A Cultural History of Telangana: From the Earliest Times to 1724 AD

The national historical narrative in India has largely been Brahminicand centred around the Gangetic region. Regional histories often donot match such a narrative, or the Indo-Aryan economic and politicalsystem they describe. Social history, constructed from puranic texts,further homogenises the diversities of the Indian subcontinent. A Cultural History of Telangana takes a longue durée approach tounderstanding the socio-economic, cultural and political movementsin the region, delineating the broad trends and themes in Telangana’shistory, while correcting the imbalance that led to Telangana’smarginalisation in the history of the Telugu-speaking region. Movingaway from the dynastic perspective commonly deployed inconventional history writing, the author follows significantdevelopments in the fields of agriculture, urbanisation, architecture,trade and commerce, religion, and the arts to reconstruct the uniquehistory of Telangana from ancient times up to the early eighteenthcentury. Telangana, with its rocky terrain, thick forests, hilly landscapes andred sandy soils, has produced a diverse social, economic and politicalsystem. This diversity has led to intense cultural assimilation over thecenturies, producing a new culture known as Deccani, which ismarkedly different from both the cultures of the north as well as theother regions of south India. This book will be valuable for graduateand undergraduate students of history, aspirants of public serviceexaminations, and interested readers.
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