Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface / Thapar, Romila -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- 1 Searching for Early Indian Historical Writing -- 2 Towards Historical Traditions -- 3 Fragmentary Narratives from the Vedas -- 4 The Mahābhārata -- 5 The Rāmāyaṇa -- PART III Interlude: The Emerging Historical Tradition -- 6 Genealogies in the Making of a Historical Tradition: The Vaṃśānucarita of the Viṣṇu Purāṇa -- 7 Early Inscriptions as Historical Statements (Up to c. the Sixth Century ad) -- 8 History as Literature: The Plays of Viśākhadatta -- 9 The Buddhist Tradition: Monks as Historians -- 10 The Monastic Chronicles of Sri Lanka -- 11 Buddhist Biographies -- 12 Historical Biographies: The Harṣacarita and the Rāmacarita -- 13 Biographies as Histories -- 14 Inscriptions as Official Histories--and the Voice of the Bard -- 15 Vaṃśāvalīs Chronicles of Place and Person--The Rājataraṅgiṇī -- 16 The Chamba Vaṃśāvalī -- 17 The Prabandha-cintāmaṇi -- 18 Therefore Looking Back and Looking Forward -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary
Biographical note: Romila Thapar is Emeritus Professor of History at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
