State, Power & Legitimacy: The Gupta Kingdom presents a comprehensive account of
the Gupta state, with particular emphasis on its strategies of legitimizing its power.
The political strategies that characterized this crucial juncture of early Indian history,
termed ‘threshold times’ by Romila Thapar, employed certain features of ancient
Indian polity even as new political mechanisms were emerging. This volume argues
that this unique combination of political strategizing was a part of the process of
legitimizing royal authority, in which religion, literature and art were essential tools.
The volume also includes a large selection of prepublished essays which provide
the reader with a comprehensive idea of how the Gupta state has been studied by
earlier historians together with recent articles which help us to look at the Gupta
state and the manner in which it exercised and legitimized its power. A substantive
introduction suggests the need to move beyond the nationalist perspective that
views the rule of the Guptas as the ‘Golden Age’ or the Marxist model of ‘Indian
feudalism’.
About the Author
Kunal Chakrabarti is Professor of Ancient Indian History at the Centre for
Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. He had also been a Visiting
Professor to Colorado College and to the University of Chicago. His research
interests include social history of religion, regional histories with special reference to
Bengal, history of the environment with special reference to the forest, early Indian
political ideas and institutions, and early Indian textual traditions. He is the author
of Religious Process: The Puranas and the Making of a Regional Tradition (2000) and
Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis (2013).
Kanad Sinha is Assistant Professor of History, Udaynarayanpur Madhabilata
Mahavidyala, Howrah. He has published several articles in important journals like
Medieval Worlds, The Journal of Bengal Art, Studies in History, Studies in Humanities
and Social Sciences and International Journal of Hindu Studies, on various aspects of
social and cultural History of early India, especially early Indian historical traditions.
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