BOOK COVER -- TITLE -- COPYRIGHT -- CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- CHAPTER 1 THE BEGINNINGS OF INDIA'S HISTORY -- FROM THE PALEOLITHIC PERIOD TO THE DECLINE OF THE INDUS CIVILIZATION -- THE EARLY PREHISTORIC PERIOD -- THE INDIAN PALEOLITHIC -- MESOLITHIC HUNTERS -- THE EARLIEST AGRICULTURALISTS AND PASTORALISTS -- NEOLITHIC AGRICULTURE IN THE INDUS VALLEY AND BALUCHISTAN -- DEVELOPMENTS IN THE GANGES BASIN -- EARLIEST SETTLEMENTS IN PENINSULAR INDIA -- EARLIEST SETTLEMENTS IN EASTERN INDIA -- THE RISE OF URBANISM IN THE INDUS VALLEY -- EXTENT AND CHRONOLOGY OF EARLY HARAPPAN CULTURE -- PRINCIPAL SITES -- SUBSISTENCE AND TECHNOLOGY -- CULTURE AND RELIGION -- THE INDUS CIVILIZATION -- CHARACTER AND SIGNIFICANCE -- CHRONOLOGY -- EXTENT -- PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE -- IMPORTANT SITES -- POPULATION -- AGRICULTURE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY -- COMMUNICATIONS -- CRAFT AND TECHNOLOGY -- TRADE AND EXTERNAL CONTACTS -- LANGUAGE AND SCRIPTS, WEIGHTS AND MEASURES -- SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SYSTEM -- ART -- RELIGION AND BURIAL CUSTOMS -- THE END OF THE INDUS CIVILIZATION -- POST-HARAPPAN DEVELOPMENTS -- THE POST-URBAN PERIOD IN NORTHWESTERN INDIA -- THE APPEARANCE OF INDO-ARYAN SPEAKERS -- THE LATE 2ND MILLENNIUM AND THE REEMERGENCE OF URBANISM -- PENINSULAR INDIA IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE INDUS CIVILIZATION (C. 2000-1000 BCE) -- CHAPTER 2 THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIAN CIVILIZATION FROM C. 1500 BCE TO 300 CE -- TRADITIONAL APPROACHES TO INDIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY -- TRENDS IN EARLY INDIAN SOCIETY -- FROM C. 1500 TO C. 500 BCE -- EARLY VEDIC PERIOD -- THE BEGINNING OF THE HISTORICAL PERIOD, C. 500-150 BCE -- PRE-MAURYAN STATES -- THE MAURYAN EMPIRE -- THE CONCEPT OF THE STATE -- FROM 150 BCE TO 300 CE -- RISE OF SMALL KINGDOMS IN THE NORTH -- SOUTHERN INDIAN KINGDOMS -- CONTACTS WITH THE WEST -- SOCIETY AND CULTURE -- CHAPTER 3 DEVELOPMENTS FROM 300 TO C. 1200 CE.

FROM 300 TO 750 CE -- NORTHERN INDIA UNDER THE GUPTAS -- SUCCESSOR STATES TO THE GUPTAS -- THE DECCAN -- SOUTHERN INDIA -- SOCIETY AND CULTURE -- FROM 750 TO C. 1200 -- NORTHERN INDIA -- THE DECCAN AND THE SOUTH -- SOCIETY AND CULTURE -- CHAPTER 4 NORTHERN INDIA IN THE EARLY MUSLIM PERIOD -- THE DELHI SULTANATE -- THE TURKISH CONQUEST -- THE EARLY TURKISH SULTANS -- CONSOLIDATION OF TURKISH RULE -- THE KHALJIS -- CENTRALIZATION AND EXPANSION -- TAXATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF REVENUE RESOURCES -- EXPANSION AND CONQUESTS -- THE URBAN ECONOMY -- THE TUGHLUQS -- REVERSAL AND REBELLION -- SOCIETY AND THE STATE UNDER THE TUGHLUQS -- DECLINE OF THE SULTANATE -- THE POST-DELHI SULTANATE PERIOD -- THE RISE OF REGIONAL STATES -- STRUGGLE FOR SUPREMACY IN NORTHERN INDIA -- CHAPTER 5 SOUTHERN INDIA IN THE EARLY MUSLIM PERIOD -- THE MUSLIM STATES OF SOUTHERN INDIA, C. 1350-1680 -- THE BAHMANI SULTANATE -- SUCCESSORS TO THE BAHMANI -- THE VIJAYANAGAR EMPIRE, 1336-1646 -- DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE -- LATER DYNASTIES -- DECLINE OF VIJAYANAGAR -- ADMINISTRATION OF THE EMPIRE -- CHAPTER 6 THE MUGHAL EMPIRE, 1526-1761 -- THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MUGHAL RULE -- THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MUGHAL EMPIRE -- BABUR -- HUMAYUN -- SHER SHAH AND HIS SUCCESSORS -- RESTORATION OF HUMAYUN -- THE REIGN OF AKBAR THE GREAT -- EXTENSION AND CONSOLIDATION OF THE EMPIRE -- THE STATE AND SOCIETY UNDER AKBAR -- AKBAR IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE -- THE EMPIRE IN THE 17TH CENTURY -- JAHANGIR -- SHAH JAHAN -- AURANGZEB -- MUGHAL DECLINE IN THE 18TH CENTURY -- THE SIKH UPRISINGS -- CRACKS IN THE CORE -- STRUGGLE FOR A NEW POWER CENTRE -- THE EMPEROR, THE NOBILITY, AND THE PROVINCES -- NADIR SHAH'S INVASION -- THE AFGHAN-MARATHA STRUGGLE FOR NORTHERN INDIA -- POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DECENTRALIZATION DURING THE MUGHAL DECLINE -- CHAPTER 7 REGIONAL STATES, C. 1700-1850 -- THE MARATHAS -- EARLY HISTORY.

