During the course of a long and distinguished career, historian and public intellectual, Romila
Thapar has produced a unique body of work. Her original and path-breaking commentaries
and essays on ancient Indian history, along with her incisive writings on culture, society,
archaeology, philosophy, classical literature and education have inspired a growing number
of historians, scholars, public intellectuals and ordinary people alike. In this Festschrift,
Romila Thapar’s students and colleagues from across the world celebrate her contributions
by applying her methods and insights to a range of historical, philosophical, sociological
and cultural questions. Questioning Paradigms, Constructing Histories aims to bring Romila
Thapar and her pioneering work to the attention of a wider audience.
According to Romila Thapar: ‘...an enquiry should begin with a question... The question may
be something quite simple, the answer to which will further qualify what you are saying. Or it
may be a question that gives you the possibility of looking at the event or the person in history
from different points of view. And that one question then leads to other questions that reflect
these different points of view. So I would say that the fundamental approach to any piece of
research or what one is working on grows out of a question.’
The book is divided into five parts—‘Political Processes’, ‘The Symbolic and the Social’,
‘Historical Consciousness and Reconstructions’, ‘Looking Beyond India’, ‘The Past and the
Present: Dialogues and Debates’. Each part focuses on a theme that Romila Thapar has
worked on and topics that she has returned to time and again. Together, they showcase her
exceptional achievements as one among the best historians of our time.