Research Foundation of State University of New York

Ideology and the Interpretation of Early Indian History

Author(s): Romila Thapar
Source: Review (Fernand Braudel Center), Vol. 5, No. 3 (Winter, 1982), pp. 389-411
Published by: Research Foundation of State University of New York for and on behalf of
the Fernand Braudel Center
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Review, V, 3, Winter 1982, 389-411

Ideology and the

Interpretation of
Early Indian History*

Romila Thapar

It is sometimes said that the interpretations of the ancient

periods of history have little historiographical interest, since
they refer to times too distant for an ideological concern to
have much meaning for contemporary society, and that the
sparseness of the evidence does not provide much margin for
ideological debate. This view would not, however, be valid for
the interpretation of early Indian history, where both the
colonial experience and the nationalism of recent centuries
have influenced study, particularly of the early period of his-
tory.
In Europe, post-Renaissance interests, which initiated the
extensive study of the ancient world, brought to this study the
ideological concerns of their own times.1 These concerns are
also reflected in the historiography of India,2 if not of Asia.
The interpretation of Indian history from the eighteenth
century onward relates closely to the world view of European,
♦Originally appeared in Society and Changes: Essays in Honor of Sachin Chaudhuri,
1977; reprinted with permission of the publishers.
1. Momigliano (1966) discusses some of these.
2. See Philips (1961) and Thapar (1968). For a comparative study, see Hall(1961)
and Soedjatmoko (1965).
© 1982 Research Foundation of SUNY
3o"

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390 Romila Thapar

and particularly British, hi

historiographical base. The
fleeted, whether consciously
ical interests of Europe. The
means of propagating tho
historical writing, with its e
and chronicles, was largely
Indian history was an atte
tradition. The historiograp
which took shape during the
and nineteenth centuries was
which emerged in the histo
Investigation into the Indian
Orientalists or Indologists
had made India, and particu
of study. The majority of
great names among them
Colebrooke, and H.H. Wils
India Company in various a
as many of them were, in th
were also familiar with the r
the opportunity to acquire e
trators they required a spe
Indian law, politics, society,
them to the literature in San
and administrative interests coalesced.
The nineteenth century saw the development, not only of
these studies in India, but also the introduction of courses in
Oriental languages at various European universities and else-
where.3 The term Indologist now came to include those who
had a purely academic interest in India and who were intellec-
tually curious about the Indian past. The study of Sanskrit
language and literature not only gave shape to the discipline of
comparative philology, but also provided the source material
for the reconstruction of ancient Indian society. Vedic Sansk-
rit, the language of the Vedic literature in particular, was used

3. See Staal (1972).

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Ideology and Early Indian History 391

extensively in the reconstruction of both Indian and In

European society, since the linguistic connection between
two had been established. It was now possible for scholar
Sanskrit to attempt wide-ranging interpretations of what w
believed to be the beginnings of Indian history, with little o
personal experience of the Indian reality. One of the m
influential of such scholars in his time was Max MUller, wh
full and appreciative descriptions of contemporary Indian v
lage communities would hardly have led one to suspect that
had never visited India. Inevitably those who were sympath
to Indian culture tended to romanticize the ancient Indian
past. These interpretations carried the imagery and the precon-
ceptions, not only of the sources, but also of those interpreting
them.
By far the most influential theory to emerge from Indologi-
cal studies in the nineteenth century was the theory of the
Aryan race. The word ârya, which occurs in both the Iranian
Avestan and Vedic Sanskrit texts, was given a racial connota-
tion as referring to the race of the Aryans. The Aryans were
described as physically different from the indigenous popula-
tion, and their cultural distinctiveness was apparent from the
fact that they spoke an Indo-European language. It was held
that large numbers of aryans, described as a branch of the
Indo-European race and language group, invaded northern
India in the second millennium B.C., conquered the indigenous
peoples, and established the Vedic Aryan culture which
became the foundation of Indian culture.
The identification of language and race was seen to be a
fallacy even during the lifetime of Max MUller, one of the more
active proponents of the theory.4 Although in his later writings
he rejected this identification, it was by then too late, and the
idea had taken root. It is curious that "âryan" should have been
interpreted in racial terms since in the texts it refers merely to
an honored person of high status, and, in the Vedic context,
this would be one who spoke Sanskrit and observed the caste

4. See Leopold (1974). For various interpretations of the term "arya", see Bailey
(1959). Thieme (1938) has argued that the term refers to "foreigner" or "stranger".

