This slim paperback volume is intended as a textbook for introductory undergraduate courses in the history of the Indian subcontinent. Responding to the complaints of his University of Michigan students that similar books were “too long, too detailed and had too many names and terms to master for students new to the subject” (p. viii), Trautmann set himself the ambitious task of writing a book that can be read in a few sittings, and yet be comprehensive in coverage, providing a mental map of chronology and terms and giving readers the means to tackle more advanced works. Endeavouring not to sacrifice complexity at the altar of brevity, Trautmann recognizes the thankless nature of his task, commenting that the resulting volume will probably satisfy neither students nor scholars.
The volume is divided into twelve chapters, seven of which deal with the earlier period (c. 2500 bce–1000 ce). The choice to weight the book in this way is a welcome change from the more familiar privileging of the modern, although it is the medieval period (c. 1000 ce–c.1750) which suffers, being reduced to a single chapter, whilst the modern period (c. 1750 to the present day) is covered in three chapters.
The book commences with a discursive introduction which successively defines the key terms “India”, “Indians” and “Civilization”, followed by a description of the geographical and climatic features of the subcontinent. Chapter 2, “The beginnings of Indian civilization”, focuses on the Indus Valley civilization. Although he warns against reading evidence through the lens of hindsight, Trautmann is open to the possible continuities with later aspects of Indian civilization, particularly in the field of religion. He avoids a detailed discussion of the politically charged question of the Aryan origin of the Indus Valley Civilization here, merely noting that it has “many difficulties”, including the “near complete absence of remains of horses and chariots” (p. 31). The “Further reading” section refers interested readers to his useful publications, which treat the matter exhaustively. Chapter 3, “The Vedic age”, commences with a discussion of the Rig Veda, including the gods of the Rig Veda, noting continuities with later Hinduism. A discussion of the origins of the Vedic peoples and a reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European society, religion and culture follows. The final section, on the later Veda, details the development of later Vedic literature, including the Grihya, Shrauta, Shulva and Dharma Sutras. Unlike Inden, Trautmann does not overtly attribute these developments to a Brahminical reaction to the challenges of the Shramana religions, but rather to the multiplication of sacrifices and their increasing complexity. Chapter 4, “New religions, new empires”, introduces much new material, succinctly treating the religions of renunciation, the rise of Magadha and the Mauryas. Chapter 5, “Classical India”, covers the period 187 bce–1000 ce in three sections: The Formation of Classical Indian Civilization (187 bce–320 ce); The Classical Age (320–600) and Late Classical Indian Civilization (600–1000), and given the complexity of the period, would benefit from some additional maps.
The chronological narrative is here interrupted by two chapters on social institutions and collective concepts. Whilst the inclusion of family as a historically constructed institution is a welcome addition to an introductory volume, the anthropological approach of chapter 6, “Family, society and polity”, has the unfortunate, and doubtless unintended, effect of implying a timeless character to present-day marriage practices. Chapter 7, “Mentalities”, is an extremely useful chapter which first reviews the various religious approaches of the early period, characterizing them as three “moments”: sacrifice, renunciation and devotion, before summarizing the religious spectrum of late classical times, briefly discussing Mimamsa, Vedanta, the southern bhakti saints, goddess worship and Tantricism. The following section on law is perhaps one of the best brief introductions to the complex subject of law in ancient India, and is followed by an equally useful section on the sciences and the classical arts. An unfortunate error seems to have crept into the section on Ayurveda, however, where the Greek humoral system is said to consist of three humors: wind, bile and phlegm (pp. 123–4), rather than the standard four humors: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. Chapter 8, “The world that India made”, speaks to current scholarly interests in the Sanskrit Cosmopolis (although the work of Pollock is not referenced), situating India within global history, whilst recognizing the multi-directional character of influence.
With chapter 9, “Turks and Mughals”, the chronological narrative resumes, although rather more unevenly. An account of the revelation and early history of Islam including the Umayyad conquest of Sindh is followed by a section entitled “Turks”, which subsumes the Ghaznavid raids, the Ghurid conquests and the Delhi Sultanate into a single narrative, eliding the diverse ethnicities and political motivations of these distinct historical agents. The section on the Mughals reverts to the conventional narration of this period through the personalities of the rulers, ignoring the more recent trend towards structural and thematic analysis. Moreover, the relegation of almost all mention of Muslims in the pre-modern period to this single chapter (rather than a chronological treatment) and the use of phrases like “Muslim power” or the description of Islam and Christian Europe as “two far-reaching imperial expansions” (pp. 82, 9) are unfortunate choices which reify popular stereotypes of a single unified narrative of an “Islamic invasion of India”, contrary to recent scholarship which emphasizes the Hindu–Muslim encounter as a longer, more heterogeneous and translational process.
The final three chapters are dedicated to the modern period. The impact of European merchants and the establishment of British rule to 1857 is the subject of chapter 10: “Europeans”. British rule is treated first in terms of territorial acquisition and then in terms of its increasing impact on Indian society, economy and political life. Chapter 11, “The nation state”, examines the growth of Indian Nationalism through nineteenth-century socio-religious reform movements, the high politics of the Indian National Congress and the biographies of Gandhi and Jinnah. The volume ends with chapter 12, “New nations”, in which, under the rubric of nation state, economy and society, Trautmann gives a succinct sketch of each South Asian nation from 1947 to the present day. Surprisingly no mention is made of either communal violence or language politics – arguably two of the most significant strands in Indian political life. Finally an important concluding discussion analyses the conflicting views of the past of Indian civilization that form part of each nation state's self-definition.
In sum, Trautmann largely succeeds in his ambitious goal, producing a compact, readable narrative that makes 5,000 years of Indian history accessible to undergraduates and the interested lay-reader alike. Inevitably, specialists will find grounds for dissatisfaction, whether authorial decisions about compression, or occasional sleights of hand which veer towards uncomfortable generalizations. This is particularly the case with chapter 9. Yet, despite such concerns, this book is a remarkable achievement, and will certainly go a long way towards meeting the needs of the target audience.
