Gem In The Lotus

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Penguin UK, Jan 23, 2002 - Literary Collections - 600 pages
A comprehensive and compelling portrait of ancient India In Gem in the Lotus, Abraham Eraly, author of The Last Spring, the best-selling and critically acclaimed history of the Mughals, identifies and explores the significant milestones in the evolution of ancient India. Beginning with an enquiry into the enigma that was the Indus Valley civilisation, he writes of the progression from the Vedic Aryan culture to the age of religious and philosophical ferment, culminating in the tenets of Jainism; the founding and consolidation of Buddhism; Alexander's advance into India; the rise of the Mauryan empire; and Ashoka's unusual political career. In the final section of the book, he describes the -clockwork state' of the Mauryas depicted in Kautilya's Arthasastra and in ancient Greek accounts.
 

Contents

The Genesis
The Roseapple Land
Enigma of the Indus Valley
Priestkings and Merchant Princes
Gods of the Valley
Rigor Mortis
Vedic India
Indras Legions
The Journeys
Monkey and the Pitchtrap
Ehi Bhikkhu
The Patricides
A Greek Interlude
Live Short Live Much
Kautilyas Revenge
The Wicked Prince

The Vedic Corpus
The Domestication of Aryans
The Warbegotten King
Colour and Caste
Chant am I verse thou
Unto Us a Happy Mind
Across the Void a Dividing Line
Twilight of the Gods
Neyti Neyti
Rebels and Prophets
The Fordmaker
A Saviour is Born
The Middle Path
The Fire Sermon
All men are my children
Beloved of the Gods
All for the King
The Leviathan
Mauryan State Capitalism
The Great Tax Heist
Kautilyan Commandments
Enemy and the Enemy of the Enemy
Greek Fables
Women Sophists and Cannibals
Mlecchas and Sages
Incidental Data
Notes
Acknowledgements

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