Rethinking Bihar and Bengal (History, Culture and Religion)

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About the Book

This book is a collection of some of the published papers of the author, published mostly abroad, and unravels some significant yet hitherto neglected aspects of history, culture and religion of Bihar and Bengal: two areas that were connected through an intricate network of rivers. Themes looked into are: early historic urbanisation in the Mithila plains of North Bihar; the social history of Brahmanical religious institutions (temples and Mathas) in early medieval Bihar and Bengal; the social history of Buddhist monasticism in early medieval Bihar and Bengal; the integration of a local goddess into the institutional fabric of Mahayana Buddhism; the survival of Buddhism in the thirteenth and fourteenth century AD; pilgrimage from Central India and Deccan to a Hindu pilgrimage centre of Bihar in the medieval period; and the debate on the Islamisation of medieval eastern Bengal.

About the Author Birendra Nath Prasad is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, where he teaches social history of religion in India and Southeast Asia. His publications include Monasteries, Shrines and Society: Buddhist and Brahmanical Religious Institutions in India in their Socio-Economic Context (edited, Delhi, 2011); Buddhism in a Poly-Religious Context: An Archaeological History of Buddhist, Brahmanical and Jaina Religious Centres in Early Medieval Bihar and Bengal (Delhi, 2021); Social History of Indian Buddhism: New Researches (edited, Delhi, 2021, forthcoming), and many peer-reviewed research articles in prestigious international journals such as Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies (Oxford), Buddhist Studies Review (London), Religions of South Asia (London/Sheffield) and Berlin lndological Studies.

Preface

The articles included in this book are the products of my past twenty years of research. Many of them were published from abroad. They are not easily available for Indian and Bangladeshi readers. Some friends suggested to me to bring out a collection of these articles in the form of a book to facilitate their easier availability in India and Bangladesh. Needless to say, this book owes its origin to the suggestions of these friends.

I put on record my thanks to Prof. Richard Gombrich, Prof. Peter Harvey, Prof. Simon Brodbeck, Prof. Dermot Killingley, Prof. Madhu Khanna, Prof. Debi Prasad Dubey, Prof. Anil Kumar and Prof. Rupen Kumar Chattopadhyay for their support. Academic discussions with Dr. Umakant Mishra were always fruitful. Prof. Heeraman Tiwari, Prof Umesh Kadam and Prof. Pius Malekandathi- my esteemed colleagues at the Centre for Historical Studies, JNU- were always available whenever I encountered any issue. Nayan Dhawal, Siva Yadav and Rohit Kumar- PhD scholars working under my super-vision-rendered valuable help.

This work would not have seen the light of the day without the active support of my wife (Rashmi Prabha) and my father-in-law (Dr. Prabhas Kumar). Pragati, Anurag and Aditya-our three children- had to sacrifice their share of time with their father for the completion of the book. I remain thankful to all of them.

**Contents and Sample Pages**