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392 Romila Thapar

regulations. The racial conn

counterposing of ârya with
dasa is described as physicall
interpreted as representin
evolving later into the three
ing the lowest, sudra caste
preserved by the prohibiti
castes. The preeminence of t
successful conquest of the do
ety mologically associated w
cal term referring to the cas
as yet another argument to s
was believed to provide a "
namely, that the four ma
groups, whose racial ident
intermarriage and making
status. The latter half of th
the discussion on race in the
interest in social evolution. S
means unfamiliar with this debate.6 The distinction between
âryan and non-âryan, and the polarity of Aryan and Dravidian
suggested by them for the Indian scene, echoes, to a degree
which can hardly be regarded as coincidental, the aryan-
nonaryan distinction and the Aryan-Semitic dichotomy based
on language and race in the European context. The suggested
social bifurcation is also remarkably similar. The upper castes
were the âryans and the lower castes were the nonâryans.
The belief in the Indo-European origins of both European
and Indian societies intensified interest in Vedic âryan sources,
since these were seen as the earliest survivals of a common past.
The village community of Vedic society was looked upon as the
rediscovery of the roots of ancient European society. It was
described as an idyllic community of gentle, passive people
given to meditation and other-worldly thoughts with an

5. See Rg Veda 2.20.8; 2.12.4; 3.34.9; 1.33.4; 4.16.3; 5.29.10; 10.22.8.

6. See Poliakov(1974).

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Ideology and Early Indian History 393

absence of aggression and competition.7 Possibly some of t

scholars, well disposed toward India, were seeking an e
into a Utopia distant in time and place, perhaps fleeing from
bewildering changes overtaking them in their own ti
Others were defending Indian society from its critics. Eve
ally the Aryan theory of race gave way to what has come
called the Aryan problem, namely, the historical role o
Indo-Aryan-speaking people and their identification in
Indian sources.
But the early nineteenth century saw a new direction in the
attitude of the administrator-scholars of the East India
Company toward Indian history. Some, although they did not
romanticize the ancient Indian past, were nevertheless sympa-
thetic in their interpretations. Others, in increasing numbers,
became critical of what they called the values of ancient Indian
society. This was in part due to the mounting problems of
governing a vast colony with an unfamiliar, if not alien,
culture. The nature of the relationship between Britain and
India was also undergoing change as trading stations were
replaced by colonial markets. The major intellectual influence,
however, was that of English Utilitarian philosophy. James
Mill, its first ideologue in the context of Indian history,
completed his lengthy History of British India in the early
decades of the nineteenth century. Mill's History claimed to be
a critical investigation of the traditional institutions of India.
These, by the standards of nineteenth-century Utilitarianism,
were found to be static, retrogressive, and conducive to
economic backwardness. Mill recommended a radical alerta-
tion of Indian society, to be achieved by imposing the correct
legal and administrative system in India. Both the analysis and
the solution suggested by Mill suited the aims and needs of
imperial requirements. Mill's History, therefore, became a
textbook on India at the Haileybury College where the British
officers of the Indian Civil Service were trained.
Further intellectual support for this view of the premodern
history of India was found in the writings of the more eminent
7. See MUHer (1883, lOlff.).

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394 Romila Thapar

philosophers of history of
remarked on the absence o
history, and consequently di
being static, despotic in its
mainstream of relevant world
Central to this view of the pr
implicit in Mill's History, wa
tism.9 The genesis of this theo
Persian antagonism, with ref
despotic government of the
vision of the luxuries of the
partly on the luxury trade wit
partly on the fantasy world of
the accounts of visitors to t
Ktesias at the Persian court a
court in India. The Crusades an
Turks doubtless strengthened
despotic, Oriental potentate. W
revived in the eighteenth c
continuing empires in Asia, the
of the despot to the nature o
concerns of eighteenth-cen
central question was seen as t
and the state ownership of lan
ambassadors and visitors to
Roe and Francois Bernier wer
that the right to private prope
like Montesquieu, accepted th
others, like Voltaire, doubted
tions. By the mid-nineteenth c
Britain that again the standard
of India used at Haileybury Col
who endorsed the theory. Ine

