Encyclopedia of Ancient and Modern India: A 120-Volume Civilizational Knowledge System

A 120-Volume Research Infrastructure on India Covering 5000 Years of History, Culture, and Civilization

Introduction

The Encyclopedia of Ancient and Modern India as conceived under the umbrella of Sarvarthapedia is not merely as a large compilation (See: Twelve Core Areas of Sarvarthapedia), but as a fundamentally different kind of intellectual project. Earlier multi-volume histories—however ambitious—have largely remained linear, narrative-driven, and period-bound, presenting conclusions in relatively closed forms. This blueprint departs from that tradition in both structure and purpose and based on Sarvarthapedia Knowledge Ecosystem.

What actually makes this design different is that it is not just bigger — but structurally different. It is imagined as a research infrastructure rather than a conventional book series, organized through a multi-layered framework that brings together chronology, themes, regions, and methods within a single system. Instead of chapters, it is entry-based, allowing each unit to function independently while remaining interconnected. The design is explicitly built for cross-navigation and expansion, enabling readers to move across time periods, regions, and analytical categories without being confined to a single narrative path.

Equally important is the integration of historiography. Rather than presenting settled accounts, each entry incorporates competing interpretations, source criticism, and explicit recognition of the limits of knowledge. In doing so, the encyclopedia shifts from simply telling history to examining how history is constructed. This marks a clear movement away from traditional narrative synthesis toward a more analytical, self-aware, and open-ended form of historical knowledge.

Part I: Prehistory and Protohistory (Volumes 1–6)

Volume 1: Geological and Environmental Foundations

Examines the subcontinent as a physical entity: plate tectonics, river systems, and ecological zones. Frames how geography constrained and enabled human settlement over deep time.

Volume 2: Earliest Human Presence

Traces hominin activity from Paleolithic to Mesolithic phases through tools, sites, and subsistence patterns. Evaluates archaeological methods and debates around migration and continuity.

Volume 3: Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Proto-Urban Networks

Focuses on the shift to agriculture, animal domestication, and sedentary life. Compares regional trajectories rather than assuming a single “Neolithic revolution.” Investigates pre-urban craft specialization, exchange circuits, and settlement hierarchies. Questions how and why complexity emerged unevenly across regions.

Volume 4: Proto-Vedic Civilisation

When we invoke a Proto-Vedic civilisation, we inevitably run into tension with earlier volumes on the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Proto-Urban Networks; this is not a flaw but an inevitable contradiction within any evidence-based knowledge model such as Sarvarthapedia. If we take that model seriously, we must read across Vedic texts, oral tradition, written transmission, and linguistic and grammatical patterns. In doing so, the Rigveda appears not as a single beginning but as a layered inheritance—in a sense, before the Rigveda there was a Rigvedic world; before its people, earlier bearers of similar cultural forms. No single Indological method can determine where or when RV 1.1 was composed—whether in Europe, ancient Persia, or within the Sindhu–Saraswati cultural zone, shaped by mixed populations with strong ritual tendencies. The idea of a Proto-Vedic phase may therefore extend far deeper than textual history suggests, perhaps reaching into deep prehistory (even hypothetically toward 20000 BCE), before gradually taking recognizable form in later textual traditions discussed in Part II. In this light, references such as the Mādhyandina branch of the Yajurveda—literally “midday”—should not be read as fixed chronology (e.g., 6000–4500 BCE), but as symbolic markers within a layered and retrospective timeline, rather than a single, closed historical moment. See: Satapatha Brahman, Saraswati River

Volume 5: Sindhu-Saraswati Urban Culture

Analyzes city planning, hydraulic systems, and material culture. Treats the Indus not as uniform but as a network of varied urban experiments.

Volume 6: Failure of Sindhu-Saraswati City State and Decline

Explores social organization, belief systems, and the undeciphered script. Reviews competing explanations for transformation rather than a single “collapse” narrative.

