Everyday lives, everyday histories: beyond the kings and Brahmans of 'ancient' India/ Uma Chakravarti

Includes biographical references and index.

Representing Ancient India: Whatever happened to the Vedic Dasi?: Orientalism, nationalism and a script for the past -- Inventing Saffron history: a Celibate hero rescues and emasculated nation ---- Structures and Processes: Towards a historical sociology of stratification in ancient India: evidence from Buddhist sources -- Of Dasas and Karmakaras: Servile labour in ancient India -- In search of the peasant in early India: was the Gahapati a peasant producer? -- The social philosophy of Buddhism and the problem of inequality -- Conceptualizing Brahmanical patriarchy in early India: gender, caste, class and state -- Gender, caste and labour: ideological and material structure of widowhood ---- Reading the Past: Renouncer and householder in early Buddhism -- Women, Men and beasts: The Jataka as popular tradition -- The development of the Sita myth: a case study of women in myth and literature -- The making and unmaking of tradition: the Ramayana narrative in two moments -- Exploring a no-conflict zone: interest, emotion and family in early India -- The world of the Bhaktim in South Indian traditions: The body and beyond