About this book: This book was first published in 1997, with the title, A History of India for Children. It was substantially revised for the new paperback edition of 2002. I plan a further revision next year.
Though this book is primarily for young people, and can be read by a 10+ age group, it is suitable as an introduction to India’s history for people of all ages. It can be read from cover to cover, or can be used to look up topics of interest. The book actually begins with the geological history of India, and goes on to the stone age, much earlier than 3000 BC, which was chosen as a convenient date for the title. A key aspect of the book is that it provides equal emphasis to the history of south India. When I next revise the book I plan to include more on eastern India. I also plan a revision of chapters 2-9, in based on new discoveries and research, and on my intensive reading for a book I am currently writing, on the Vedas.
The chapters in the book are listed below:
1.India --Our Land
2. The First People
3. Village Life
4. The Indus Valley Civilization: An Urban Revolution
5. Village Life in Other Parts of India
6. The Rig Vedic Aryans
7. The Later Vedic Period
8. Archaeology and the Vedic Period
9. Megalithic Cultures
10. The Mahajanapadas and the Rise of Magadha
11. New Religious Sects between 600 and 400 BC.
12. Alexander
13. The Mauryas
14. North India after the Mauryas
15. The Kushanas
16. The Satavahanas
17. Kingdoms of the South
18. Towns and Trade: 200 BC-AD 300
19. The Guptas
20. The Deccan and South India
21. Harshavardhana
22. Northern India between AD 700 and 1200
23. Some Other Kingdoms of the North
24. Life in the Northern Kingdoms
25. South India between AD 600 and 1200
26. India in AD 1200
27. Ghazni and Ghur
28. The First Sultans of Delhi
29. The Khaljis and the Tughlaqs
30. The Sayyids and the Lodis
31. Some Independent States
32. Life at the Time of the Sultanate --Ad 1200-1500
33. The Bahmani and Vijayanagara Kingdoms
34. The Early Mughals
35. Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan
36. Aurangzeb and the Decline of the Mughals
37. Life in Mughal India
38. The Marathas and the Sikhs
39. Other Independent States
40. Major Religious Developments between AD 1200 and 1750.
41. The Europeans Arrive
42. The British Expansion and Conquest
43. Further Expansion --From Wellesley to Dalhousie
44. Administrative, Economic and Social Changes.
45. Art and Culture --1750-1857
46. Early Indian Reformers
47. The Revolt of 1857
48. The Indian States
49. The Rise of Nationalism
50. The Moderates and the Extremists
51. The Later Reformers
52. The Muslim League
53. Art and Culture After 1858.
54. Social Change in the Twentieth Century
55. New Political Trends between 1908 and 1919.
56. Mahatma Gandhi and Non-Cooperation
57. The Intermediate Years-- 1922-1929
58. Civil Disobedience---1930-1934
59. The First Indian Government
60. India during the Second World War
61. India before Independence
62. The Last Phase --1945-1947
Just found these books and love them. I have bought both volumes for my kids and can't help wishing I was a child again to learn facts like this. Something tells me this will be books I will read on and off in the coming years. Thanks a lot for these books, esp. the mostly unbiased (and underlying liberal) viewpoint and giving importance to South India in a history book. I read a few paragraphs until it came to temples.
ReplyDeleteMeant to say 'had read a few paragraphs in other books, mostly temple related'.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I am glad you like the books.
ReplyDelete