{"product_id":"the-past-before-us-romila-thapar-9780674725232","title":"The Past Before Us: Historical Traditions of Early North India","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe claim, often made, that India--uniquely among civilizations--lacks historical writing distracts us from a more pertinent question, according to Romila Thapar: how to recognize the historical sense of societies whose past is recorded in ways very different from European conventions. In \u003ci\u003eThe Past Before Us\u003c\/i\u003e, a distinguished scholar of ancient India guides us through a panoramic survey of the historical traditions of North India. Thapar reveals a deep and sophisticated consciousness of history embedded in the diverse body of classical Indian literature. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe history recorded in such texts as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata is less concerned with authenticating persons and events than with presenting a picture of traditions striving to retain legitimacy and continuity amid social change. Spanning an epoch of nearly twenty-five hundred years, from 1000 BCE to 1400 CE, Thapar delineates three distinct historical traditions: an Itihasa-Purana tradition of Brahman authors; a tradition composed mainly by Buddhist and Jaina scholars; and a popular bardic tradition. The Vedic corpus, the epics, the Buddhist canon and monastic chronicles, inscriptions, regional accounts, and royal biographies and dramas are all scrutinized afresh--not as sources to be mined for factual data but as genres that disclose how Indians of ancient times represented their own past to themselves.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Romila Thapar\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0674725239\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780674725232\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Harvard University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/04\/2013\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 784\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 2.24lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.30h x 6.00w x 2.10d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/01\/2014","brand":"Romila Thapar","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44540333850879,"sku":"9780674725232","price":72.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_76c5370d-e211-4080-950f-ecf4f53e0168.jpg?v=1700587312","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-past-before-us-romila-thapar-9780674725232","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}