Renunciation, dissent, and satyagraha

I shall be dealing with a subject that was of general interest in the past but although the interest may have declined, the theme is of crucial importance to the present. I am referring to the right of the citizen to dissent as part of the right to free speech. The right to dissent has come to be recognised in modern times, but its practice goes back many centuries. To deny its earlier existence comes from the preference to project Indian society as having been a seamless harmonious unity whe..

Asoka and the decline of the Mauryas.

The thesis considers in detail the reign and activities of Asoka Maurya (268-231 B.C.) of the Mauryan dynasty, in the context of the third century B.C. in India. The Introductory chapter deals with the various source materials and the secondary sources (i.e. published works on the period or relating to the period), and concludes with a brief summary of the reigns of the first two kings of this dynasty, Candragupta and Bindusara, the predecessors of Asoka. The second chapter is largely a reconstruction of the chronology of Asoka's reign. The next chapter is a detailed discussion on Asoka's policy of Dhamma, using the edicts and inscriptions of the king as expressions of this policy. A further chapter is concerned with relations between the Mauryan court and other neighbouring rulers, particularly the Greek kings to the west of India and the kingdoms of the south, and Ceylon. This chapter also contains the geographical identification of various places of importance during the Mauryan period, and includes a consideration of the importance of various trade routes. The following chapter deals with the organisation of Mauryan society and the economic and commercial life of the time. The sixth chapter is an examination of the administrative system of the period with special emphasis on the role of the king in the state machinary. The final chapter is concerned with the later Mauryas, the post-Asokan kings of the dynasty, under whom the Mauryan empire began to disintegrate. This chapter also contains an analysis of the causes of the decline of the dynasty. Appendices are included at the end of the work and are mainly detailed considerations of certain aspects of the study, demanding greater attention than was possible in the main body of the thesis

Historians of Asia on Political Violence

In the general opinion, Asia as a whole tends to be represented (and more often than not, to represent itself) as devoid of violence: look at Indian “non-violence”, Chinese Taoist “non-action”, Confucian “harmony”, Buddhist “love for peace” or Japanese “Zen philosophy”… This may fill the shelves of “Oriental wisdom” sections in our bookshops, but most historians do not buy into this kind of “feel good” projections and are acutely aware that any society whatsoever, wherever it is located, teems with violence, and that violence is part and parcel of any kind of polity. Furthermore, the political violence which is the topic of this volume is not just about war, it can take on very diverse forms, including, as will be shown by some of the articles presented here, iconic vandalism, distorted modes of interpretation, warped forms of ideological discourse, collective amnesia and negationism. The present volume is the second of the “Myriades d’Asies” series inaugurated with India-China: Intersecting Universalities. Just as the preceding one, it is a collection of articles resulting from an international conference organised by the Chair of Chinese Intellectual History in June 2019. As a reflection of the Collège de France spirit of public service intent on making knowledge available to all for free, all the volumes of the series are published online and in open access. Our hope is that these articles, written by eminent historians of Asia and from very different viewpoints which cut across vast expanses of time and space, will lead readers and researchers alike to reflect further on the multiple faces of political violence, as well as their infinite complexities, so as to avoid giving in to ideological and judgmental binaries that are the common junk food for non-thought. This seems to be increasingly essential today since the 21st century is supposed to be the century of Asia.In the general opinion, Asia as a whole tends to be represented (and more often than not, to represent itself) as devoid of violence: look at Indian “non-violence”, Chinese Taoist “non-action”, Confucian “harmony”, Buddhist “love for peace” or Japanese “Zen philosophy”… This may fill the shelves of “Oriental wisdom” sections in our bookshops, but most historians do not buy into this kind of “feel good” projections and are acutely aware that any society whatsoever, wherever it is located, teems with violence, and that violence is part and parcel of any kind of polity. Furthermore, the political violence which is the topic of this volume is not just about war, it can take on very diverse forms, including, as will be shown by some of the articles presented here, iconic vandalism, distorted modes of interpretation, warped forms of ideological discourse, collective amnesia and negationism. The present volume is the second of the “Myriades d’Asies” series inaugurated with India-China: Intersecting Universalities. Just as the preceding one, it is a collection of articles resulting from an international conference organised by the Chair of Chinese Intellectual History in June 2019. As a reflection of the Collège de France spirit of public service intent on making knowledge available to all for free, all the volumes of the series are published online and in open access. Our hope is that these articles, written by eminent historians of Asia and from very different viewpoints which cut across vast expanses of time and space, will lead readers and researchers alike to reflect further on the multiple faces of political violence, as well as their infinite complexities, so as to avoid giving in to ideological and judgmental binaries that are the common junk food for non-thought. This seems to be increasingly essential today since the 21st century is supposed to be the century of Asia

Cultural pasts : essays in early Indian history

xi, 1156 p. : ill. ; 22 c

A History of India 1

381 hal : 15 c

La quête d'une tradition historique : l'Inde ancienne

The Search for a Historical Tradition: Early India. R. Thapar. It has long been held that Indian society in ancient times was an a-historical society and therefore no historical works were written. This view was propagated by colonial writers who argued that they had to "discover" and reconstruct the past of India. This article indicates the existence of a historical consciousness in early India, referred to as the it ihāsa-purāna tradition. It has constituted of a variety of texts—genealogies, historical biographies, chronicles of kingdoms and of families, and of inscriptions issued by many dynasties, recording certain events. There was also a recognition of linear time as important to these records, even though a cyclic form was given to cosmic time. It would therefore be appropriate to investigate what was viewed as history in such a society.The Search for Historical Tradition Early India. THAPAR. It has long been held that Indian society in ancient times was an a-historical society and therefore no historical works were written. This view was propagated by colonial writers who argued that they had to "discover" and reconstruct the past of India. This article indicates the existence of historical consciousness in early India referred to as the it ihâsa-purâ tradition. It has constituted of variety of texts - genealogies, historical, biographies ,chronicles of kingdoms and of families, and of inscriptions issued by many dynasties, recording certain events. There was also recognition of linear time as important to these records even though cyclic form was given to cosmic time. It would therefore be appropriate to investigate what was viewed as history such a society.Thapar Romila. La quête d'une tradition historique : l'Inde ancienne. In: Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales. 53ᵉ année, N. 2, 1998. pp. 347-359

Selecting identities from the past

"What is sometimes constructed as community, tradition and identity, with the claim of historical legitimacy, is often invalidated by history. So when we look at the past for an identity, and we do this regularly in many walks of life, the search has to be realistic. I would like to argue that it is not feasible for us to maintain that there was in the early historical past a single identity for the Indian woman, as is frequently maintained, and that this became what we call the traditional identity. Indian women had diverse identities as they do to this day. The point is to understand why there were social differences and how these were treated.