Historic India

Great Ages of Man

by Lucille Schulberg

History of India and India's Culture

Genres: History, India, Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

Reviews

[Fortuna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bueno y básico. Introducción decente a cuestiones culturales, religiosas e históricas de la India para alguien interesado en entrar más a fondo en estos temas.

[James Violand · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical synopsis of a very ancient culture. It summarizes well the key periods and personalities. But it should be used as a survey only. Hopefully, it will entice the reader to delve deeper into this great civilization.

[Gaelan D'costa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful book, and well written to provide an engaging history.

My favourite parts of this book are its attempts to point out the essence of Indian culture, both from a religious as well as a history of great empires, as well as the beautiful artwork.

This is a book from the 1960s, so it is written by a non-Indian for non-Indians (particularly European/North American westerners). In that sense, one has to factor in colonialist thought although I think the book does a good job of appreciating its subject. I suppose this is why the history of great empires is such a focus of the book. It is also interesting that it stops abruptly after a discussion of the Mughal empire and doesn't really go into interactions and colonization by Portugal, Britain, etc... Given this book was written post-independence, how would its narrative play out against the 14-20th centuries.

As a Indian Catholic I enjoyed the book's narrative of Dharmic religions, but as I don't have any lived experience with it, I have no idea if it would be considered a satisfactory description by those who are Hindu, Buddhist, or Jain. It at least gives me a starting cohesive framework for understanding them at a basic level, though I don't know if adherents would find the book paints an accurate description.

A major complaint I have about it is that it is primarily about Northern Indian people and history ... while there is a little bit of discussion of Dravidian culture in the context of the Harrappan civilization and as neighbours to the empires it focuses on, it feels very much in this book centres India to mean "Indo-Aryan". Where is the history of the Tamils, for example? Where is mention of Sikhs? Should Sri Lanka's history be included as well (I genuinely do not know if Sri Lanka identified with the subcontinent or southern India or if it always viewed itself as independent)

As a starter framework to a history of India, I think this is a great book to engage interest, and hopefully it motivates people to then explore the mosaic of Indian history which is left out of scope in this book.

[Jonathan Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like I have a firmer grasp of India now. There's so much going on, it's a little overwhelming.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated.

[Kili · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely writing

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The late American-born writer Lucille Schulberg’s 1968 edition of the book, Historic India, is a history of the pre-Colonial Indian Subcontinent. The book covers the History of the Indian Subcontinent from the migration of humans into the Indian Subcontinent until the decline of the Mughal Empire in the 1700s C.E. (163). The book is for the series of Time-Life Books’ Great Ages of Man. Schulberg traveled widely through the Indian Subcontinent and studied Indian Culture. Schulberg’s book is probably dated, but it is still worth reading if one is interested in the historiography of the history of the Indian Sub-Continent. The book views Indian history through religion mainly of Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and a little bit on the Indian version of Islam. The book does not mention Sikhism, a religion of around 25 million people, the late Historian William Hewat McLeod writes in an article for Encyclopedia Britannica on Sikhism that “In the early 21st century there were nearly 25 million Sikhs worldwide, the great majority of them living in the Indian state of Punjab” (Hewatt 2020). That being said, Schulberg’s Historic India is worth reading. Schulberg’s book is a good, perhaps a little old-fashioned introduction to the development of Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism in pre-colonial Indian History. Historic India is readable. The book has a beautiful layout, and each chapter is followed by a photo essay. At the end of the book, there is a Timeline and a summary of “The Hindu Pantheon” (Schulberg 182-183). I found the article in Encyclopedia Britannica on Sikhism by William Hewart McLeod useful in writing this ‘review” (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sikhism). Even though it was dated I did not regret spending time reading the book, Historic India.

[J.D. Steens · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides a concise overview of India's pre-colonial history, beginning 2,000 plus years BCE in the northern (now, Pakistan) part of the subcontinent. While not much is known about the early Dravidian and Harappan cultures, India as we know it today emerged during the Vedic Age (1500-500 BCE) and through the influence of the Aryan invaders. Later, the Mauryan Empire dominated the landscape, most prominently under the influence of the (Buddhist) King, Ashoka. After the breakup of that dynasty, the Gupta Empire (320-467 CE) united much of India and this, in time, broke into smaller kingdoms. Moslem invaders came in the 8th, 12th and 16th centuries. The last Moslem wave produced Akbar and his grandson, Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal in memory of his wife. The book ends with the Moslem period and skips British period and India's independence.

Given its long history and its geographical position relative to the near East, Europe and the far East, India's influence has not perhaps received the recognition it is due. Trading routes and the intermingling of cultural beliefs and intellectual ideas from its many invasions put India at the center of numerous cross-fertilizing currents. Key ideas from the Upanishads are strikingly similar to early Greek thought. The Upanishads were also clearly central to Schopenhauer's philosophy. The Buddhism that began in India (and now is void of its presence) spread to China and to Southeast Asia. By concentrating on a few main themes, "Historic India" does a good job of making a reader appreciate this country's rich and influential history.

[Roniq · Rating 5 out of 5]

a beautiful illustrated history of an amazing country.