ANCIENT INDIA CULTURE OF CONTRADICTIONS (HB)

In Ancient India: Culture of
Contradictions, one of India?s most distinguished historians takes readers on
an exhilarating voyage of discovery into the distant past.?? Upinder Singh urges us to abandon
simplistic stereotypes and instead think of ancient India in terms of the
coexistence of five powerful contradictions?between social inequality and
promises of universal salvation, the valorization of desire and detachment,
goddess worship and misogyny, violence and non-violence, and religious debate
and conflict. She does so using a vast array of sources including religious
and philosophical texts, epics, poetry, plays, technical treatises, satire,
biographies, and inscriptions, as well as the material and aesthetic evidence
of archaeology and art from sites across the subcontinent. Singh?s scholarly
but highly accessible style, clear explanation, and balanced interpretations
offer an understanding of the historian?s craft and unravel the many threads
of what we think of as ancient Indian culture. This is not a dead or
forgotten past but one invoked in different contexts even today. Further, in
spite of enormous historical changes over the centuries, the contradictions
discussed here still remain. Beautifully written, deeply true, and profusely
illustrated with masterpieces of ancient, medieval, and modern art, the book
brings to life the rich complexity of ancient India and its connections with
the present in a vivid and compelling manner.