Abstract
This volume is dedicated to the memory of Professor Ram Sharan Sharma (d. 2011) and the first six out of the sixteen articles included in the volume deal with Professor Sharma’s approach to history as well as his contributions to the field of ancient and early medieval history. Given Professor Sharma’s fundamental work on subjects ranging from the Aryas, the Śudras and towns in late ancient and early medieval India, this is as it should be. Professor Sharma espoused the Marxist approach from his early days, and this made him look at those aspects of social and economic history that had been neglected in earlier work. That is why his Śudras in Ancient India (1958), Aspects of Political Ideas and Institutions (1959), Indian Feudalism, 300–1200 (1965) and Urban Decay in India, c. 300–c. 1000 (1987) have been considered by most historians as classic works. The other ten essays range over varied historical topics, all informative and interesting, for even such readers as have no intention of undertaking research in any of the fields that the articles are concerned with. Closest to Professor Sharma’s own interests are, perhaps, the essays contributed by Professor Rajan Gurukkal, Kesavan Veluthat, Y. Subbarayalu and Binay Bhushan Chaudhuri. There is at the end a useful select list of Professor Sharma’s historical writings (books and articles) and a serviceable index.