8. See Hegel (1857).

9. See Koebner (1951) and Venturi (19
10. See Thorner (1966, 33ff.).
11. See Roe (1926) and Bernier (1699).

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Ideology and Early Indian History 395

the late nineteenth century in India, who also happened

the administrators, assumed the correctness of the theory
precondition to their understanding of the Indian past
Marx, despite his concern for dialectical movement, wa
averse to the idea with its emphasis on a static society and
absence of change, and worked the theory into his mod
Asian society- that of the Asiatic mode of production.
The absence of private property in land was central t
model of social and economic structure. The structure was se
in the form of a pyramid, with the king at the apex
self-sufficient, isolated village communities at the bas
surplus was collected from the cultivators by the bureauc
and the process of redistribution led to its being appropri
substantially, by the king and the court- hence the fab
wealth of Oriental courts. Control over the peasant c
munities was maintained by the state monopoly of
irrigation system- or the hydraulic machinery, as a m
recent author has called it13- the control over which was
crucial in arid lands dependent on artificial irrigation. The sub-
servience of the peasant communities was ensured, not only by
extracting the maximum surplus from them, but also by invest-
ing the king with absolute powers and divinity. The isolation of
social groups was made more complete by the absence of urban
centers and effective networks of trade.
The idealization of the village community from one group of
scholars was now juxtaposed with the starkness of those
supporting the other interpretation. This historical kaleido-
scope was readjusted when a third perspective was introduced
at the beginning of the twentieth century. The authors of this
perspective were Indian historians using the current method-
ology, but motivated ideologically by the national movement
for independence, scholars who have been referred to in recent
writings as the nationalist historians.14 Of the two major

12. See Gunawardana (1976).

13. See Wittfogel (1957).
14. See, for example, Jayaswal (1924), Mookerji (1926), and Raichaudhury
(1923).

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396 Romila Thapar

theories, the Aryan theory

that of Oriental depostism
The former was acceptable
believed to be based on t
evidence. Its supposed "scie
gratifying, in view of the ge
from the stalwarts of egalit
may borrow the phrase, s
Aryan society in glowing ter
of Indian scholarship. Th
middle-class Indians that t
sented "a reunion of parte
different families of the an
Nationalist historical wri
other things, of the import
The bipolarity of the spiritu
materialist basis of western c
inherent difference. This wa
view that religion was suc
Indian society that it obstr
defined as social and econo
eagerly taken up by Christia
tize among the more enter
as by those who were lookin
explain the backwardness o
The nationalist historians co
ideas which were necessar
questioned individual items o
than examining the validit
interpretation. Nor did the
theories with new ones fund
gone before. In a sense, na
nature of their questions. Ho
ses, the impact of the nation

15. Sen (1901, 323).

16. Weber (1958) is the culmination o

century. For a discussion of the Chris

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Ideology and Early Indian History 397

and necessary. The role of ideology in historical interpretat

was recognized with the highlighting of the ideological con
of earlier interpretations. Above all, it prepared the way for
questioning of the accepted theories.
This has been of necessity an oversimplified sketch of
main ideological trends in modern interpretations of e
Indian history. I would now like to consider at greater leng
the two main theories to which I have referred. In selecting
Aryan problem and Oriental despotism for further analysis
the light of new evidence and methods of inquiry, my pur
is not merely to indicate the inapplicability of the theories,
also to suggest the nature of possible generalizations w
arise in the reexamination of accepted theories.
The questioning of the Aryan theory is based on the wor
recent years from three different disciplines: archaeolo
linguistics, and social anthropology. The discovery and e
vation of the cities of the Indus civilization have pushed
the beginning of Indian history to the third millennium B
and the Indus civilization has replaced the Vedic Aryan cult
as the starting point of Indian history. The cities ^f the In
predate the Vedic culture by at least a millennium since
decline of the cities dates to the early second millennium a
the diffusion of Sanskrit as a part of the Vedic cultur
believed to have begun at the end of the same millenniu
The Indus cities epitomize a copper-age urban civilizati
based on commerce both within the northwestern area of t
subcontinent and in West Asia. The earliest of the Vedic te
the Rg Veda, reflects a pastoral, cattle-keeping people unfa
iar with urban life. If the Aryans had conquered northwest
India and destroyed the cities, some archaeological evidence
the conquest should have been forthcoming. In only one
of one of the cities is there evidence of what might
interpreted as the aftermath of conquest, and even this
been seriously doubted.18 The decline of the Indus citi
generally attributed to extensive ecological changes.

