Archaeological Geography of the Ganga Plain : The Lower and the Middle Ganga/Dilip K. Chakrabarti. Delhi, Permanent Black, 2001, xx, 307 p., plates, maps, $55. ISBN 81-7824-016-5.

Contents: Preface. I. Introduction : 1. The study area. 2. The purpose of the study. 3. The academic context : research related to the ancient historical geography of India. 4. The theoretical milieu : historical geography, archaeology and history. 5. Concluding remarks. II. The Mahananda plains : 1. Introduction. 2. The region’s historical linkages. 3. Sites and material recorded in West Dinajpur and Maldaha. 4. The collection of sculptures. 5. Earlier and later work in the area. 6. Political geography. 7. Problems of historical identifications. 8. General observations. 9. J.F. Salles and the Bengal Coast-line. III. The western bank of the Bhagirathi: The Mayurakshi-Ajay-Damodar-Rupnarayan plain : 1. Introduction. 2. The focus of the present work. 3. Site catalogue. 4. Discussion. 5. The location of early historic cities and the issues of political geography. IV. The coastal archeology of West Bengal: The Bhagirathi mouth and the Midnapur coast : 1. Geographical introduction. 2. Site catalogue. 3. Discussion. V. The Ganga from the Rajmahal Hills to the Karmanasa: the plains of Anga and Magadha: 1. Introduction. 2. Sites in different sectors. 3. Concluding observations. 4. Appendix. VI. The Kosi-Bagmati-Gandak plains from Purnea to Champaran : 1. Introduction. 2. Sites in different sectors of the North Bihar plains. 3. Observations. VII. Beyond the Sarayu, or the Sarayupar plain : 1. Introduction. 2. Sites. 3. Observations. VIII. Along the Ganga from Ballia to Banaras and beyond : 1. Introduction. 2. Sites. 3. Discussion. 4. The issue of routes. IX. From Ayodhya on the Sarayu to Bhita and Kausambi on the Yamuna : 1. Introduction. 2. Sites. 3. Observations. X. Conclusions. References. Index.

"This book discusses the ancient historical geography of the lower and middle sections of the Ganga plain. Its basis is a field-study of the distribution of archaeological sites in the region. The geographical issues which have been considered here are the location of sites, the historical linkages of different areas, the problems of political geography, and the routes.

"The work follows the author’s earlier archaeological studies of the Chhotanagpur plateau—which borders this region on the west—and the Bangladesh section of the Ganga delta, which lies to its east. The eastern limit of the present study area is the Sagar Island south of Kolkata (Calcutta) and its western border is an irregular line running through the trans-Sarayu plain in Bahraich and linking Faizabad, Sultanpur, Pratapgarh and Allahabad. Further, south of the Yamuna in Allahabad, traverses have been taken up to Chitrakut and Kalinjar; and south of the Ganga between Banaras and Mirzapur, similar traverses were taken up to Robertsganj and the border of Surguja in Madhya Pradesh to understand the nature of the middle Ganga plain’s links with central India.

"The last time an archaeologist tried to understand the ancient historical-geographical situation of the Ganga plain in its totality was in the closing decades of the nineteenth century. In a sense this work is the first attempt to update and recast that work, by Alexander Cunningham and his group, in the context of the lower and the middle sections of the valley.

"This extremely significant work of scholarship has detailed maps and a large plate section." (jacket)

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