Part II: Vedic and Early Historic India (Volumes 7–12)

Volume 7: Ancient Vedic Worlds

Reads Vedic texts alongside archaeology to reconstruct pastoral-agrarian life. Emphasizes fluidity in social structures rather than fixed categories.

The Vedic Nation (राष्ट्र)

Volume 8: Neo-Vedic Transformations

Tracks political centralization and stratification. Critically examines the emergence of varna and ritual authority.

Sources of Indian History According to Vincent A. Smith: Failure to Treat the Vedas as Historical Sources
Rig Veda (ऋग्वेदः) Shakala Samhita
Yuddha Gita

Volume 9: Mahajanapadas and State Formation

Studies the rise of territorial polities and urban centers. Places northern India within wider Afro-Eurasian developments.

Volume 10: Shramanic Movements

Situates Buddhism, Jainism, and other traditions as critiques of Vedic orthodoxy. Focuses on ethics, institutions, and patronage networks.

Volume 11: Persian and Hellenistic Interfaces

Explores contacts with Achaemenid and Greek worlds. Highlights exchange in administration, art, and coinage.

Volume 12: Economy and Society in Early Historic India

Examines guilds, trade routes, and monetization. Questions the scale and integration of early markets.

Part III: Imperial Formations (Volumes 13–20)

Volume 13: Mauryan State Formation

Reconstructs the making of the first large-scale empire. Balances textual sources with archaeological evidence.

Statue of Bahubali at Shravanabelagola

Volume 14: Ashokan Imperium

Interprets edicts as political communication rather than pure moral doctrine. Considers governance, ideology, and limits of control.

Volume 15: Post-Mauryan Polities I

Studies regional kingdoms and shifting power centers. Challenges the idea of “decline” after empire.

Volume 16: Post-Mauryan Polities II

Focuses on transregional connections under Kushans and others. Tracks movement of goods, ideas, and artistic forms.

Volume 17: Gupta Empire I — Power and Territory

Analyzes political consolidation and its limits. Avoids uncritical “golden age” narratives.

Volume 18: Gupta Empire II — Culture and Knowledge

Examines literature, science, and art within elite contexts. Questions how far cultural florescence penetrated society.

Volume 19: Classical Society

Studies everyday life, social hierarchy, and religious practices. Emphasizes diversity over uniformity.

Volume 20: Toward Regionalization

Explains fragmentation as transformation, not simple decline. Maps the emergence of regional cultures.

Part IV: Early Medieval Regional Worlds (Volumes 21–30)

Volume 21: North Indian Polities

Explores Rajput formations and kinship politics. Critiques later romanticized narratives.

Volume 22: Eastern Regions

Focuses on Bengal and Odisha as dynamic zones of change. Highlights deltaic ecology and state formation.

Volume 23: Western and Central India

Examines Gurjara-Pratihara and related powers. Studies trade, warfare, and cultural patronage.

Volume 24: Deccan Configurations

Analyzes Rashtrakutas and Chalukyas as mediators of north-south exchange. Emphasizes mobility and hybridity.

Volume 25: South India I — Early Structures

Studies Pallavas and early Cholas. Focuses on temple-centered authority and land control.

Volume 26: South India II — Imperial Cholas

Examines administration, inscriptions, and maritime reach. Questions the scale of centralized control.

Volume 27: Religious Movements

Explores Bhakti as social and devotional transformation. Avoids viewing it as a single unified movement.

Volume 28: Temple and Art Worlds

Studies architecture as political and economic institutions. Treats temples as nodes of power.

Volume 29: Agrarian Systems

Analyzes land grants and rural change. Questions feudal models in the Indian context.

Volume 30: Social Formations

Examines caste, gender, and labor. Focuses on lived realities rather than prescriptive texts.

Part V: Sultanate and Early Modern Transformations (Volumes 31–40)

Volume 31: Delhi Sultanate — Foundations

Studies conquest, adaptation, and legitimacy. Avoids binary “foreign vs native” framings.

Volume 32: Governance and Military Systems

Analyzes institutions, taxation, and armies. Considers practical constraints of rule.

