In this paper, an attempt has been made to examine the importance of irrigation in the history of early Tamilakam. It could be mentioned at the outset that it is only in recent years that the gaze of scholars working…

Early Medieval Society Society during the early medieval period has largely been perceived within the feudal framework. R.S. Sharma sees society in terms of the proliferation of castes, the emergence of certain new groups, and incorporation of the tribes into…

The study of social and economic history of the early medieval period goes back to the writings of D.D. Kosambi and R.S. Sharma in the mid-1950s and 1960s. The discussion of feudalism as a useful framework of analysis for the…

The Satsai written by Biharilal is a compilation of ‘seven hundred’ verses of independent but mutually complementary couplets that were collated in AD 1662. It groups short pithy verses to evoke mood, describe a hero or heroine, or exemplify a…

The effort of my paper is to trace the presence of the marginalized social groups in the biographical narratives of the ruling elites, known as the tazkiras. Written in the Mughal period, they are collective biographies of the social and…

‘‘But isn’t this place, Harballabh, in the Punjab, near Jullundur of all places?’ my father had asked patronizingly, as though serious music and Punjab were incompatible. ‘I could never have imagined how sensitive and sophisticated the musical tastes of the…

Eastern U.P. constituted by Benares, Ghazipur, Ballia and Azamgarh is not only known as, culturally and traditionally, a rich Bhojpuri region but it was also politically sensitive. During the national movement particularly in Gandhian age the people of this region…