Talking History

Introduction: Thinking History in Critical Times

Part I: From Punjab to London
Chapter I: A Happy Half-Way
Chapter II: Religions and Storytelling
Chapter III: A Secular Environment
Chapter IV: Talking Politics
Chapter V: Following Gandhi
Chapter VI: Facing Hindu Fundamentalism
Chapter VII: Living with the British
Chapter VIII: Reading Novels
Chapter IX: Discovering the Indian Classics
Chapter X: A Nehruvian Ideal
Chapter XI: A Radical-Minded Student
Chapter XII: Reading Philosophy
Chapter XIII: Hollywood or Bollywood?
Chapter XIV: Living in London in the 1950s
Chapter XV: Becoming a Historian
Chapter XVI: Return to India
Chapter XVII: Marx and Marxism
Chapter XVIII: Stalinism and After
Chapter XIX: Teaching at JNU

Part II: The Function of the Historian
Chapter I: Reading the Past
Chapter II: Is There a Pattern in History?
Chapter III: What Is a Historical Fact?
Chapter IV: Objectivity in the Work of a Historian
Chapter V: The Sources in History
Chapter VI: Is History a Single Voice?
Chapter VII: Is Historical Narrative a Rational System?
Chapter VIII: Historians and Philosophy of History
Chapter XIX: What Is Oral History?
Chapter X: What Is Historicity?
Chapter XI: A Two Way Process
Chapter XII: Which Authority Festures in Historical Research?
Chapter XIII: History and the Greeks
Chapter XIV: History and Epic

Part III: Modern Writing of Early Indian History
Chapter I: The Orientalists and the Utilitarians
Chapter II: What Is Oriental Despotism?
Chapter III: Kingship or Empire
Chapter IV: India without the British
Chapter V: Culture of Civilization?
Chapter VI: The Idea of the Indian Nation
Chapter VII: Tradition and Culture in India
Chapter VIII: Tradition and Non-Violence
Chapter IX: Going beyond the Blurriness
Chapter X: Memory and Forgetfulness

Part IV: Lineage and Kingship
Chapter I: Ashoka: Between the Ethical and the Political
Chapter II: Ashoka and Gandhi
Chapter III: Ashoka and Marxist Historians
Chapter IV: History and Charismatic Literature
Chapter V: Attitude towards Spiritualism and Mysticism
Chapter VI: A Rationalist Historian
Chapter VII: Communal Ideologies in India
Chapter VIII: The Role of Archaeology and Anthropology
Chapter IX: Blood, Kinship and Lineage
Chapter X: History and Political Ideologies
Chapter XI: The Ideas of Hindusim
Chapter XII: The Ideologues of Hindu Nationalism

Part V: The Historian and the Epic
Chapter I: Looking at the Epic
Chapter II: The Historicity of the Epic
Chapter III: The Two Levels of Temporality
Chapter IV: Concepts of Time
Chapter V: The Moderns and the Concept of Inevitability
Chapter VI: Linearity and Evolution
Chapter VII: The Heroes and Exile
Chapter VIII: Retaliation and Forgiveness
Chapter IX: Tragic Drama in India
Chapter X: Machiavelli and the Arthashastra

Part VI: Shakuntala and Somanatha
Chapter I: The Historian's Impulse
Chapter II: Somanatha and Communal Historical Writing
Chapter III: The Rashomon Effect
Chapter IV: Why is Somanatha important?
Chapter V: The Centrality of the Event
Chapter VI: Is There an Indian Marxism?
Chapter VII: New Schools of History Writing
Chapter VIII: Looking at the Past
About the Author