Ideas and society

"The formal study of Indian history has been part of scholarly pursuit in many parts of the world for nearly two centuries. This book, a new edition of the work published by the Russian historian, Eugenia Vanina, discusses the history of ideas in medieval India from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries." "Ideas and Society highlights the nature of cultural and religious practices in medieval India, the development of the State, beginnings of colonial rule and the indigenous response to it. In its belief that interpretation of history can make a difference to a polity as demonstrated through the political divides of modern India this book also takes a close look at patterns in communal relations and the socio-ethical teachings of the Sufi and Bhakti traditions. For this edition, Vanina has brought a wide range of themes together in an Introduction, which takes into account new sources as well as recent debates in historiography." "This book is a valuable contribution to the corpus of research on medieval Indian history and will interest historians of this period in South Asian history. Its straightforward style will also make these serious concerns in history-writing very accessible to the interested lay reader."--BOOK JACKET.