Indian Historical Studies

The book contains ten principal studies: “Gautama Buddha,” which discusses the Buddha’s life, renunciation, enlightenment, and historical significance; “Asoka,” which presents the Mauryan emperor as a ruler shaped by Buddhist ethics and public moral instruction; “Indo-Greek Dynasties of the Panjab,” which examines Hellenistic political and cultural presence in north-western India; “Chinese Pilgrims in India,” which uses the accounts of Buddhist travellers as evidence for Indian religious and social history; “Ibn Batuta,” which introduces medieval India through the observations of the Moroccan traveller; “Akbar,” which studies the Mughal emperor’s political and religious vision; “Shivaji the Maratha,” which evaluates the rise of Maratha power; “Robert Knox,” which provides insight into Ceylon and its social conditions; “Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Nation,” which surveys Sikh political consolidation; and “Foreign Influences in the Civilization of Ancient India,” which analyses India’s exchanges with external cultures. The volume also includes seven illustrations and a map, including images of the Sanchi Stupa, an Indo-Greek Buddha, an Aśoka pillar capital, Prajñāpāramitā from Java, the Taj Mahal, Pratapgad Fort, and a Dutch fort on the Ceylon coast.