History of Ancient India | First Edition | By Pearson: Pashan Kal Se 12vi Shatabdi Tak

by Upinder Singh

History of Ancient India | First Edition | By Pashan Kal Se 12vi Shatabdi Tak (A History of Ancient and Early Medieval From the Stone Age to the 12th Century)

Genres: History, India, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Indian Literature, Medieval, Asia

300 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Upinder Singh is an Indian historian and the former head of the History Department at the University of Delhi. She is the dean of faculty and professor of history at Ashoka University. She is also the recipient of the inaugural Infosys Prize in the category of Social Sciences.

Reviews

[Hrishikesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best text on ancient Indian history that I have come across till date. Wish had read this a couple of years back. Comprehensive coverage of political, social and cultural aspects. What comes across most strongly is the author's clarity in writing this book. This clarity helps students of history understand various themes without any hiccups, while maintaining a sense of timeline at the same time. Virtually every idea mentioned is supported by a large set of references and sources. And unlike many "eminent" historians, Upinder Singh has actually read the original sources that she is quoting. Furthermore, she herself has been involved in archaeology and field-work, before commenting on it. Small wonder, that she is one of India's most respected and reliable historians. The book is made all the more readable by being supported by maps, charts and graphics. The only catch is certain sections are excessively detailed. Highly recommend.

[Anubha (BooksFullOfLife, LifeFullOfBooks) · Rating 5 out of 5]

With every read there is something new to learn even though I have read this one five times now!

[Anonymous · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read.
Unbiased account with loads of information that has potential to confuse readers as much is happening around especially in the middle ages (in terms of data digestion and synthesis); content categorisation is temporal and subjective. The theme wise presentation is appreciable. I prefer the easiest guide book type composition but this one doesn't let down on knowledge and presentation considering the target audience is preferably history graduates but any history enthusiast could explore this noble piece.
Also, this book educated me on certain cultural and research based fallacies in the works of certain other fiction authors. 👍

[Pragati Kulshrestha · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book surpasses all other Hindi books on ancient and early medieval India that are available in the market.

The book gives students access to state-of-the-art knowledge of the subject and recent research. It explains how historians construct history, and by doing so, encourages the readers to understand historian's craft, and also to think independently and creatively.

It includes a large number of maps, photographs and line drawings which serve an important pedagogical purpose to help students visualize ancient places, monuments, and artefacts. Thus, becoming the only Hindi book on the subject offering such visual content.

Don't buy if you wanna read it casually or just to complete your studies..... Must Buy if you're seriously interested in Great Indian History....

[Abhishek Bhatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled on this book by accident but honestly fell in love with the way Dr Singh has compiled this anthology of India's historical journey (and if I can add here based on scientific research and copious amount of references to substantiate whatever is stated in this book unlike some self acclaimed historians who mythicize history). It goes without saying, that there were several occasions to be proud as an Indian but most importantly this book gave so much new information about art, literature and on several topics with pictures (that really helps to stay awake..LOL) that I was clearly unware of.

Thank You Dr Singh for this delight of a read.

[Blessy Abraham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was possibly one of the most longest and detailed books that I have read on any historical period. This book provides plenty of scholarly information and historiographical debates for young graduate students starting on the study of Ancient Indian history. However, reading this book page to page is no easy task despite being filled with numerous colorful maps and images. But if you want to have a serious study of Ancient India, then this is the book you must first have a look at. From here, a more specialized study of Ancient India can begin in a much more erudite manner.

[Erik Champenois · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best book you could read on ancient (and early medieval) India. The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five is that it's so thorough that it's a rather lengthy read, a textbook with extensive coverage of archaeological findings in different parts of India across the different time periods covered. Chapters typically cover the major sources for the period, the political history (except for the earliest chapters where that cannot be easily elucidated), archaeological profiles, society, religion, and architecture. This second edition is an obvious improvement on the first edition, with recent scholarship and archaeological findings incorporated.

