Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jātaka Stories

The book is organized into five major sections. The first section, “Glimpses of Political History,” examines ancient traditions, the Kuru-Pañcāla kings, Videha and the Licchavi kingdoms, and the Mahājanapada period. The second section analyzes administrative organization through political atmosphere, central administration, fiscal administration, justice, military organization, and local government. The third section studies economic aspects, including production, distribution, exchange, and consumption. The fourth section presents sociological conditions, covering social structure, family, friends and relations, the position of women, education, arts and sciences, religion and philosophy, and manners and customs. The final section surveys the geography of the Jātakas, with attention to general geographical outlook, divisions of India, and a geographical lexicon. Through this architecture, Mehta presents the Jātaka stories as a major source for reconstructing the institutional, social, economic, and geographical world of ancient India before the full historical consolidation of Buddhism.