Delhi : Ancient History

Contents: Acknowledgement. Introduction. I. Stone Age sites in the Delhi area: 1. River migration and the floods: a study of a section of Yamuna River through remote sensing/A.K. Grover and P.L. Bakliwal. 2. A preliminary report on the Stone Age of the Union Territory of Delhi and Haryana/Dilip. K. Chakrabarti and Nayanjot Lahiri. 3. Prehistoric Delhi and its neighbourhood: physical features/A.K. Sharma. II. Protohistoric settlements: Late Harappan remains at Bhorgarh and Mandoli: 4. Mandoli: a late Harappan settlement in Delhi/B.S.R. Babu. 5. Excavations at Bhorgarh/B.S.R. Babu. 6. Bhorgarh and Mandoli/B.R. Mani. 7. Protohistoric archaeological remains of Union Territory of Delhi/R.C. Thakran. III. Archaeology and legend: 8. Excavations at the Purana Qila, New Delhi. 9. The building of the Assembly Hall/J.A.B. van Buitenen. 10. Indian archaeology and the epic traditions/B.D. Chattopadhyaya. 11. Mahabharata: Myth and reality/S.P. Gupta and K.S. Ramachandran. IV. The early historic period: the Ashokan Rock edict at Shrinivaspuri/Bahapur: 12. A tale of two pillars/Upinder Singh. 13. A newly discovered inscription of Asoka at Bahapur, Delhi/M.C. Joshi and B.M. Pande. 14. New Delhi inscription of Asoka/D.C. Sircar. V. The Mehrauli Iron Pillar inscription: 15. The Mehrauli Iron Pillar/M.C. Joshi. 16. Mehrauli Iron Pillar inscription of Chandra/B. Chhabra and G.S. Gai. VI. The early medieval period: Lal Kot and Anangpur: 17. Excavations at Lal Kot 1991-92 and further explorations in Delhi/B.R. Mani. 18. Anangpur Fort: the earliest Tomar Settlement near Delhi/B.R. Mani and I.D. Dwivedi. VII. The medieval and modern history of ancient remains: 19. The later histories of the Ashokan and Mehrauli Pillars/Upinder Singh. 20. In the shadow of New Delhi: Understanding the landscape through village eyes/Nayanjot Lahiri and Upinder Singh. Index.

"Not many people know that the busy and bustling capital city of Delhi and its surroundings have a long past, going back thousands of years. Prehistoric stone tools have surfaced here and many ancient remains have been found, sometimes accidentally by farmers tilling their fields, and at other times by archaeologists carrying out systematic excavations. A mound one passes everyday or a narrow strip of stream tells a story of ancient times. Centuries of history coexist with metro stations and plush cars.

The readings in this book give us glimpses of the lives of people who lived over the centuries in the Delhi area, and how these details are pieced together by historians. It brings into focus the importance of the historian's method and the sources of information found in ancient texts, archaeology and even legends and folklore, sometimes hanging on the thread of a slender historical fact.

This collection of essays has been put together by a teacher for students of history, but will also be of enormous value to a large number of other interested readers."