Cambridge University Press The ‘Early Medieval' Origins of India

India is generally regarded as a civilization with a set of intrinsic attributes that emerged in the age of the Vedas or, better still, in the Harappan times. In recent decades, historical studies have moved away from rigid perspectives of singularity in origin and expansion; the emphasis now is on pluralities and long-term processes spanning centuries and millennia. There is also an influential school of thought which rejects antiquity claims such as these and holds that India is a construct of the colonial and nationalist imagination. In his radical reinterpretation of India's past, Manu V. Devadevan moves away from these reifying assessments to examine the evolution of institutions, ideas and identities that are characterized, typically, as Indian. In lieu of endorsing their Indianness, he traces their emergence to specific conditions that developed in India between 600 and 1200 CE, a period which historians now call the 'early medieval'. Book Description This radical reinterpretation of Indian history traces the origins of India's institutions, ideas and identities to the 'early medieval' period. About the Author Manu V. Devadevan is Assistant Professor of History at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi. He specializes in religion and literary practices in South Asia, politics and economic processes of South Asia, and South Asian epigraphy. His most recent publication is an edited volume titled, Clio and Her Descendants: Essays for Kesavan Veluthat (2018).