Indologist Ronald Inden has in the past raised questions about the images of a "traditional" or "medieval" India deployed by colonial scholars and rulers--"Orientalists"--and has also argued that a history of "early medieval" India very different from both the colonial and nationalist accounts could be written. This volume is designed as an important first step towards that goal. The authors look closely at three genres of texts that have been crucial to the representations of precolonial India. All three essays challenge not only colonialist scholarship but the attempts by religious nationalists to identify Hinduism as the essence of national identity in India and Buddhism as the essence of nationality in Sri Lanka.
Reviews
This volume is an important, groundbreaking work challenging how we read and understand texts. . . . This is must reading for those engaged in the struggle to understand the deeper past or disheartened by radical deconstruction of texts to the point that signifiers 'float,' meaning everything and nothing. * Stewart Gordon, University of Michigan *
The essays contribute to a wide range of debates and issues in Asian studies - broadly interpretative and specifically detailed - that demand attention, if not agreement, from scholars in many disciplines...They offer not only new readings but, crucially, new ways of reading and understanding texts and the history of practices in South Asia. I recommend the book...as a demanding yet stimulating contribution. * Ian Kerr, University of Manitoba for History *
This volume is an important, groundbreaking work challenging how we read and understand texts. . . . This is must reading for those engaged in the struggle to understand the deeper past or disheartened by radical deconstruction of texts to the point that signifiers 'float,' meaning everything and nothing. * Stewart Gordon, University of Michigan *



Book Information
ISBN 9780195124309
Author Ronald Inden
Format Hardback
Page Count 248
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 576g
Dimensions(mm) 160mm * 239mm * 22mm