Source materials for understanding Indian history and culture

[balai_c]

I am creating this thread for collection of links of source materials for understanding India's history and culture.


Sri Aurobindo's complete works:

Sri Aurobindo - His Writings

This link contains the downloadable links for Sri Aurobindo's complete works. Aurobindo needs no introduction to any indian. His writings are an authentic source of information to per-independece India and many things. ENJOY

 

[balai_c]

Link of Swami vivekananda's works:

Vivekananda Library Online- Frank Parlato Jr.

 

[Param]

The Title should be _ Important links of source materials for understanding Indian culture.

History part is negligible in the sources provided.

 

[Iamanidiot]

1)Romil Thapar
2)Satish Chandra
3)A.L Basham
4)S.A Rizvi
5)Irfan Habib
6)K.A Neelakanta Shastry
7)M.N Srinivasan
8)Sumit Sarkar
9)Bipin Chandra

Read these authors to get a vague idea of Indian History based on facts .Rather than on conjecture

 

[Param]

1)Romil Thapar
2)Satish Chandra
3)A.L Basham
4)S.A Rizvi
5)Irfan Habib
6)K.A Neelakanta Shastry
7)M.N Srinivasan
8)Sumit Sarkar
9)Bipin Chandra

Read these authors to get a vague idea of Indian History based on facts .Rather than on conjecture

JP,Did you refer all these books or just famous titles like Spectrum, Krishna Reddy, Bipin Chandra alone?

 

[Iamanidiot]

JP,Did you refer all these books or just famous titles like Spectrum, Krishna Reddy, Bipin Chandra alone?

I read all these add to that I used to frame all my answers

 

[balai_c]

R C majumdar is one the greatest historians of all times.

Ramesh Chandra Majumdar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ramesh Chandra Majumdar (Bengali: রমেশচন্দ্র মজুমদার) (December 4, 1888 – February 12, 1980) was an Indian historian of great repute. He is sometimes called "the dean of Indian historians" for his colossal contribution to the study of Indian history.[1][2][3]

One of his great works:

Advanced History Of India
http://www.archive.org/download/advancedhistoryo035045mbp/advancedhistoryo035045mbp.pdf

 

[Vyom]

Apparently Romila Thapar is anti Aryan Invasion Theory.

Romila Thapar: No Aryan Invasion – II | varnam

 

[Vyom]

I am creating this thread for collection of links of source materials for understanding India's history and culture.


Sri Aurobindo's complete works:

Sri Aurobindo - His Writings

This link contains the downloadable links for Sri Aurobindo's complete works. Aurobindo needs no introduction to any indian. His writings are an authentic source of information to per-independece India and many things. ENJOY

I was reading through one of his works - The Secret of Vedas. I even opened a thread on its excerpts. I could not complete reading it though, but I plan to do so as soon as possible. He mentions the possibility that the Vedic knowledge has not flown down to us in its original form because the seers were aware that the knowledge is not meant for commoners without self-purification. What are the reasoning for his arguments is something I would like to know when I read the complete book.

 

[balai_c]

Please contribute books(preferably pdf) and ,links that help shape and multi-contextual view of India. Let this thread act as a repository of information for all members. Internet is replete with scanned versions of old out of print books. Websites like google project is one of them.

 

[balai_c]

I was reading through one of his works - The Secret of Vedas. I even opened a thread on its excerpts. I could not complete reading it though, but I plan to do so as soon as possible. He mentions the possibility that the Vedic knowledge has not flown down to us in its original form because the seers were aware that the knowledge is not meant for commoners without self-purification. What are the reasoning for his arguments is something I would like to know when I read the complete book.

Thank you for downloading the books. This is the objective behind my endevour. Sri aurobindo is one of the greatest philosophers India has ever produced.Reading his books will offer us an insight behind the idea and spirit of this great land of ours. Its a great luck and privilege to get the link.

 

[balai_c]

One of the most seminal and historically authentic books of east india company's days in India. This book has actual daily record of East India Company's works in India

Dupleix and Clive; the beginning of Empire : Dodwell, Henry, 1879-1946 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

 

[W.G.Ewald]

I am reading John Keay's India. Any opinions about this author? (Opinions other than those of civfanatic, The Messiah, and trackwhack )

 

[Daredevil]

I am reading John Keay's India. Any opinions about this author? (Opinions other than those of civfanatic, The Messiah, and trackwhack )

Its a well written book for History of India. I had it a while ago.

 

[balai_c]

Prafulla chandra roys magnum opus of the history of indian chemistry:

History Of Hindu Chemistry

http://www.archive.org/download/historyofhinduch01rayprich/historyofhinduch01rayprich.pdf

 

[balai_c]

I was reading through one of his works - The Secret of Vedas. I even opened a thread on its excerpts. I could not complete reading it though, but I plan to do so as soon as possible. He mentions the possibility that the Vedic knowledge has not flown down to us in its original form because the seers were aware that the knowledge is not meant for commoners without self-purification. What are the reasoning for his arguments is something I would like to know when I read the complete book.

I am currently one of his books " The renaissance in India" . It is extremely thought provoking book on the evolution of India's intellectual re-awakening. He is of the opinion that India at point of time was absorbing and assimilating ideas from east(her past), as well as western ideas. The process of assimilation is not yet complete.He in a very scholarly,erudite and yet sympathetic manner, deconstructs the nature of India's spirit. Reading this book is more like watching a deep tapestry of India's cultural milleu spanning thousands of years, flow like the wind before us.

 

[Ray]

Read Prof Hem Chandra, Raychaudhuri's (Charmichael Professor of Ancient Indian History and Culture):

Materials for the Study of the Early History of the Vaishnava Sect, Calcutta: University of Calcutta (1920)
Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty, Calcutta: University of Calcutta (1923)
Studies in Indian Antiquities, Calcutta: University of Calcutta (1932)
Vikramaditya in History and Legend, Vikrama-volume, Scindia Oriental Institute (1948)
An Advanced History of India (Madras, 1946; last reprint in 1981) (authored with R.C. Majumdar and Kalikinkar Datta)

The Political History of Ancient India by Prof. H.C. Raychaudhuri is a milestone in Indian historiography and has earned him commendation from the students and scholars of India and abroad for reconstructing the history of ancient India through his thorough research. He gave challenge to colonial historiography, and earned immortal fame for his contributions to Vaishnavism.

 

[balai_c]

Thank you Rayc. This s the kind of books I was looking for. Primary source, original works, not derivative works.

 

[Ray]

My uncle!!!

 

[balai_c]

Rayc, found one of the free legally downloadable versions of the works of your uncle:

Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty, Calcutta: University of Calcutta (1923):


http://www.archive.org/download/politicalhistory00raycuoft/politicalhistory00raycuoft.pdf