There may have been many attempts in the past to present an account of the political conditions in India from A.D. 600 to A.D. 1000. But history as a mere chronicle of political events of dynastic successions and wars is no longer considered adequate. It must take into account the common man, his social problems and environments, economic factors, intellectual activities, religious beliefs and prejudices, and many other aspects of his everyday cultural life. The statement is all the more true in the case of the history of India’s distant past, when Dharma dominated almost every sphere of life, including political. The recent archaeological and anthropological discoveries have further opened many new avenues leading to a more satisfactory reconstruction of India’s cultural history than hitherto. In the present book, the reader will find an exhaustive and critical account of north Indian society during the four centuries of the post-Gupta period of Indian History, based on a vast range of sources-literary, epigraphic, sculptural, architectural, foreign accounts, etc. It is an established fact of History that the destiny of a society is moulded by the nature of internal and external challenges it has to meet in view, the author has tried to show in this work how under the prevailing political pressures and other factors, the rival forces, one restorative and the other dynamic in their attitude to social problems, were operating simultaneously throughout this period to influence the life of the people as a whole. The book which has a foreword by Prof. A.L. Basham, should prove a fascinating and useful study for the advanced scholars as well as students of Ancient Indian History and Culture.
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