Survey of the Literature On Pre-Modern Indian History Published in 1990 and 1991

Abstract

In the work published in the last two years, most striking is perhaps the renewed interest in the early medieval period of Indian history, roughly the four or five centuries preceding the Turkish conquests. J. S. Deyell, Living wzthout Silver: The Monetary History of Early Medieval India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1990) is an important study which argues, against most of the historiography of the period (the essential contours of which crystallized in the 1960s), that this was not a period of 'feudalization' and decline of trade, nor one of 'demonetization'. As Deyell says: 'There is a definite paucity of coin types in this period, but this is not evidence of a scarcity of a circulating medium'. The book offers a thorough reconstruction of the monetary systems of North India in this period, concluding that rather than an absence of precious metals there was a clear excess of demand over supply, which is indicative of continued growth of the economy even in this 'dark age'. A second work which deals, partly, with this period, is R. B. Inden, Imagiznng India (Oxford and Cambridge, Mass.: Basil Blackwell, 1990). Inden's final chapter (pp. 213262) offers a reconstruction of the Rashtrakuta polity of the Western Deccan in the 8th to 10th centuries. This is a highly contrived