A Multifaceted Survey

This volume, despite its slightly vague title, is a valuable collection of essays which survey writings on various areas of Indian history, especially ‘new and developing areas of study’. All ten contributions are on areas in which there has been, as Sabyasachi Bhattacharya notes, ‘intense research activity’ in recent years. Some of these, such as the history of the Sikhs and military history, have been part of what might be called mainstream historical writing in the sense that there has been a long tradition of academic interest in these themes, while the others review the state of research on issues that have begun attracting attention relatively recently. Of the latter, five focus specifically on marginalized people or regions: tribal communities, dalits, women, Christians, and North East India.