History of Ancient India

by Rama Shankar Tripathi

The object of this volume is to provide within a moderate compass a compendious account of the history, institutio­­­ns, and culture of ancient India from the dim ages of antiquity to the establishment of Moslem rule. It has not been planned to meet the needs of any particular class of readers. Its primary purpose is to serve alike students, scholars, and all others, interested in the study of ancient Indian history, as a book of ready use and reference. The pages which follow every attempt has been made to avoid presenting a mass of the dry bones of historical fact or over-burdening the account with intricate discussions on knotty problems of history, on the one hand, and giving a mere general and readable survey of India's long and fascinating past, on the other. I have endeavoured to tap and utilise properly the available sources of information, literary, epigraphic, and numismatic, and also to embody and set borth in a consistent manner the results of up-to-date researches on different topics and epochs.

Genres: History

605 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Hrishikesh]

This book was published in 1942, and the current edition is a reprint of that. Notwithstanding the age and newer discoveries and theories which have arisen after that, this book remains very much readable. It's lucid and well-referenced and difficult to put down if you're interested in the subject. That said, it was written as an academic textbook. Another aspect of this book is that it was written in pre-independence India - and hence has less of the biases that have crept into Indian history books since then.

[Luke Coughlin]

Written more like an encyclopedia than a narrative, which would be a good formula for many history writers to follow. Slightly disorganized--sometimes can't decide if its chronological or geographically oriented. But dealing with so vast and disconnected a land as ancient India creates unavoidable difficulties. Ultimately lucid, informational, and seemingly neutral.

[Masen Production]

"Some books are destined for history reference book and I cannot think any better than this. Anytime for for any era update."