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Acompilation of ten essays originally presented on the occasion of the S.C. Mishra memorial at the Indian History Congress, History, Ideas and Society covers a wide variety of themes, ranging from historical ideas and ideologies to colonialism, communalism, sex-education, science and coins, the book portrays the dynamics of Indian history at its best. By bringing together writings on various periods of time and place, it not only adds to the richness but also contributes to unravelling the pathbreaking moments of Indian historical research.

In the ‘Introduction’ to The Invention of Tradition [1983], co-edited by Eric Hobsbwam and Terence Ranger. Hobsbawm remarked, ‘“Traditions” which appear or claim to be old are often recent in origin and sometimes invented…. “Invented tradition” is taken to mean a set of practices….which seek to inculcate certain values and norms of behaviour by repetition, which automatically implies continuity with the past.’ Approaching the Divine by Bharati Jagannathan illustrates the case of such an invented tradition of the Srivaisnava community of South India (located in modern Tamil Nadu, southern Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka).

It is well known that the first Indian initiative at writing a history of Indian Archaeology was taken by Sourindranath Roy when he wrote ‘Indian Archaeology from Jones to Marshall (1784–1947)’ way back in 1953 which was largely a narrative of events relating to official archaeologists. On its publication and thereafter Roy’s narrative acquired a seminal status. However, beyond the official scheme of things there were initiatives of many individuals and institutions that played a significant role in understanding the past.

Amaravati began to be developed as the capital of Andhra Pradesh last year, and the State’s creation of its new identity has involved an emphasis on its Buddhist past, at least partly to attract foreign investment. The Government of Andhra Pradesh also plans to set up a museum in Amaravati in memory of B.R. Ambedkar, who converted to Buddhism, but also interpreted its Pali canon afresh.

In ‘Where these essays are coming from’, the introduction to this volume, Vasudha Dalmia retraces her intellectual formation and weaves the trajectory of her personal research interests with the political and cultural history of the last three decades. Intellectual autobiographies are all too rare, yet always riveting to read.Chance encounters that lead to unforeseen life paths (for her, landing in Germany as a 22-year-old), mixed family histories that surface later in life as questions demanding to be answered and reconciled

The Mahåbhårata is a unique text which not only claims for itself an encyclopaedic status declaring itself to be a compendium of everything that is there on social morality (dharma), political economy (artha), pleasure (kåma) and spiritual liberation (moksa) (Mbh I.56.33)—but also points out its rightful position as an itihåsa placed at a conversational crossroads among the authors located in its past, present and future (Mbh I.1.24; I.56.22). Therefore, there is no wonder that it captured the imagination of scholars, interpreters, translators and creative writers across time and space, leading to the production of a mammoth bibliography around itself.