India: The Definitive History

D. R. SarDesai presents the history of India in its entire civilizational depth. Using an Indiacentric approach, (as opposed to the Eurocentric or Anglocentric) the book covers the process of change in India through the centuries affecting different segments of the society, including the subalterns. He deals with the sweep of traditional Indian history as well as with the post-independence events, judicially balancing narrative and analysis in the conceptual framework of postcolonial and postmodernist approaches. This is the first major survey which deals with the entire Indian history along the lines of tradition and modernity instead of the old and largely inapplicable divisions of ancient, medieval and modern time frames. In adopting such a periodization, the book supports what is followed by most instructors in their courses on India.

D. R. SarDesai is former Chairperson of South and Southeast Asian Studies and the first holder of the Doshi Chair in Indian History at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of Southeast Asia: Past and Present 5th Edition (Westview Press, 2003). He is also the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Yadunandan Center for India Studies for his caring and distinguished work in South and Southeast Asian studies.