The Hindus: An Alternative History

Preface: The man or the rabbit in the moon
1. Introduction: Working with available light
2. Time and space in India: 50 million to 50,000 BCE
3. Civilization in the Indus Valley: 50,000 to 1500 BCE
4. Between the ruins and the text: 2000 to 1500 BCE
5. Humans, animals, and gods in the Rig Veda: 1500 to 1000 BCE
6. Sacrifice in the Brahmanas: 800 to 500 BCE
7. Renunciation in the Upanishads: 600 to 200 BCE
8. The three (or is it four?) aims of life in the Hindu imaginary
9. Women and ogresses in the Ramayana: 400 BCE to 200 CE
10. Violence in the Mahabharata: 300 BCE to 300 CE
11. Dharma in the Mahabharata: 300 BCE to 300 CE
12. Escape clauses in the Shastras: 100 BCE to 400 CE
13. Bhakti in South India: 100 BCE to 900 CE
14. Goddesses and gods in the early Puranas: 300 to 600 CE
15. Sects and sex in the Tantric Puranas and the Tantras: 600 to 900 CE
16. Fusion and rivalry under the Delhi sultanate: 650 to 1500 CE
17. Avatar and accidental grace in the later Puranas: 800 to 1500 CE
18. Philosophical feuds in South India and Kashmir: 800 to 1300 CE
19. Dialogue and tolerance under the Mughals: 1500 to 1700 CE
20. Hinduism under the Mughals: 1500 to 1700 CE
21. Caste, class, and conversion under the British Raj: 1600 to 1900 CE
22. Suttee and reform in the twilight of the Raj: 1800 to 1947 CE
23. Hindus in America: 1900-
24. The past in the present: 1950-
25. Inconclusion, or the abuse of history