EARLY INDIA: A CONCISE HISTORY,
By D.N. JHA
Manohar, Rs 395

Early India is an extended version of D.N. Jha?s earlier Ancient India in Historical Outline, reprinted eight times since 1998. The last chapter, which analyses the socio-economic and cultural aspects of classical Indian feudalism till the early medieval period, has been added.

In describing his readers as ?undergraduate students and non-specialists having some interest in India?s past?, Jha does himself an injustice. His erudition is presented in an absorbing and lucid narrative, which gains in relevance by its reference to contemporary events.

This book will be invaluable to teachers for its holistic view of important developments and its stress on the elements of continuity and change. Controversies in ancient Indian history are firmly treated; the section on whether the Gupta rule was a ?golden age? and a period of ?Hindu renaissance? is especially well-written.

Jha uses epigraphic and canonical sources and also makes allusions to Sanskrit plays and Panini?s grammar, demystifying primary sources and reassuring readers that the past is very much a part of the present. Thus, while explaining the concept of karma, he recalls the bullock-cart driver in Mrichchhakatika who does not kill Vasantsena because he does not want to blight his next life.

Jha takes readers through the confused mosaic of early Indian historiography in his introduction, explaining not only the main trends and terms but also the reasons behind the different points of view. He establishes a logic between recent events and the interpretation of ancient Indian history down to the Gujarat genocide of 2002. ?I have not viewed early India as a cloud cuckoo land but as a country where social and economic equalities existed, where the exploited masses have contributed no less to its rich and diverse cultural traditions than their exploiters.? Despite this self-conscious admission, Jha?s exposition is matter of fact and balances political and dynastic history with other aspects of life.

The real wealth of Early India is its exhaustive bibliography, index, and the 10 maps attached in a separate section at the back of the book. The black-and-while photographs, though not plentiful, have good reproductive quality and substantiate the writing.