17. See Wheeler (1968) and Allchin & Allchin (1966).

18. See Dales (1965, 18).

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398 Romila Thapar

repeated flooding of the Ind

salinization of the land un
course of the Sarasvati river,
of the desert, and major sea
along the west coast seem
the decline of the cities.19
marked change in climatic
Unlike conquest, ecological
the cities declined, there wer
same time as small groups
neighboring areas. Recen
western India and the Ind
some continuity between
cultures.21 There is little doubt now that certain facets of the
Indus civilization survived into the second and first millennium
cultures in spite of the decline of the cities. The earlier hiatus
between the Indus civilization and the Vedic culture is no
longer acceptable, and the Indus civilization now has to be seen
as the bedrock of early Indian culture.
Recent linguistic analyses of Vedic Sanskrit have confirmed
the presence of non-Aryan elements, especially Proto-Dravid-
ian, both in vocabulary and phonetics.22 Consequently it has
been suggested that Proto-Dravidian could have been the
earlier language of nothern India, perhaps the language of the
Indus civilization, although this awaits the decipherment of the
Indus script, and that Vedic Sanskrit, as the language of a
particular social group, slowly spread across the northern half
of the subcontinent, with a possible period of bilingualism, in
which Vedic Sanskrit was modified by the indigenous lan-

19. See Raikes (1964, 1965, 40), Lambrick (1967, 133), Raikes(1968, 196ff.), and
Sarma(1971,280ff.).
20. See Singh (1971).
21. Indicated, for example, by the coexistence of the Black-and-Red ware culture
with the late Harappan in western India and that of the Ochre color pottery culture in
the Indo-Gangetic divide and the Ganga-Yamuna Doab.
22. See Burrow (1955, 373ff.), Emeneau (1967, 148, 155), and Basham (1954).

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Ideology and Early Indian History 399

guage.23 It is significant that some of the Proto-Dravidian

words in Vedic Sanskrit refer to agricultural processe
know from archaeological evidence that advanced p
agriculture was known to the Indus settlements,24 and, fr
the Rg Vedic hymns, it is apparent that pastoralism, not a
culture, was the more prestigious profession among the ea
Aryan speakers.
Anthropological studies of Indian society have encour
a reappraisal of the social history of early periods.
insistence on the precise meaning of words relating to
categories in the sources has been all to the good. The
distinction between varna as caste in the sense of ritual st
and jâti as caste in the sense of actual status is again a help
the social historian. The most useful contribution, how
has been in the study of the formation of castes, whic
made it apparent that caste society does not requir
precondition of different racial entities, nor the conqu
one by the other. It does require the existence of hered
groups that determine marriage relations, that are arrang
a hierarchical order, and that perform services for one ano
The hierarchy is dependent on occupation, on certain belie
purity and pollution, and on continued settlement
particular geographical location. The formation of a new c
has, therefore, to be seen in terms of historical chang
particular region. Thus, a tribe incorporated into peas
society could be converted into a caste.25 Occupational g
often acquired a caste identity through the corporate enti
the guild or through hereditary office in administrat
Religious sects, frequently protesting against the caste hie
chy, often ended up as castes themselves. Possibilities of s
mobility and variations in status were linked to the histor
context of time and place. Social attitudes were often
Nevertheless, opportunities for social change were expl

