India's ancient past / by R. S. Sharma

Includes chronology of literary sources, bibliography and index.

The significance of ancient Indian history -- Modern historian's of ancient India -- Nature of sources and historical construction -- Geographical setting -- Ecology and environment -- The linguistic background -- Human evolution: the old stone age -- The Neolithic age: first food producers and animal keepers -- Chalcolithic cultures -- Harappan culture: Bronze Age Urbanization in the Indus Valley -- Identity of Aryan culture -- The age of the Rig Veda -- The later Vedic phase: transition to State and Social orders -- Jainism and Buddhism -- Territorial states and the rise of Magadha -- Iranian and Macedonian invasions -- State structure and the Varna system in the age of the Buddha -- The Maurya age -- The significance of Maurya rule -- Central Asian contact and mutual impact -- The Satavahana phase -- The dawn of history in the deep south -- Crafts, commerce and urban growth (200BC-AD250) -- Rise and growth of the Gupta Empire -- Life in the Gupta Age -- Spread of civilization in Eastern India -- Harsha and his times -- Brahmanization, rural expansion and peasant protest in the Peninsula -- Developments in philosophy -- Cultural interaction with Asian countries -- From ancient to medieval -- Sequence of social changes -- Legacy in science and civilization