Volume 33: Urban and Social Worlds

Explores cities as centers of culture and conflict. Tracks mobility and new identities.

Volume 34: Regional Sultanates

Focuses on Deccan and Bengal polities. Highlights decentralization and innovation.

Volume 35: Vijayanagara I — State Formation

Examines political ideology and territorial control. Questions narratives of civilizational opposition.

Volume 36: Vijayanagara II — Economy and Culture

Studies trade, temples, and court life. Emphasizes interconnected economies.

Volume 37: Sufi and Bhakti Intersections

Analyzes devotional networks across traditions. Focuses on shared spaces and tensions.

Volume 38: Indian Ocean Trade

Places India in global maritime systems. Tracks commodities, merchants, and ports.

Volume 39: Art and Architecture

Studies Indo-Islamic forms as synthesis, not rupture. Emphasizes patronage and meaning.

Volume 40: Late Medieval Transitions

Explains shifting alliances and fragmentation. Sets stage for Mughal expansion.

Part VI: Mughal and Early Colonial India (Volumes 41–50)

Volume 41: Mughal Beginnings

Studies Babur and Humayun as founders under constraint. Focuses on adaptation.

Volume 42: Akbar’s Political Project

Examines integration strategies and imperial ideology. Questions extent of consensus.

Volume 43: Courtly Zenith

Studies Jahangir and Shah Jahan through culture and governance. Balances aesthetics with power.

Volume 44: Aurangzeb and Expansion

Analyzes imperial overstretch and policy debates. Avoids reductionist interpretations.

Volume 45: Mughal Economy and Society

Examines agrarian systems and urban growth. Questions sustainability.

Volume 46: Cultural Production

Studies literature, art, and science as elite enterprises. Tracks circulation of ideas.

The Advent of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Goudiya Movement

Volume 47: Imperial Decline

Explains weakening structures and regional assertion. Rejects single-cause explanations.

Volume 48: Regional Powers

Explores Marathas, Sikhs, and others. Focuses on new political idioms.

Volume 49: European Invasions in India

Studies of how trading companies from Europe became the rules of India/ Hindustan. We have written a separate 11 Volumes on European Invasions in India and Colonialism, Resistance, and Restoration

Siraj-ud-Daulah of Bengal: Fall of Islam And Rising of Hindu Politics (1757)

Volume 50: Transition to Colonial Rule

Analyzes gradual political-economic shifts. Avoids teleological narratives.

Part VII: Colonial India (Volumes 51–60)

Volume 51: Company State

Studies governance experiments and expansion. Emphasizes contingency over inevitability.

Volume 52: Economic Restructuring

Analyzes land revenue, industry, and trade. Debates deindustrialization.

Volume 53: Social Reform and Change

Examines reform movements in context. Avoids viewing them as purely colonial products.

Volume 54: Knowledge and Education

Studies print culture and intellectual shifts. Tracks emergence of new publics.

Volume 55: Revolt of 1857

Analyzes causes, spread, and interpretations. Questions labels like “mutiny” vs “war.”

Volume 56: Crown Rule

Examines administrative consolidation. Studies law, bureaucracy, and control.

Volume 57: Early Nationalism

Tracks formation of political consciousness. Focuses on limits of elite politics.
Fall of Islam And Rising of Hindu Politics (1757)
Contemporary Indian Politics

Volume 58: Mass Nationalism

Examines mobilization and dissent. Avoids overly unified narratives.

Volume 59: Gandhian Politics

Studies methods, ideas, and contradictions. Considers both reach and limits.

Volume 60: End of Empire

Analyzes partition, negotiation, and violence. Rejects simplistic closure.

Contemporary Indian Politics
Partition of India
History of Pakistan: From Hindustan to an Islamic Republic
Indo–Pakistan War of 1971

Part VIII: Independent and Contemporary India (Volumes 61–70)

Volume 61: Constitutional Foundations

Studies debates and institutional design. Frames constitution as evolving document.

