Age of the Nandas and Mauryas (An Old and Rare Book)

The present work deals with the period (c. 400-185 B.C.) which saw great changes in the political, economic and artistic life of India. Alexander, Chandragupta, Chauakya and Moka dominate the period. We get vivid pictures of the outstanding events of the period-as of Alexander's conquests and their influence on the cultural life of India, of the fusion of Brahma-Ksatra in the early Mauryan rule after the overthrow of the Nandas and of the rule of Agoka and his successors.

The work consists of eleven chapters contributed by eminent historians like Profs. H. C. Ray Chaudhuri, K. A. Nila-kanta Sastri, J. N. Banerjea, P. C. Bagchi, S. K. Chatterjee, V. Raghvan, and Nihar-ranjan Ray.

The reader would find the chapters on Mauryan Polity, Industry, Art, Religion, Language, and Literature very interesting and instructive.

The Bharatiya Itihas Parishad was founded in 1937 with the specific object, among others, of preparing a New History of the Indian People in twenty volumes. The scheme was initiated by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Rector of the Parishad, and Sir Jadunath Sarkar, Editor-in-chief. Volume VI, THE VAKATAKA-GUPTA AGE (C. 200-550 A. D.) edited by Dr. R. C. Majum.dar and Dr. A. S. Altekar was published for the Parishad in 1946 by Messrs Motilal Banarsidass of Lahore.

The plan for the present volume, IV in the series, was finalised in 1941, and thanks to the cooperation of the scholars who were invited to contribute the different chapters to it, the manuscript became ready for the press in 1945, and it was despatched to Sir Jadunath Sarkar in April of that year. The printing of the book was commenced, but before much progress was made, the Publishers met with a serious disaster in the Lahore riots. For this reason and others of a similar nature, the printing had to be stopped and could only be resumed in 1950 after the publishers had successfully rehabilitated themselves and found a new home in Banaras and Patna.

Meanwhile at the suggestion of the Government of India the scheme for the New History of the Indian People came to be amalgamated in 1948 with another started by the Indian History Congress, one of the terms of the amalgamation being that the Bhdratiya Itihas Parishad will not continue their series of the New History but may print or re-print the volumes already prepared. Accordingly the present volume is issued as an independent book styled AGE OF THE NANDAS AND MAURYAS.

The names of the contributors of the different chapters are mentioned in the table of contents. I must thank them all for their valued cooperation and more for their patient waiting as the publication has been delayed so long for reasons be-yond control. I must also express my gratitude to Dr. Rajendra Prasad, now President of the Indian Union, who has throughout taken a personal interest in the production and publication of the volume. Sir Jadunath Sarkar, although he felt con-strained to give up his place as Editor-in-chief in 1946, continued to make kind enquiries about the progress of the work and my thanks are also due to him. They are also due to Dr. N. P. Chakravarti, formerly Director-General of Archaeology, for permission to reproduce the map of Aioka's Empire published by him in Ancient India, No. 4. I must also thank the Director-General of Archaeology and the other authorities mentioned against particular illustrations for their permission to reproduce them in the volume. The authorities of the British Museum kindly supplied the casts of the coins illustrated in Plate I. Sri Jayachandra Vidyalankar, Secretary of the Bharatiya Haas Parishad, did me the favour of reading my chapter on Alexander's campaigns in India and offering suggestions of value. The publishers, it will be seen, have spared no effort to make the volume worthy of their great standing among Indian publishers. The reader will notice that the transliteration is not uniform, but combines two systems using ssh, and cch indiscriminately; this has been due in part to my ill health at the time I prepared the book for the press, and I crave the indulgence of the reader for any inconvenience he may feel on this account.

**Contents and Sample Pages**