Early India: from the origin to AD 1300 - Romila Thapar

Believe it or not I did not know who Romila Thapar was until October 2020. I am truly ashamed to call myself an Indian history aficionado. Seriously, my ignorance knows no bounds.

Heard her talk and the very next day bought the above mentioned book. It took me 5 weeks to finish it, a monumental amount of time for me. I went really slow - the information was detailed and the language was erudite.

Disclaimer: my blog, my opinion, based on my limited knowledge and my personal belief and value systems.

The lady sparks quite the debate, brings out the ire in many people. In this country to be this outspoken against the norm and the mainstream voice, kudos.

The book itself was a fabulous read, I will not lie, it was a textbook - I had a pencil and there are plenty of margin notes. Mostly questions to delve in further. The book covers in as much detail as possible the theories around our history. If you pay attention to her language and writing style you can tell the parts where there is minimal evidence and the parts where there is overwhelming evidence. I really liked the way she wrote, you cannot have certainty in history, sometimes even if you were present. For example, when I ask my grandmother what was the mood of the country the day we gained independence, she said, 'don't know, I knew we got independence and I went about my work otherwise who will do the work?' But I know the answer will be different if you ask someone else's grandmother who marched for independence. History is personal.

Mrs. Thapar keeps it loosely held and uses words like possibly, probably, most likely, could be this or that, etc. throughout the first part of the book because research is ongoing. Post 700AD she gets more comfortable in sharing certainties and even this she says one or two perspectives have shared this but not all agree with it. I like this version. India evolved gradually and openly - we took and gave information, culture, skill, rituals, habits, wealth, etc - sometimes organically, sometimes consensually and sometimes by force. The different kinds of people who lived in what today is India and the different people who settled in India from other parts of the world - it was one of the first melting pots of culture and diversity. Some flourished and some didn't, some cheated some didn't, some used religion to control and gain and some didn't and it goes on. To me, it seems no different than the world today. Why did I believe that the lines were clearly drawn back then? People, caste, jati, religion etc were very separated back then and there was certainty in that?

In my dad's side of family we cook a curious mixture of Andhra and Maharashtrian food cause that is where we come from, that is home. It seems like all of India was that way as far as life was concerned.

As far as political power and other kinds of power was concerned, life for those people seemed very different. The stories I read and heard growing up are these ones, not so much life of a common person.

So why did conquering kings exploits, people changing religious beliefs/caste/lifestyle based on power and people who were 'born' into it deciding right & wrong become the main story? History is written only by people who had the power and if you think they didn't embellish, think again. What was written then was what 'ideally' we should do - religion wise, kingdom wise, living wise etc, there is very little proof that all people followed exactly what was written. Thousand years from now if someone reads the Indian constitution and believes we (our leaders especially) lived like that; what would you say to them? Say that to yourself now about our history, it opens up a curiosity toward our past rather than certainty. The texts and the edicts and the tenets are ideal, just like today's rules and regulations. People then and now are good, bad, evil and in-between. We are always in the Golden Era and we are always not. Preach much? I needed to get that out.

I also gained an understanding of sequence and structure and flow of our history. I know exactly who came after whom and that is such a relief. The maps helped, requesting the publisher to work a bit on the clarity of these maps, I used a flashlight.

The blog took a different turn on this one. All information was interconnected so really couldn't pick a few to share. I wrote on what moved me.

It is most comprehensive book I have read on India - a tough read if you are not a nerd of all things Indian history. I think I am in love.