Volume 62: Nehruvian State

Examines planning, democracy, and foreign policy. Questions outcomes versus intent.

Volume 63: Political Upheavals

Analyzes crises including the Emergency. Studies resilience of institutions.

Indira Gandhi 1978 Interview

Volume 64: Economic and Social Change

Tracks agriculture, industry, and inequality. Emphasizes uneven development.

Volume 65: Liberalization

Studies reforms and global integration. Questions winners and losers.

Volume 66: Federal Dynamics

Examines state politics and regional assertion. Highlights diversity of governance.

Volume 67: Society and Culture

Studies media, identity, and change. Focuses on contested narratives.

Volume 68: Science and Technology

Tracks scientific institutions and innovation. Links policy with outcomes.

Volume 69: Foreign Policy

Analyzes global positioning and strategy. Avoids linear narratives of rise.

Volume 70: Contemporary Challenges

Examines environment, economy, and society. Frames future as open-ended.

Part IX: Thematic and Reference Volumes (Volumes 71–80)

Volume 71: Religions of India

Comparative study across traditions. Focuses on practice as well as doctrine.
Sanatan Dharma

Volume 72: Philosophical Traditions

Covers major schools and debates. Emphasizes continuity and reinterpretation.

Volume 73: Languages and Linguistics

Studies language families and change. Links language with identity and power.

Volume 74: Literary Traditions

Examines texts across languages and periods. Focuses on context and reception.

Volume 75: Art and Aesthetics

Analyzes visual culture and theory. Connects form with patronage.

Volume 76: Architecture and Urbanism

Studies built environments across time. Frames cities as lived spaces.

Volume 77: Science and Medicine

Examines knowledge systems and practice. Avoids civilizational exceptionalism.

Volume 78: Economy and Trade

Long-term view of production and exchange. Highlights global connections.

Indian Economy

Volume 79: Military Traditions

Studies warfare, technology, and organization. Links conflict with state formation.

Volume 80: Diaspora and Global India

Explores migration and transnational networks. Frames India beyond its borders.

Part X: Historiography, Methods, and Sources (Volumes 81–90)

Volume 81: Writing the History of India

Traces how Indian history has been constructed—from colonial narratives to nationalist and subaltern critiques. Examines bias, method, and the politics of interpretation.

Sruti and Smriti Tradition
Itihas, Puran and Narasamsha Tradition
Poetic Method Or Ramayana of Valmiki
War Narrative in Mahabharata

Volume 82: Archaeology and Material Methods

Focuses on excavation techniques, dating methods, and material analysis. Questions how far archaeology can reconstruct social life.

Volume 83: Epigraphy and Numismatics

Studies inscriptions and coins as primary sources. Emphasizes limits of interpretation and regional variation.

Volume 84: Textual Traditions and Manuscripts

Explores transmission, preservation, and authorship. Questions the stability of “canonical” texts.

Volume 85: Oral Traditions and Memory

Examines folklore, performance, and collective memory. Treats oral history as both source and interpretation.

Volume 86: Colonial Knowledge Systems

Analyzes surveys, censuses, and ethnographies. Highlights how knowledge production shaped governance.

Volume 87: Nationalist and Postcolonial Historiography

Tracks shifts in interpretation after independence. Critiques teleological narratives.

Volume 88: Subaltern and Marginal Histories

Focuses on histories from below. Questions elite-centered narratives.

Volume 89: Interdisciplinary Approaches

Explores history’s intersections with anthropology, sociology, and environmental studies. Encourages methodological plurality.

Volume 90: Digital and Public History

Examines archives, digitization, and public engagement. Considers new challenges of access and interpretation.

Part XI: Regional Micro-Histories (Volumes 91–105)

Volume 91: Kashmir and Himalayan Worlds

Ecology, politics, and layered identities.
Borderlands as dynamic zones, not peripheries.

Volume 92: Punjab and the Northwest

Crossroads of invasion, trade, and faith.
Agrarian and military cultures.

