James Mill (1774–1836), in his The History of British India (1817),[a] distinguished three phases in the history of the Indian subcontinent, namely Hindu, Muslim, and British civilisations.[b][c] This periodisation has been influential, but has also been criticised for the misconceptions it gave rise to.[d] Another influential periodisation is the division into "ancient, classical, medieval and modern periods".[e]
Notes
Different periods are designated as "classical Hinduism":
Smart calls the period between 1000 BCE and 100 CE "pre-classical". It's the formative period for the Upanishads and Brahmanism (Smart distinguishes "Brahmanism" from the Vedic religion, connecting "Brahmanism" with the Upanishads.[t]), Jainism and Buddhism. For Smart, the "classical period" lasts from 100 to 1000 CE, and coincides with the flowering of "classical Hinduism" and the flowering and deterioration of Mahayana-buddhism in India.[u]
For Michaels, the period between 500 BCE and 200 BCE is a time of "Ascetic reformism",[v] whereas the period between 200 BCE and 1100 CE is the time of "classical Hinduism", since there is "a turning point between the Vedic religion and Hindu religions".[w]
Muesse discerns a longer period of change, namely between 800 BCE and 200 BCE, which he calls the "Classical Period". According to Muesse, some of the fundamental concepts of Hinduism, namely karma, reincarnation and "personal enlightenment and transformation", which did not exist in the Vedic religion, developed in this time.[x]
Bentley, Jerry H. (June 1996), "Cross-Cultural Interaction and Periodization in World History", The American Historical Review, 101 (3): 749–770, doi:10.2307/2169422, JSTOR2169422
Flood, Gavin D. (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press
Khanna, Meenakshi (2007), Cultural History Of Medieval India, Berghahn Books
Kulke, Hermann; Rothermund, Dietmar (2004), A History of India, Routledge
Michaels, Axel (2004), Hinduism. Past and present, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press
Misra, Amalendu (2004), Identity and Religion: Foundations of Anti-Islamism in India, SAGE
Muesse, Mark W. (2011), The Hindu Traditions: A Concise Introduction, Fortress Press
Smart, Ninian (2003), Godsdiensten van de wereld (The World's religions), Kampen: Uitgeverij Kok
Thapar, Romila (1977), A History of India. Volume One, Penguin Books
James Mill (1773–1836), in his The History of British India (1817), distinguished three phases in the history of India, namely Hindu, Muslim, and British civilisations. This periodisation has been influential, but has also been criticised for the misconceptions it gave rise to. Another influential periodisation is the division into "ancient, classical, medieval and modern periods", although this periodisation has also been criticised.[1]
Romila Thapar notes that the division into Hindu-Muslim-British periods of Indian history gives too much weight to "ruling dynasties and foreign invasions",[2] neglecting the social-economic history which often showed a strong continuity.[2] The division into Ancient-Medieval-Modern periods overlooks the fact that the Muslim conquests occurred gradually during which time many things came and went off, while the south was never completely conquered.[2] According to Thapar, a periodisation could also be based on "significant social and economic changes", which are not strictly related to the change of ruling powers.[3][note 1]
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