Author Description

The third of a four-volume survey and explorations in political science conducted by the Indian Council of Social Science Research, this volume is a departure from the conventional approach of studying Indian political thought through political-intellectual biographies. It traces the paradigm shifts in the study of Indian political thought, from the initial dismissive Orientalist approach to the attempts by Indian scholars to elaborate ancient Indian political thought as a tradition and later on to multidisciplinary engagement with debates on a wide range of contemporary issues. It examines researches done on themes such as politics of time and knowledge; ideals of kingship in early political Indian thought; texts, practices, and material cultures in early and medieval Indian political thought; the debates on nationalism and the nation-state; cosmopolitanism; the idea of democracy in dalit, adivasi, and feminist discourses; and the relationship between ethics and politics. This volume provides a bibliographic guide on the subject and indicates the possible areas of future research.