The Changing Gaze

Description

 Why did Indian historians move away from the epicentric approach in the 1970s? Why did they shift their focus to localities and sub-regions from historico-geographic blocks like the Gangetic heartland and the Kaveri valley? What were the processes that helped to develop the idea of India?  Examining the questions that have shaped history-writing in India, this book maps changing perspectives about early India.   Focusing on the histories of regions around Odisha, Sahu argues that cultural–historical regions as they emerged through early medieval times and beyond were different from the post-Independence linguistic states as well as ancient archaeological culture regions. He posits that they were constituted historically through the interplay of the constituent sub-regions and localities, as well as in?uenced by continuous  multilateral, trans-regional transactions. Finally, he contends these regions were dynamic, expanding, and shrinking over time.   To understand the differences and linkages between regions, the book studies  several strands of historical development: from  the role of Brahmanical ideology in the construction of caste to the regional dimensions of the Kali Age crisis; from agrarian land systems to forms of protest and dissent; and the evolution of regional identities in Indian historiography.