RISE OF THE PESHWAS -- SUBORDINATE MARATHA RULERS -- MUGHAL MYSTIQUE IN THE 18TH CENTURY -- THE AFGHAN FACTOR IN NORTHERN INDIA, 1747-1772 -- THE SIKHS IN THE PUNJAB -- EARLY HISTORY -- FROM BANDA SINGH BAHADUR TO RANJIT SINGH -- RAJASTHAN IN THE 18TH CENTURY -- THE SOUTH: TRAVANCORE AND MYSORE -- POLITICS AND THE ECONOMY -- CULTURAL ASPECTS OF THE LATE PRECOLONIAL ORDER -- CHAPTER 8 EUROPEAN ACTIVITY IN INDIA, 1498-C. 1765 -- THE PORTUGUESE -- THE DUTCH -- THE BRITISH, 1600-1740 -- THE FRENCH -- THE ANGLO-FRENCH STRUGGLE, 1740-63 -- EUROPEAN MILITARY SUPERIORITY -- REVOLUTION IN BENGAL -- THE PERIOD OF DISORDER, 1760-72 -- CHAPTER 9 THE EXTENSION OF BRITISH POWER, C. 1765-1856 -- THE COMPANY BAHADUR -- THE COMPANY AND THE STATE -- RELATIONS WITH THE MARATHAS AND MYSORE -- THE ASCENT TO PARAMOUNTCY -- THE GOVERNMENT OF LORD WELLESLEY -- THE GOVERNMENT OF LORD MINTO -- THE GOVERNMENT OF LORD HASTINGS -- THE SETTLEMENT OF 1818 -- ORGANIZATION AND POLICY IN BRITISH INDIA -- ORGANIZATION -- THE DETERMINATION OF POLICY -- THE COMPLETION OF DOMINION AND EXPANSION -- THE FIRST CENTURY OF BRITISH INFLUENCE -- POLITICAL EFFECTS -- ECONOMIC EFFECTS -- SOCIAL EFFECTS -- CULTURAL EFFECTS -- CHAPTER 10 BRITISH INDIA FROM THE MUTINY TO WORLD WAR I -- THE MUTINY AND GREAT REVOLT OF 1857-59 -- NATURE AND CAUSES OF THE REBELLION -- THE REVOLT AND ITS AFTERMATH -- CLIMAX OF THE RAJ, 1858-85 -- GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ACT OF 1858 -- SOCIAL POLICY -- GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION -- ECONOMIC POLICY AND DEVELOPMENT -- FOREIGN POLICY -- THE NORTHWEST FRONTIER -- THE SECOND AFGHAN WAR -- THE INCORPORATION OF BURMA -- INDIAN NATIONALISM AND THE BRITISH RESPONSE, 1885-1920 -- ORIGINS OF THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT -- THE EARLY CONGRESS MOVEMENT -- THE FIRST PARTITION OF BENGAL -- NATIONALISM IN THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY -- REFORMS OF THE BRITISH LIBERALS -- MODERATE AND MILITANT NATIONALISM.

CHAPTER 11 BRITISH INDIA FROM WORLD WAR I TO 1947 -- WORLD WAR I AND ITS AFTERMATH -- INDIA'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE WAR EFFORT -- ANTI-BRITISH ACTIVITY -- THE POSTWAR YEARS -- JALLIANWALA BAGH MASSACRE -- GANDHI'S STRATEGY -- PRELUDE TO INDEPENDENCE, 1920-1947 -- CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS -- THE CONGRESS'S AMBIVALENT STRATEGY -- MUSLIM SEPARATISM -- THE IMPACT OF WORLD WAR II -- BRITISH WARTIME STRATEGY -- THE TRANSFER OF POWER AND THE BIRTH OF TWO COUNTRIES -- CHAPTER 12 THE REPUBLIC OF INDIA -- THE NEHRU ERA, 1947-64 -- GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS -- FOREIGN POLICY -- ECONOMIC PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT -- POST-NEHRU POLITICS AND FOREIGN POLICY -- THE 1965 WAR WITH PAKISTAN -- INDIRA GANDHI'S IMPACT -- THE BANGLADESH WAR -- EMERGENCY RULE -- THE JANATA INTERLUDE AND THE RETURN OF INDIRA GANDHI -- SIKH SEPARATISM -- INDIA SINCE THE MID-1980S -- THE PREMIERSHIP OF RAJIV GANDHI -- FOREIGN POLICY -- V.P. SINGH'S COALITION-ITS BRIEF RISE AND FALL -- CONGRESS GOVERNMENT OF NARASIMHA RAO -- THE FIRST AND SECOND BJP GOVERNMENTS -- RETURN OF THE CONGRESS -- CONCLUSION -- GLOSSARY -- FOR FURTHER READING -- INDEX -- BACK COVER.