This book is memory of Professor Partha Sarathi Gupta, who taught at the Department of History, Delhi University, from 1962 till 1999. He passed away suddenly on 10 August 1999, just a few days after his retirement. A dedicated historian with a zeal for exactitude, an endite scholar and a committed teacher, Professor Gupta was in many ways ‘an institution within an institution’ and a source of inspiration for generations of students, including many of the contributors to this volume. The essays collected in the book weave together issues and concerns of different scholars from the world of Indian history. The themes they examine reflect a common desire to understand historical processes over time and from the perspective of different regions, without losing sight of the broader historical context. Through this attempt, the book perhaps demonstrates not only the fascinating possibilities of India’s historical scholarship, but also the fact that it has indeed come of age. The fifteen essays included here, covering the early, medieval and modern periods of Indian history, are organized under three thematic sections: ideology, legitimacy and the state; environment, exchange and economic transactions; social change and resistance. Together, they present ways of ‘negotiating India’s past’.
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