23. See Emeneau (1967).

24. See Lai (1970-71, Iff.)

25. See Bose (1953) and Mandlebaum (1970).
26. See Sharma (n.d.).

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400 Romila Thapar
and the historian can no longer d
merely referring to the unchangi
this context the theory of Sans
breakthrough in the study of soc
The combination of new evide
from all these sources raises a
reference to the Vedic period. E
Indo-Aryan contribution to Indi
as an amalgam of the Indo-Europ
which, in turn, requires a clearer
spread of Sanskrit, certainly in t
northwest as well, appears to h
process of diffusion than through
the diffusion would have to be so
suggested is that it coincided
technology at the start of the f
apparent in the use of iron in p
introduction of the horse and th
India.28 The ambiguity of the w
Sanskrit, creates some difficulties
of this idea. Vedic Sanskrit is cl
groups, and the belief in ritu
diffusion, particularly as it seems
associated with knowledge of t
among other things, a more effec
processes. The diffusion of a la
physical presence of large numb
often be done more effectively by
indigenous population adapting
the traditional networks of com
Sanskrit might be more meaningf
of social change, apart from me
The notion of historical chan
dynasties, was curiously unaccep

27. See Srinivas (1952).

28. See Thapar (1969).

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Ideology and Early Indian History 401

thinking on the Indian past. The unchanging nature of soci

is central to the theory of oriental despotism. The span
Indian history was seen as one long stretch of empire with
occasional change of dynasty. Yet, in fact, empires were
short duration and very infrequent. There was only one em
in the early period, the Mauryan empire, lasting from the
of the fourth to the early second century B.C., which w
even approximately qualify as an imperial system. It was
until the historial writing of the twentieth century that so
concession was made to change, and imperial golden ages we
interspersed with the dark ages of smaller kingdoms.29
In reexamining oriental despotism, it is not new evide
which provides an alternative analysis, but the more car
questioning of existing sources. It is surprising that referen
to private property in land should have been overlooked.
sociolegal texts, the dharmaÊâstras and the early tex
political economy, the ArthaÊâstra, list and discuss the
and regulations for the sale, bequest, and inheritance of
and other forms of property.30 More precise informat
comes from the many inscriptions of the period after 500
often in the form of copper plates recording the grant of
by either the king or some wealthy individual to a relig
beneficiary, or, alternatively, by the King to a secular offic
lieu of services rendered to the king.31 These inscriptions w
deciphered in the nineteenth century, but were read prima
for the data they contained on chronology and dynasties. In
last couple of decades, however, they have become the b
source material for the study of the agrarian structure of the fi
millennium A.D.32 Since these were the legal charters relat
to the grants, the transfer of the land is recorded in detail
areas where the land granted was already under cultivation,
price paid for the land, the person from whom the land
bought, and the person to whom the property was transfer

29. See Smith (1919).

30. See Kane (1930, Vol.3).
31. See Morrison (1970).
32. See Sharma (1965).

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402 Romila Thapar

are mentioned, together wit

ity of the officials under wh
the consent of the village wi
Not only do these inscri
categories of ownership of la
land, it is possible to indic
agrarian economy into new
consequence, not merely to
concerned with the history
agrarian economy was gen
dhist missions or by nucleii
which Sanskritic culture was
the local culture of these areas was assimilated into the
Sanskritic tradition.33 The interplay of these two levels of belief
systems was a necessary process in the delineation of Indian
culture. The stress so far has been on the high culture of the
Sanskritic tradition, which is inadequate for understanding
the historical role of cultural forms.
Many of these records provide information on the rise of
families of relatively obscure origin to high social status,
usually through the channels of land ownership and admini-
strative office.34 Those who became powerful had genealogies
fabricated for themselves, bestowing on the family ksatriya
status and, if required, links with royal lineages as well. Such
periods of historical change demanded new professions,
professions which finally evolved into castes. For example,
administrative complexities relating to grants of land on a
large scale needed professional scribes. Not surprisingly, the
preeminent caste of scribes, the kayastha, are first referred to in
the sources of this period.
The importance given to a centralized bureaucracy in the
model was perhaps a reflection, among other things, of the
nineteenth-century faith in the administrator as the pivot of the

33. This is clearly reflected in the origin myths of ruling families, for instance, even
in areas as seemingly remote as Chota Nagpur. The origin myth of the Nagabansis is
clearly derived from Puranic sources.

