In recent years the study of political history of ancient India has perceptibly declined. This problem has been critically analysed in the theme-paper written for this monograph by Professor S.R. Goyal, an eminent historian of international repute. In it he has shown that it is the political history of ‘traditional’ type that has declined, that the decline of ‘traditional’ political history has taken place in the West also and that scholars of this subject must invigorate their discipline with a multidisciplinary approach relegating the deeds and dates of the kings into the background and making the political life of ancient Indian society the focal point of their study. In the debate initiated by him more than fifty scholars of India and other countries have participated, all of them arguing that political history of ancient India now needs a fresh approach and our attitude to the discipline must change. In all, it is an extremely thought-provoking exercise which the leading Indologists of the world have undertaken. It provides rich food for thought to those who are concerned with the decline of political history of ancient India and want to resuscitate their discipline.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR G C Pande
Professor G. C. Pande is an eminent historian and philosopher. He has been associated with many universities in different academic capacities for the last five decades. He had been the Vice-Chancellor of Rajasthan and Allahabad Universities. He is President of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study Society as well as Chairman of Governing Body. He is also Chairman of Allahabad Museum and Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR S.K. Gupta
Dr. S.K. Gupta (b. 1945) passed M.Sc. (Physics) 1967, M.Ed. in 1971 and obtained Ph.D. Degree in Education in 1974 – all from the University of Kurukshetra. A senior University teacher having nearly two decades of professional standing, he is on the Panel of Experts for Reviewing books for the reputed Journals. A prolific writer, he has five well acclaimed scholarly books to his credit including Guidance an Counselling in Indian Education (1985), Exploring Mental Abilities for Science Talent (1990). Currently Dr. gupta is a Reader in Education at the North Eastern Hill University, Nagaland Campus, Kohima.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Shankar Goyal
Dr. Shankar Goyal (b. 1959), the young and ebullient author of the present monograph, is emerging very rapidly as one of the recognized authorities on the historiography of ancient India. He has already produced three monographs dealing with some aspects of ancient Indian history writing viz. History and Historiography of the Age of Harsha (Jodhpur, 1992), Aspects of Ancient Indian History and Historiography (New Delhi, 1993) and History Writing of Early India (Jodhpur, 1996). He has co-edited a number of works with such eminent scholars as Professors G.C. Pande, B. Ch. Chhabra and Jagannath Agrawal which are directly or indirectly concerned with this discipline, including Political History in a Changing World (Jodhpur, 1992), Reappraising Gupta History (New Delhi, 1992) and S.R. Goyal: His Multidimensional Historiography (New Delhi, 1992). He has also-co-edited several other monographs with Shri M.C. Joshi and Dr. Sobhag Maghur which include King Chandra and the Meharauli Pillar (Meerut, 1989), Spectrum of Nehru’s Thought (New Delhi, 1994) and Rajasthan Bharati, in two volumes (Jodhpur, 1995) and authored more than seventy research articles. His research output in a period of less than six years has been stupendous, and its originality and quality superb, as is evident from the reviews of his works appearing in national and international journals. Dr. Shankar Goyal did his graduation from the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, post-graduation from the Deccan College, Pune, and Doctrate on Main Trends in Indian Historiography Since Independence from the University of Jodhpur, Jodhpur, where he is presently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of History.
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