The Past Before Us - Historical Traditions in the Historiography of Rajasthan

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

The present book The Past Before Us: Historical Traditions in the Historiography of Rajasthan by Professor Shankar Goyal is the first and only account of its kind on the subject. The Khyats are considered as the earliest sources of Rajput history of medieval Rajasthan. Therefore in its Part I Professor Goyal examines some prominent Khyats, such as, Muhnot Nainsi ri Khyat, Bankidas ri Khyat, Dayaldas ri Khyat, Jodhpur Rajya ki Khyat of Ai Dan Khidia, Marwar ri Khyat of Tilok Chand Joshi, and Jaisalmer ri Khyat of Ajit Singh Mehta.

In Part II Professor Goyal appropriately demarcates the various traditions that has dominated in the modern historiography of Rajasthan. The first tradition extended from James Tod to the dawn of Indian independence wherein the trend was of writing the chronological histories of the dynasties. The second tradition commenced from the mid-20th century showing a new trend of writing the history of Rajasthan against the perspective of national history. And lastly, a few more traditions that developed simultaneously in the later half of the 20th century were the writing of regional history, the study of the life of common people, the nature of freedom struggle or the liberation movements, poetic compositions about historical characters, and the study of culture of Rajasthan. While exercising his discretion in a fair manner Professor Goyal has chosen eleven historians, namely, James Tod, Shyamaldas, G.H. Ojha, V.N. Reu, Dasharatha Sharma, S.R. Goyal, G.N. Sharma, R.P. Vyas, L.S. Rathore, G.S.L. Devra and Sobhag Mathur, for being included in this part because they have been the pioneers in different traditions or areas of the history of Rajasthan.

Shankar Goyal, M.A., Ph.D., D. Litt., is the retired Professor of History, Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, and one of the well known authorities of ancient Indian history and historiography. Apart from numerous articles published in reputed journals, he has authored Recent Historiography of Ancient India, Marxist Interpretation of Ancient Indian History, Contemporary Interpreters of Ancient India, Ancient India: A Multidisciplinary Approach, 175 Years of Vakataka History and Historiography, Harsha : A Multidisciplinary Political Study, The Medieval' Factor and the Age of Harsha: A Cultural Study, Harsha Revisited: A Re-interpretation of Existing Data, The Significance of Yuan Chwang in the Context of the Seventh Century: A Critical Assessment, The Classical Age: A Study in Feudalization, and, more recently, Origin and Growth of History Writing in Rajasthan (in three volumes). His books and many articles brought him encomiums from scholars such as Professors R. N. Dandekar, G.C. Pande, R. S. Sharma, Irfan Habib, Romila Thapar, R. Champakalakshmi, Shireen Moosvi, Kumkum Roy, A. M. Shastri, Bardwell L. Smith (Mirnesota, U.S.A.). Walter .. Spink (Michigan, U.S.A.), Maurizio Taddei (Napoli, Italy), P. K. Mitra (Rajshahi, Bangladesh) and others.

The present book entitled The Past Before Us: Historical Traditions in the Historiography of Rajasthan is a natural sequel to my earlier researches and works on the subject which has drawn my attention since last five decades or so. As I have written elsewhere, history writing in Rajasthan has followed broadly the pattern of its political history. In the pre-Maurya period, until quite recently, there was no political entity under the name of 'Rajasthan' or any other such name. In the age of the Buddha, there were a few janapadas and in the post-Maurya period the region was a home of various tribal republics. Their history may best be treated as a part of the general history of India. After the advent of the Rajputs, what is now Rajasthan became divided into a large number of states each drawing sustenance from a tribal base. During their hegemony history writing was limited to the writing of prabandhas, and charita kavyas, etc. Thus, until the age of Akbar, who created a unified province of Rajasthan which he named after its capital Ajmer by combining under one authority almost the whole territory covered by its various states, Rajasthan had never been united politically. Thereafter, political disintegration of Rajasthan synchronised with and was indeed caused by the disintegration of the Mughals.

**Contents and Sample Pages**