Volume 93: Gangetic Heartland

Political core across periods.
Religious and intellectual production.

Volume 94: Bengal Delta

Riverine ecology and state formation.
Literature, trade, and colonial transformation.

Volume 95: Northeast India

Ethnic diversity and oral cultures.
Frontier politics and integration debates.

Volume 96: Rajasthan and Arid Zones

Desert ecology and warrior polities.
Trade and mobility.

Volume 97: Gujarat and Western Coast

Maritime trade and mercantile networks.
Cultural pluralism.

Volume 98: Deccan Plateau

Political fluidity and cultural synthesis.
Linguistic and religious intersections.

Volume 99: Maharashtra Region

From regional polities to modern politics.
Urbanization and identity.

Volume 100: Karnataka Region

Temple economies and state systems.
Literary traditions.

Volume 101: Tamil Region

Deep literary past and social change.
Dravidian movements and identity.

Volume 102: Kerala and Malabar

Oceanic connections and matriliny debates.
Religious diversity.

Volume 103: Andhra and Telangana

Agrarian systems and linguistic politics.
State formation and modern transitions.

Volume 104: Central India and Tribal Worlds

Forest economies and indigenous systems.
Resistance and marginalization.

Volume 105: Islands and Littoral Zones

Andaman, Nicobar, Lakshadweep.
Isolation, contact, and strategic importance.

Part XII: Society in Practice (Volumes 106–115)

Volume 106: Family and Kinship

Structures across regions and time.
Law versus lived practice.

Volume 107: Gender and Sexuality

Roles, norms, and resistance.
Beyond prescriptive texts.

Volume 108: Caste in Practice

Everyday operation of hierarchy.
Change, mobility, and contestation.

Volume 109: Labor and Work

Agrarian, artisanal, and industrial labor.
Informality and precarity.

Volume 110: Food and Culinary Cultures

Regional diversity and historical change.
Food as identity and politics.

Volume 111: Clothing and Material Culture

Dress, ornament, and status.
Production and symbolism.

Volume 112: Festivals and Ritual Life

Public and private practices.
Continuity and transformation.

Volume 113: Law and Justice in Practice

Formal systems versus local dispute resolution.
Evolution of legal culture.
Indian Law and Legal System

Volume 114: Health, Disease, and Healing

Medical traditions and public health.
Epidemics and responses.

Volume 115: Education and Knowledge Transmission

Gurukuls to modern institutions.
Access and inequality.

Part XIII: India and the World (Volumes 116–120)

Volume 116: Ancient Global Connections

Trade and cultural exchange with Central Asia and beyond.
India in early globalization.

Volume 117: Medieval Interactions

Islamic world, Southeast Asia, and China.
Circulation of ideas and goods.

Volume 118: Early Modern Global Economy

Silver flows, textiles, and empire.
India in world systems.

Volume 119: Colonial and Diasporic Networks

Migration, indenture, and empire.
Formation of global Indian communities.

Volume 120: Contemporary Global India

Economy, culture, and geopolitics.
India as both local and global actor.
India and the Contemporary World

The Double Helix

The 120-volume Encyclopedia of Ancient and Modern India and the Global Encyclopedia (180-Volume) of Intelligence, Espionage, and Counterintelligence function together like a double helix: one preserves the story of an enduring organic civilization, while the other exposes the covert systems of power various occupiers used in attempts to fragment and control it. The central realization behind this work is that civilizations should not be reduced to objects of external study after being disrupted or dismantled; instead, they must retain the authority to define themselves through their own continuity, memory, and evidence. In that sense, the Encyclopedia of Ancient and Modern India positions Indian civilization as a living, self-interpreting tradition rather than a static artifact viewed through colonial frameworks (Indology). At the same time, the project approaches (Decolonising the Narrative) what it calls an “Archaeology of Truth” by grounding historical interpretation in material and civilizational evidence intended to challenge inherited colonial narratives (Correction of “Semantic Theft”), including research surrounding the Sarasvati River as a foundational civilizational anchor.

See also: