The Big Questions and the Journey of This Chapter
What 'Society' Means and What a 'State' Means
The Beginnings: Why the Vedas Are Our Earliest Written Source
The Four Vedas and the Four Parts of Each Veda
What the Vedic Texts Tell Historians, and the Janas
Sabhā, Samiti and Vidhata: The Three Assemblies
Iron and Painted Grey Ware in the Ganga Plains
NBPW and the Signs of a Richer Material Culture
From Jana to Janapada: When People Became Tied to Land
The Sixteen Mahājanapadas and the Rise of Magadha
Rājyas and Gaṇas: Two Kinds of State
The Three Crowned Kings of Tamilakam and the Sangam Poems
What the Texts Expected of a King
The King as Protector and Judge, and Kings Who Were Elected or Expelled
Jambudvīpa, Prithivi and the Chakravarti Kśhetra
How Kings Kept Expressing the Pan-Indian Ideal
Kauṭilya's Saptāṁga: The Seven Limbs of the State
The Mantri-Pariṣhad: Why No King Ruled Alone
Three Rulers on One Rock: The Junagadh Inscription
What the Junagadh Rock Teaches Us about Inscriptions
How the Early Empires Were Administered
Decentralisation after 300 CE: Bhuktis, Manḍalas and Nāḍus
Gupta Officers and Pallava Brahmadeya Villages
Chālukya Agrahārams and the Tripartite Struggle for Kannauj
The Imperial Cholas and Their Village Assemblies
The Uttaramerur Inscription and the Kudavolai Ballot Pot
Ethics as the Foundation of Law and Life: Samatva and Ṛita
Dharma, Justice and Governance: From Aśhoka's Edicts to Kādambarī
Varṇa: Not Fixed by Birth in the Early Vedic Texts
The Puruṣhasūkta, the Four Varṇas and the Rise of Jāti
Social Mobility: Rulers of Many Origins and the Mandsaur Weavers
What Tamil Sources Show: Tolkappiyam and Pattinappalai
Kula, Grāma, Viśha and Jana: The Family inside the Polity
The Four Āśhramas and the Four Puruṣhārthas
Women in the Vedic Age: Sages, Rituals and the Sabhā
Queens, Donors and Poetesses: Women from the Guptas to the Cholas
Vedic Deities, Yajñas and the Worship of Nature
Renunciants, Personal Deities and the Rise of Bhakti
What Early Indian Education Was For: Values, Subjects and the Gurukula
Takṣhaśhilā to Ennayiram: Centres of Learning and the Literary Heritage
Agriculture and Land Revenue: The Mauryan System and After
Irrigation: Sudarshana Lake and the Grand Anicut
Trade under the State: Dakṣhiṇāpatha and Uttarāpatha
Ports and the Sea: Muziris, Arikameḍu and the Trade with Rome
Guilds (Śhreṇīs): What They Were and How They Governed Craft
Guilds as Banks and Patrons: Nāśhik, Textiles and the Ivory Workers
Looking Back: State, Empire and Administration
Looking Back: Society, Knowledge, Economy and Trade