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.