[Bharati · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will save your semester.

[Yogesh Gangwar · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is so exhaustive and require a lot of efforts in collection of facts.If you are so much interested in history then only buy it otherwise you will fall asleep while reading it because sometimes there is a series of names and facts in one page in one go. while reading i was feeling that i am getting nothing because it was so hard to recall facts and figures if you are reading it casually so i think one will able to get taste of this richness of book only when he)she is so deeply interested in History.

👉The crux of it is just,the book in itself is good and writer tried her best to cover all the aspects of particular thing but it is a gigantic task to read it and revise it properly, if you are preparing for competitive or any other exam.

This book is recommended for these exams in India 👇
U.G.C N.E.T
UPSC optional history.
Masters in Ancient history.

[Nick]

I'd call this a very good, detailed introduction for students and beginners, but it's not really a good buy for people who are interested in more of a scholarly, academic work.

I came into this hoping for deeper insight into the origins of some Hindu concepts and that detail just wasn't there. I'd likely have been better off looking for something specifically on Hinduism.

Still a valuable overview to be sure, but as someone who's read hundreds of history books already a lot of it was pretty boilerplate.

[Dinesh Krithivasan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not popular history by any means. This is more like assorted topics in social and cultural history that spans vast timespans and geographies and delves into all of them at an excruciating level of detail. I can see that this book might be useful for graduate students and researchers. I picked it up hoping to learn about the broad contours of Indian political history and it is just not the right book for that.

[Nikhil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Above-average textbook. It gets points for its sober treatment of the source materials (truly a rarity). There is also good coverage of different cultural and social trends as far as they can be understood. But for the general reader, I find that it overweights the pre-Iron Age periods in an attempt to create roughly equal-sized "units", it is occasionally jumbled and disorganized jumping from region to region, and also seriously neglects military factors in history—a major oversight.

[Krishnaraj · Rating 5 out of 5]

complete deviation from the earlier history books, the author has tried to potray history as it is. By not taking too many assumption this book stands out to be unique among the other history books. A mustvread for those who want to understand india's past. Images add beauty to the book along with writing.

[Barun Ghosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being a student of history, this book is a holy book to learn about our vast & old country and can be used as a great reference book to settle all disputes that might ever arise. From the age of the first stone tools to the rise of the medieval age in India, this almanac educates you thoroughly.

[Madhu Chittarvu]

Best book to read for reference of Indian history

Certainly the best history book I keep
reading many times for authentic South Indian history art religion and culture to prepare for my stories on history.

[AANCHAL · Rating 5 out of 5]

i want to read this book to understand our history

[Nikita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Immense is the scholarly analysis of Singh that one would not want to read another book on ancient Indian history. However this tome of a book could have done with some editing..

[Akshita Ajmani]

interesting book

[Arnav Arnav · Rating 5 out of 5]

This good am to read this book

[Shravan Patil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ancient

[Aarush Dobhal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

[Swapnil Panditrao · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent work by the writer in composing the detailed history of India. This is must read for everyone who wants to explore more on early and ancient history of India.

[Sandipan Majumder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional .

[Mehraj Ali]

Exited for this book

[Ajītésh · Rating 5 out of 5]

No biases. No opinion pelting. She's best.

[Dipesh Chauhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

May have been more better with details on political history...but overall good but random coverage

[Corliss · Rating 5 out of 5]

My most favorite Indian Ancient History book! The writing style is chef's kiss.

[Aditya Dixit · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Anyone wants a best book for Indian history this is the one. Beautiful images maps and so many factoids. Wish I knew this book before reading other nonsense like Satish Chandra and RC Sharma.

[Akshay Kulkarni · Rating 5 out of 5]

An objective telling of history with no political agenda, love it!

[The Love Archivist · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a textbook, the greatest compliment can be, "It's written just like a story." I think this deserves 5 stars if the extra information is removed for the students' sake.