A Cultural History of India Edited by A. L. BASHAM OXFORD z UNIVERSITY PRESS x. Daksinimart (Siva as Teacher). South side of East Gopura,OXFORD ‘YMCA Library Building, Jal Singh Road, New Delhi 130 001 nerd ates est deparnentof te Unie of Osan ‘ctr the Unive sete oeselnce feet cele, Sa edteateny pbs aie Ort New York ‘tne. Avcad Bang Bop Muenos Ae Caleta ‘ape Cheat Durer Sahar DAD Rone Hang Kong se isch ls tumpur asl Melbostee ets Ghy Habel att! ears Seo Poo Singapore spe Tyo Torome Wasew en atte espa in ‘erin hada! (© Oxford University Press 1975 st publishes 1975 ist Indian Impression 1983 reprinted by arrangement with Oxford University Press, Oxford ‘Oxford India Paperbacks 1997 ‘Third impression 1999 All sights reserved. No part of this public stored ina retrieval system, o transmitted, fn slectroni, mechanical, photocopying recording or otherwise, ‘without the prior permission in whiting of Oxforé University Press 1 may be reproduced ISBN 0 19563921 9 323 y “C86 1999 245522 Printed in india at Saurabh Print. 0-Pack, Noida, UP and published by Manzar Khap, Oxford University Press YMCA Library Building, Jal Singh Rood, New Delhi 110 001 ny form or by any means, PREFACE THe Legacy of India, edited by G. T. Garrat, appeared in 1937, Its contri- butors included some of the ablest specialists of the time and several of its fifteen chapters are as valid today as they were at the time of writing. Never- theles, he Second World War, tbe independence of India, and the-ghangd of attitudes since those two momentous events, have fendered some of the chapters quite out of date, Others have become obsolete as the result of the many discoveries made and new theories put forward sines the war, The need for a new edition was clear and Dr. Raghavan Iyer frst drafted ‘out « plan aad approached & number of contributors some firteen years ago. Jn 1968 the Clarendon Press asked me to assume responsibility for bringing the Work to a conclusion, on the basis of the material collected by Dr. Iyer. 1 ageeed to do so, and vas given authority to commission authors and recast the plan of the volume in whatever way 1 might think fit, As is almost inevit- ably the case with large collaborative works, composed by contributors scattered across the world, the task (ook fonger and proved more arduous ‘than I had expected. But itis completed at last, and the result is offered to the reader, not without some misgiving, in the hope that he will accept it as a sincere attempt on the part of the contributors and the editor to explain India’s heritage from the past, and the world’s heritage from Indie. ‘The ‘original Legacy, forall its merits, contained several Incunae. In the attempt to fil these and to produce an even more comprehensive survey, it beeamne in- cteasingly clear that what was emerging could not be contained winder the original ttle, TLwas no longer a ‘Legacy’, and t0, not too immodestly I hope, it was decided to call the book A Cultural History of India While many of the chapters ate the work of senior scholars with well- established international reputations Thave not hesitated to enlist the help of younger and les well-bnovn specialists, where this has seemed advisable. The very fact that contributions have been received from four of the five con tineals (and one contributor now works inthe fifth, Aftiea) is surely evidence in itself of the importance of India in the world today. Four of the contributions to Garratt’s original Legacy have been retained, ‘The venerable Professor Radhakrishoan's sincere and well-writen chapter on Hinduism survives, with some editorial additions, Similarly, with editorial changes, T have retained the chiapter by the late Professor 8. N. Das Gupta, ‘whose monumental survey of Todian Philosophy is still the most authoritative ‘and comprehensive study of the subject. The late Professor HG. Rawliason's sympathetic chapter on India's cuttural influence on the western world re- rains, but itis now divided into two and is brought up to date by a German "ven as itstands, this book contains Iecunse, I should have liked to include achapter on the Gypsies, who are also part ofthe history of Inain; nd the much debated question of Contacts, of which there were cvtlaly some it Pre-Columbie trees, thes ht acd indirect, might also have been considered, More serious fe the abseoce of = chapter onthe Indian dance, one of her greatest contributions tothe world’s culture. a USSU eee wou7 Preface Scholar who has made a special study of the’ subject. The contribution of Martio Briges on Indian Islamic Architecture is also kept, purged of several pages of discussion of matters which were once coatceversial, but ace cow no Jouger so. Other than these chapters, all the material is new. In my editorial capacity T have made no attempt to force my numerous hhelpers to fit tbeir contributions to a particulac pattern, beyond explaining to them at the outset that I hoped thatthe book would emphasize the inheritance of modera India from the past, and her many bequests to the world of the present. My main task, except in respect of the chapters inherited from the Garratt Legacy, bas been In trying to impose a uniform system of translitera. tion, orthography, and typographical conventions, in occasiGnally adding brief explanatory remarks, and in abridging a few contributions which were definitely over length. Ak was part of my original plan to include chapters on “India since Inde- pendence’ and ‘Pakistan since Independence’, which would survey the main trends in the two countries over the last twenty-five years. But I finaly de- cided aguinst this in view of the size ofthe votume, and ofthe fact that many aspects of the contemporary situation were covered in other chapters. In the place ofthese two unwritten chapters a brief conelusion tries to drayr the many and diverse threads of this book together. If in this T have alloyed myself to sake value judgements, some of which may be in disagreement with the state. nents of certain contributors, 1 put my vjews Forward ith all deference, as those of one who has had close contacts with the region of South Asia for many years, and has deepvaffection‘for the people of that region acd for their culture. Some readers miay be iritated by the numerous dincritic marks a be found over the letters even of well-known indian names. I take full responsibility for uy annoyance this may eause. It has long been ong of my zhinor tasks in life (o encourage the English-spsaking public te pronounes Indian names-and {erms with atleast an approximation to accuracy, and the attention of readers is drawa to the notes on pronunciation which immediately follow this preface, One of the most difficult problems facing the editor of a work such as this, in the present-day context, rests in is ttle. When the original Legacy was pub. lished the whole ofthe region of South Asia, with the exception of Nepal, the foreign affairs of which were controled by India, and of Ceylon (now ofically ‘Sci Lanka), which like India was part of the British Empire, was clearly and ‘unequivocally India. The region now consists of five completely independent states, of which the Republic of India is unquestionably fhe largest in size and population. This fact, perhaps understandably, sometimes leads to expres- sions of protest when the word ‘India’ is used, in eerlain.contexts, to cover regions beyond India's preseut-day frontiers. As un extreme example Irememn- Yer a student from Kathmandd indignantly declaring that his Country had ‘not received. the cred that was its due becaase Gautama Buddia Wal invari- ably refercedto as ag Indian when in fact he had been a Nepalese. The ene éemic tension betweea India and Pakistan leads o similar protests, on grounds too numerous to mention. I recognize the foree of national feeling, and do not wish to give offence to citizens of the other countries of South Asia; but here inevitably ‘India’ must be understood at times in its brokdest historical sense i Preface vi ‘the inhabitants of that region ever thought of calling their country India, Tt would appear that for Herodotus the Indus basin was the whole of Botalsoin English. Since itis te name by which those who dwell onits banks taining the classical modification of the Indian word, and we have accurate, regularly applied the term India to the large land mass. a Siole, We are compelled to retain ‘India’, even if we go beyond the bounds ieee ut at esc) for their patience; 1 am especially grateful to a few of peal seca cl etree kee a Selontetrine atentaee eM inmer tee ti ina er een i A cert a ale ny