By looking at the dominant pan-Indian monarch throughout different
periods in Indian history, this book attempts to introduce readers to the overall history of
India in relation to these towering figures. It touches upon the major states, monarchs,
religious movements, historical moments, social structures, architectural innovations,
scientific advances and linguistic evolution that have occurred in India from the time of
its first imperial state rising in the first millennium BCE till the end of native imperial rule
in the 18th century CE.
Volume I: The Indosphere focuses on the period until the 13th century, identified with the
period of Sanskritic international courtly high culture dominating the regions of South
and Southeast Asia.
