Sunday, October 07, 2007

History from the eyes of a pondering vagabond

Some time ago, I struck upon an idea to write the entire history of India… as I see it. I however dithered… yet another History book… I said!!!!

History is one of the most dynamic social sciences… one need to visit historical facts again and again to understand them… in light of newer sociological, anthropological, geographical, philosophical, political and scientific developments. But that is best left to the experts… the more important thing for me is how you and I perceive the history… After all… the stories that my Papa told me in the childhood still reverberate in my mind whereas all the history lessons learnt in the School and thereafter, have considerably faded.

I will, therefore, like to write about the Indian history from the commoners' point of view… from my point of view… though, of course I realize that it would have little pedagogical value. But still...

But more importantly, I would like to do one more thing… I would like to write about the history of India enmeshed with a travelogue… that is, I will pick up a town as a vantage for the entire era or age and write about the age and also about the city/town/village that I have picked up as a vantage point. There after I will travel in a linear fashion to the place selected for the next era and write about my travel experience and the era… in a continuum….

This is a very time taking and difficult task…. Yet I will do it some day… wish me luck… that I may do it one day.

Here is the draft list of the selected places, and era that would be covered from the place... it may be seen that all efforts have been taken to enlist all the regions of India

Your suggestions are solicited

State

Place

Agenda of the Chapter

Title of the Chapter

Madhya Pradesh

Bhimbetka

Prehistoric India

Writings on the wall

Rajasthan

Kalibangan

Indus Valley Civilization

The Civilization begins

Uttaranchal

Kotdwar

Early Vedic Period

And those who came thereafter

Orissa

Puri

Later Vedic Period

The New order

Bihar

Bodhgaya

Buddhism and Jainism

And the two who defied it

Uttar Pradesh

Kanauj

Till about Harshavardhan

The Golden Age

Haryana

Panipat

Advent of Islam

And then the fragmented

Tamilnadu

Thanjavur

Early South Indian kingdoms

Around the same time in South

Andhra Pradesh

Warangal

Later South Indian kingdoms

And there after

Uttar Pradesh

Kara

Early Delhi Sultanate

Sultans of Delhi

Delhi

Tughlakabad

Later Delhi Sultanate

The turmoil that followed

Bihar

Sahsaram

Early Mughals

Mughals at the horizon

Punjab

Gurdaspur

The Mughal consolidation

The nation builders

Maharashtra

Nanded

Decay of Mughal empire

The nation crumbles

Karnataka

Hampi

Vijaynagar and Bahmanis

Tale of two cities

Rajasthan

Ajmer

Bhakti and Sufism

The Tolerant traditions

Maharashtra

Shivneri

Maratha empire

The Great Marathas

Kerala

Kozhikode

Arrivals of the European

Vini

West Bengal

Murshidabad

Opportunities for the Britishers

Vidi

Himachal Pradesh

Shimla

The Consolidation by the Britishers

Vici

Karnataka

Mysore

Tipu and Ranjit

The few road blocks

Jharkhand

Ranchi

1857 and few other revolts

The early defiance

West Bengal

Belur

Indian Renaissance

The Renaissance

Gujarat

Rajkot

Early National movement

Waiting for the Mahatma

Gujarat

Dandi

The National movement

The rise of the Mahatma

Uttar Pradesh

Kakori

The other paths

And those who differed

Jammu and Kashmir

Srinagar

Independence and the partition

The Nation Victorious

Chattisgarh

Bhilai

The Nehruvian period

The nation dreams

Tamilnadu

Perumbudur

Indira and Rajiv period

The nation setbacked

Assam

Guwahati

Post Rajiv period

The nation resurgent


2 comments:

lover said...

bahut achche jaa rahe hain sarkar

Pondering Vagabond said...

Sab aapki meharbani hai saheb