Nayanjot Lahiri

In the third century BCE Ashoka ruled in South Asia and Afghanistan, and came to be seen as the ideal Buddhist king. Disentangling the threads of Ashoka’s life from the knot of legend that surrounds it, Nayanjot Lahiri presents a vivid biography of an emperor whose legacy extends far beyond the bounds of his lifetime and dominion.

Ashoka in Ancient India

It is a very introductory book for anyone interested about ancient India and History.

A Whistle-Stop Tour of Ancient India.

Time Pieces

The Decline and Fall of the Indus Civilization

In the autumn of 1924, the archaeologist John Marshall made an announcement that dramatically altered existing perceptions of South Asia's antiquity: the discovery of 'the civilization of the Indus valley'. Marshall's news conveyed one of the most monumental discoveries in the history of civilization, on the same scale as the findings of Heinrich Schliemann (who unearthed Troy) and Arthur Evans (who dug out Minoan Crete). The Troy and Crete stories have been well told. But a detailed, archivally rich and accessible narrative of the people, processes, places and puzzles that led up to Marshall's proclamation on the Indus civilization has, like the civilization itself, long remained buried. Now, for the first time in this book, we have the whole story, enchantingly told. Finding Forgotten Cities comprises a powerful narrative history of how India's antiquity was unexpectedly unearthed, it will interest every serious reader of history and anyone who likes to read an utterly fascinating story.

How the Indus Civilization was discovered

Finding Forgotten Cities

This book interleaves the history of post-Independence archaeology in India with the life and times of Madhukar Narhar Deshpande (1920-2008), a leading Indian archaeologist who went on to become the director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India. Spanning nearly a century, this is a tale told through a main character—Deshpande himself—some of whose writings have been included in the volume. We explore the circumstances which brought men like Deshpande to this career path; what it was like to grow up in a family devoted to India's freedom; the watershed moment that created a large cohort that was trained by Mortimer Wheeler, the doyen of British archaeology; the unknown conservation stories around the Gol Gumbad in Bijapur and the Qutb Minar in Delhi; the forgotten story of how the fabric of a historic Hindu shrine, the Badrinath temple, was saved; the chemistry shared by the prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and the archaeologist, Deshpande, at the Ajanta and Ellora cave shrines, and; the political and administrative challenges faced by director generals of archaeology. The book is a must read for anyone interested in India's past in general and the history of Indian archaeology in particular.

Writings on and by M.N. Deshpande

Archaeology and the Public Purpose

Upinder Singh

This volume brings together new research on a variety of themes related to ancient and early medieval India like gender, archaeology, religion, landscapes, and literature.

New Research

Ancient India

Showcases the expansion of Buddhism's contours and popularity in Asia in modern times. Focusing on India, Sri Lanka and China, the essays in the book highlight the cross-fertilization between Buddhism and contemporary discourses which makes the phenomenon of Buddhist revival in Asia unambiguously modern.

Revival and Reinvention

Buddhism in Asia

Revised version of papers presented at the Workshop on Ancient Indian History, held at New Delhi during 27-28 August 2005.

‘There are many missing pieces in the jigsaw puzzle that is ancient India, but those we have yield a rich tapestry.’ The oldest surviving love graffiti on a cave wall immortalizing an intimate bond in the third century BCE; charred seeds and chewed animal bones that provide evidence of a peoples’ food obsessions; architectural minutiae that point to the alarming regression of a civilization’s potty habits; intriguing sculptures that reveal myriad facets of the human–animal relationship... In Time Pieces, award-winning historian Nayanjot Lahiri whimsically sifts through intricate clues left behind by the early inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent – in plaques and inscriptions, fragments of jewellery, bones and tools, poetry, art and pottery – to reveal to us our ancient land in all its variety, splendour, complexity and contradictions. Sparkling with wit and reflective of a scholar’s keen and curious energy, this delightful volume seamlessly connects the past to the present and a civilization to the world beyond.

Nayanjot Lahiri

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