Cultural Atlas of India [antikvár]

PREFACE It has proved an almost insurmountable challenge to write this book, for the subject matter, which records the human experience and achievements of the fifth of mankind who have inhabited the Indian subcontinent, is so rich and diverse. Moreover, it covers such a long period of time and is set in so vast a landscape that is is almost beyond one man's comprehension. Only a tiny part of the subject matter can be grasped, let alone fully understood. Inevitably, much has been simplified and even that is highly selected. Others would have judged differently what should or should not be included, and many will contest the baldness of some of the arguments presented here. Yet the task has been worth the labor, for no one can deny that India has been the setting for great human endeavors. India is important in itself but even more for what it tells of the whole human condition. Any book that will entice its reader to go further and add to knowledge and understanding is therefore justified. In this Atlas I have attempted to provide an introduction to India and its cultural history. In the opening chapter I have tried to make explicit some of my own assumptions, amazements and limitations. Then follow introductory accounts of the land and its peoples, their societies and their histories. The book ends with brief surveys of the main regions today. On each page, in word, picture and map, the reader is reminded that what is being seen is but the briefest glimpse of the subject, and that this is only the beginning of the story. Throughout the book a number of themes recur that I believe to be important: India is a wonderful place and many will find strange and exotic its social and political organization, its religions, its arts, literature and sciences. But it is also in the mainstream of human experience - indeed it could not be otherwise given the large number of peoples involved. India is distinct, but it has never been disconnected from its neighbors nor immune from forces acting upon it from the outside. In its turn, India has influenced other societies and reached out to countries distant from it. Over thousands of years, great diversity has flourished in the subcontinent; peoples have refused to conform or to restrain their creativity. Sometimes this has meant conflict, oppression and exploitation; but different peoples and different cultures have in fact lived alongside each other over long periods of time: they have mingled and separated bur have woven a rich tapestry that is the envy of others. The Indian experience also reveals that traditions worth the name are not dead ones, but are vital, alive, and newly made for each generation: this book is not about a stagnant society bound by the past, but one that moves and constantly reshapes and rediscovers itself. A book like this could not be written without relying on other scholars. In what I have written here I have been particularly influenced by the work of Bridget and Raymond Allchin, Catherine Asher, Christopher Baker, Christopher Bayly, Mile Beach, Paul Brass, Randolf Cooper, Christopher Fuller, John Gallagher, Stewart Gordon, J. S. Grewal, Irfan Habib, Ayesha Jalal, Hermann Kulke, Edmund Leach, Anthony Low, Peter Marshall, John Richards, Francis Robinson, Burton Stein, Eric Stokes, Romila Thapar, B. R. Tomlinson, and David Washbrook. An immense debt is acknowledged to Joseph E. Schwartzberg and his colleagues whose Historical Atlas of South Asia is a truly remarkable academic achievement, and also to Ainslee T. Embree and his colleagues, whose Encyclopedia of Asian History has proved invaluable. Without Anil Seal I would never have become interested in Indian history, while Rajnarayan Chandavarkar has consistently kept me to the mark. I have received very considerable help with Part III from Margaret Shepherd, while Michael Jansen, George Michell, Norbert Pea body, Linda Proud, John D. Smith, Simon C. Smith, Deborah Swallow and Andrew Topsfield are the authors of some of the special features. In so far as this book has merit, it is because it exists as an anthology of the learning and research of these scholars and of countless other. The production team at Andromeda have produced superb maps and pictures; but Susan Kennedy has borne the greatest burden. I owe her tremendous thanks for being so fair and generous an editor, and also for being so demanding and for ensuring that this Atlas lives up to the high standards of its predecessors. Lionel Carter at the Centre of South Asian Studies in Cambridge, colleagues at the University Library, the Faculty of Oriental Studies and at Selwyn College and Wolfson College, Cambridge have given me tremendous help and support. Much writing was done during the summers of 1993 and 1994 in the congenial environment of North Haven, Maine, a place and a society 1 hold particularly dear. Faith, my wife, has lived with this book and its heavy demands from a very distant beginning. I particularly value the kindness of my sons, and so this book is for Timothy, Nathaniel and Orlando Johnson. Gordon Johnson