Surveys the rise of civilization and kingdoms on the Indian subcontinent from the first urban centers of the Indus Valley through the establishment of the Mughal Empire in the 16th century. Uses literary, archeological, linguistic, ethnological, and inscriptional evidence on the diversity of Indic peoples and their complex social, religious, and caste integration into the major states and empires of pre-modern India; considers wider civilizational networks and extensions of the Indian cultural sphere into other parts of Asia; integrates a historical and anthropological perspective on various primary materials.