34. As, for example, the Maitrakas of Vallabhi during the fifth and sixth centuries
A.D.

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Ideology and Early Indian History 403

imperial system. The bureaucratic system of early India

rarely centralized, except in the infrequent periods of emp
Recruitment was impersonal, and most levels of admini
tion were filled by local people. And it was at the m
localized levels that the effective centers of power were loca
In periods of empire, the surplus did find its way into the h
of the royal court. But during the many centuries of sm
kingdoms, the income from revenue was distributed amo
large number of elite groups, which in part explains
regional variations and distribution in art styles where
patron was not a distant emperor but the local king. T
tendency toward political decentralization was accentuate
the post-Gupta period, circa, 500 A.D., when salaries w
computed, not in cash, as in the earlier period, but in gran
revenue and, later, grants of land.
Bureaucratic control over the economy, such as it wa
derived from control over revenue collection. The hydr
machinery played only a marginal role. Large-scale, sta
controlled irrigation was rare. In the main, irrigation
consisted of wells and tanks, built and maintained eithe
wealthy landowners or through the cooperative effort of t
village. The more relevant question is not that of the s
ownership of the hydraulic machinery, but the variatio
irrigation technology and the degree to which irrigati
facilities gave an individual or an institution a political
over others.
The other mechanism of control, according to the theory,
was a belief in the divinity of kingship, which gave the king a
religious and psychological authority additional to the politi-
cal. The attribution of this quality of divinity to kingship was
probably the result of earlier studies on kingship and divinity in
the ancient Near East. The interrelation between divinity and
political authority was never absolute in ancient India. Divin-
ity was easily bestowed, not only on kings, but on a variety of
objects, both animate and inanimate. Far from emphasizing
divinity, the kings of the Mauryan empire were patrons of
heterodox sects which denied the existence of any god and
ignored the notion of divinity. Divinity was appealed to

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404 Romila Thapar

initially in the rise of mon

millennium B.C.35 But th
either incarnations or desce
period of the rise of obscur
genealogies, suggesting tha
of social validation and it
metaphor. A particularly s
authority which has not so
been the interaction of po
called the moral authority
the renouncer has returned
participating in it, has pl
realm of conventional po
authority (râjdharma) de
(danda) and religious aut
(yajna, pûjà, and mantra), th
renouncer is difficult t
elements of the psycholog
magical.
One of the more striking refutations of an aspect of oriental
despotism has been that involving the absence of urban
centers. The evidence for an early continuous urban economy
has been pinpointed by archaeological excavations. This,
combined with literary sources, suggests significant variations
in the nature of urbanization. That the literary sources were
not fully utilized was largely because the details of urban
society occur first in the Pâli Buddhist texts, and these were not
given the attention which they deserved by those using Sanskrit
sources. The earliest copper-age cities of the Indus civilization
were smaller concentrations of population than those of the
second period of urbanization linked with iron technology
which evolved in the Ganges valley in the first millennium B.C.
This had as its economic base trade within the subcontinent.
The widespread use of coins and other adjuncts to extensive
trading relationships, such as letters of credit and promissory

35. See Spellman (1964).

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Ideology and Early Indian History 405

notes, not only extended the geographical reach of trade

considerably increased the volume of trade. Steps toward
growth of a market economy are apparent in the Budd
literature relating to the cities of the Ganges valley, but th
less evident in the growth of the cities of maritime south
at the end of the first millennium, where archaeology has
roborated the literary references to a lucrative trade with
Roman empire.
At another level, attempts have been made to correla
certain religious movements with the needs of urban gro
The work on the rise and spread of Buddhism and Jainis
relation to the mercantile community has inspired a w
debate on aspects of the bhakti movements as being in part
religion of urban groups with elements of dissident thought
for that matter, the investigation of the Hindu temple
economic entrepreneur.36 The outcome of such studies is li
to lead to a rather radical revision of Max Weber's thesis on
social and economic role of religion in India.
In suggesting that these two theories- the Aryan theory
oriental despotism - emanating from ideologies pertinen
nineteenth-century Europe are now no longer tenable, it m
appear as if I am tilting at windmills. Yet it is surprising h
deeply rooted these theories are, both in India and elsew
and how frequently they are revived for reasons of acad
study as well as in political polemics. The Aryan theory of
has not only served cultural nationalism in India but a
continues to serve Hindu revivalism and, inversely, anti-Br
man movements. At the academic level, the insistence o
ascribing Indo-European roots to all aspects of Vedic cul
has acted as a restraint on the analysis of mythology, relig
and cultural symbols from the historical point of view.
intellectual history of a period as rich as that of the Upani
and early Buddhism, approximately the mid-first millenni
B.C., has been hemmed in by the constraints of seeing
terms of an internal movement among dissident âryans, ra
than from the more meaningful perspective of a perio

