Reframing India in World History breaks the stereotypical portrayal of India based on misconstrued historical theories. Prevalent constructions of Indian history are tinged with colonial historical frameworks and presentation. It is important to understand India for what it is in the past based on self-determined frameworks derived from Indian history to reclaim India’s place in the world history. Based on new evidence-based research, Lavanya Vemsani explores
patterns of civilization that are indigenous to India to investigate its history from the beginning to the present. This book covers topics central to a comprehensive understanding of the nation including a discussion of long held cultural notions, civilization continuity, and the historical crises deriving from conquests and colonization.
Lavanya Vemsani is Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of History in the Department of Social Sciences at Shawnee State University and Honorary Visiting Professor of History at Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Introduction: Reframing India in World History
Part I The Beginnings of Indian Civilization
Chapter 1. First Human Settlements: The Great Journey Begins
Chapter 2. Prehistoric Golden Era: Neolithic and Other Late Prehistoric Cultures of India
Chapter 3. Earthly Cultures and the Other Worldly Outlook
Chapter 4. Age of Philosophers, Religions, and Empires
Part II. The Rise and Spread of Indian Civilization
Chapter 5. Civilizational Era: The Evolution of Indian Civilization
Chapter 6. Vision Beyond the Land: The Mauryas of India
Chapter 7. India at the Turn of the First Millennium
Chapter 8. Classical India and Southernization of the World
Chapter 9. Later First Millennium India: Overseas Expansion
Part III. Crisis in Indian Civilization
Chapter 10. India Open for Business: Pillaging and Pilfering on the Edges
Chapter 11. Early Colonial and Colonial Regimes of India
Chapter 12. European Colonization of India
Chapter 13. Making of India: Midnight to Moon Strike
Conclusion: Reframing Indian History: Way Forward
In this extensively researched volume, Lavanya Vemsani presents a powerful case for a decolonial revision of how the history of India should be viewed. Her work will undoubtedly spark debate as well as a rethinking of many of the assumptions on which traditional Indological scholarship is based.