Against The Grain [Hardcover] D.N. Jha

Excellent book , definitely worth reading. Highly recommended

This is a solid book with solid arguments,supported by solid evidence as is always with Professor D.N.Jha's books. At first,there are two big external problems :--(a) The jacket design is poor as well as the binding also very poor and valueless with a print price of Rs. 995/-! This book deserve a powerful jacket design with beautiful binding as well as stitching !(b) At the beginning of the book,Professor Jha introduces four lines from Bhavabhuti's "Malatimadhavam" and fromFaiz Ahmed Faiz's "Bol" for ignite the spirit of truth.No doubt that Professor Jha is the undisputed champion of Ancient Indian History and these stanzas proves his honesty and integrity on Historical writing. But..! The problem is,these poems are placed on the left side of the Content which should be on the right side ! The publisher must think on it while issuing a paperback.Now we will look at the inside of the book. Almost every sentence of this book is linked with a primary source or to an authoritative research work as reference exactly as with his other works like "The Myth of The Holy Cow" or "Rethinking The Hindu Identity ."In chapter - 1 Professor Jha spares no one,from Dayananda Saraswati, Raja Ram Mohun Roy,Vivekananda, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya, Tilak,V.D.Savarkar, Hedgewar to Golwalkar to L.K.Advani,Narandra Modi and Mohan Bhagwat.This chapter draws materials from his essay appeared in the book "Contesting Symbols and Stereotypes" under his editorship. We learn from this chapter that - in 1882, Dayananda Saraswati founded the "Gorakshini Sabha." The Calcutta University, the first modern university even established separate departments of ancient Indian history and culture and Islamic history to denigrate Muslim history and introduced separate courses on the history of Rajputs, Marathas and Sikhs who all fought against the Mughals." Also historians like R.C.Majumdar and Jadunath Sarkar, both viewed the medieval period as "intolerant" and "negative."Chapter-2 comes from his monumental "The Myth of the Holy Cow." Here one can see with amaze that "Mahamahopadhyaya P,V,Kane,.... onlySanskritist to date holds Bharataratna !" That is sad.The real interesting chapters are of this book starts from chapter-3,'Bharat Mata:A Short Note on Her Long Journey';chapter-4,'Brahminical Intolerance in Early India'; chapter-5,Whatever Happened to Buddhist Monuments' and chapter-6,'What the God Drank !'In chapters Four & Five,certain facts like the destructions of Buddhist Stupas are repeated. This is because of both chapters are on the same issuewith different angles and interpretations !The most interesting fact in Chapter Five is on Sita,"while crossing the river Ganga,she promises to offer her rice cooked with meat (shall we call it biriyani !) and thousands of jars of wine" and to river Yamuna, she offered "a thousand cows and hundred jars of wine...!"This is simply amazing !Chapters from 7 to 9 are on Historiography which students of History will find immensely beneficial for research.In chapter seven,we learned that 60,000 early inscriptions available in South India alone and the amazing fact is that even R.C.majumdar missed the golden opportunity to use this great epigraphical source ! This chapter echoes from the Chapter-1 of his fantastic book "Ancient India in Historical Outline" with new research .Read this with chapters eight and nine.The remaining chapters are on D.D.Kosambi and R.S.Sharma.The former is the father of "Scientific History of India" and later is renowned authority on Ancient India who is the Founding Father of ICHR as well as under whose term, "Towards Freedom" project started in counter of Nicholas Mansergh's "Transfer of Power."A salute to both Kosambi and Sharma for their pioneering contribution on Ancient India's history and research.Finally it is an open truth that the VHP and RSS will not find any interest in these essays ! So many thanks to Professor Jha to bringing hard truths with a personal risk. A full five stars !

Everyone should buy, worth of money, full proofed contentIn one sentence its not a book its library.

Amazing book with important and rare historical facts which every Indian must be aware of

I expect alot before buying this book, but my expectations was not met with this book.

Very well researched book with authentic proofs.as usual chaddi gang will not like it.

Enlightening book . Essay by one of the foremost historian

The book by Dr. Jha is one of the silver linings in the darkness in which India is going through. I salute the author for his fortitude and intellectual uprightness and applaud his commitment to the truth and the discipline of history. The book is a delightful history book instead of ideological propaganda. It has become critical than ever to save history form people who want to distort and weaponize it to archive their sinister agenda.