36. See Stein (1968).

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406 Romila Thapar

seminal change. The pernni

ues apace, with archaeologi
variety of archaeological cu
Oriental despotism was re
Wittfogel's assessment of bu
tion with an oblique crit
reincarnation of the theory
has had, I believe, an even f
assessments of the Chinese p
the academic level in mo
historical change in Asia.
That the interpretation
subject to the polemics of
Colonial situations tend to
historical interpretation. The
through a nationalist visio
analysis. This is not to deny
centuries, at the level of
scholarship has been both
theories of interpretation
now a concern with the need for clearer definitions of historical
concepts based on a larger body of precise evidence. This is
most apparent in the current debate on the periodization of
Indian history. Nevertheless, for a while there was a disinclina-
tion to move away from the subject of polemics.
Symbolic of this disinclination was the consistent overlook-
ing of one significant aspect of historical interest: the tradi-
tional Indian understanding of its own past. It has long been
maintained that the Indians were an ahistorical people, since
there was no recognizable historical writing from the Indian
tradition similar to that from Greece and China. This was in
part because the Indian historical tradition- the itihâsa-
purâna, as it is called- was in a form not easily recognizable
to those familiar with Greek historical writing. Another reason
may have been the inability of modern scholars to perceive and
concede the awareness of change, so necessary to a sense of

37. See Lai (1954-55).

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Ideology and Early Indian History 407

history, in the itihâsa-purâna, and this precluded them

seeing the historical basis of the tradition.
The early Indian historical tradition, which is now receiv
the attention of historians and is being analyzed in terms
ideological content, does reflect a distinct image of the
and its concerns are different from those of modern inter
tions of the past.38 For instance, the unit of history is no
empire but the janapada, the territory settled by a tribe,
later evolves into a state, generally a kingdom. References
made to emperors as universal rulers, the samrât and
cakravartin, but these are at the abstract level. Reality rev
around the kings of smaller kingdoms. The genealo
sections of the tradition explain the settlements of tribes
with the emergence of states, the association of dynasties.3
the past was not recorded as a succession of political event
the legitimization of political authority was more impo
and it was to this that the historical tradition gave preced
The records of these early genealogies were used from the
millennium A.D. onward for legitimizing new dynasties w
were given links with the ancient royal lineages. Recent wo
social history has shown that political power was a rela
open area in early Indian society, and the social antecedent
the founders of dynasties were rarely questioned as long as
complied with the procedures necessary for legitimizing p
cal authority.
In the Buddhist tradition, the unit of history was the San
or Buddhist Church, and monastic chronicles formed the
of the tradition. These were not merely the history of the
of the Church, for the monastery as an important soc
gious institution played an active political role, and its rel
ship with political authority is apparent from these chroni
Cyclic time and the change implicit in the movement of
cycle were the cosmological reflections of the consciousne

38. Major writers on this tradition are Pargiter (1922), Pathak (1966), and W
(1972).
39. See Thapar (1976).
40. See Perera(1961, 29ff.).

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408 Romila Thapar

change. Even more interestin

style of the historical tradit
first millennium A.D., whe
events relating to political
literature which is easily r
consisting of biographies of
cles of dynasties.41 This n
coincides with actual historic
kingdoms generally conform
regions. These were based o
and economic structure, w
local cultures and the emer
the bhakti movement - wh
cross section of social gro
language, strengthened the
Yet the link with the mainstream of the tradition was not
broken. Into the early history of the region or the dynasty is
woven, quite deliberately, the mythology and lineages of the
earlier tradition. The network of Sanskritic culture, at least at
the upper levels of society, was a more real bond between
people and places than the mere inclusion of these within the
confines of an empire.
The perspective of the ancient Indian historical tradition
when seen in juxtaposition with the more recent analyses of
early Indian history, apart from its inherent intellectual
interest, can suggest the ideological concerns of the precolonial
period. These might provide to the historian of early India a
clearer vision of the priorities of the Indian past than has been
provided by the polemics of more recent times.

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