ABSTRACT
In the pre-colonial historical discourses of South Asia, some periods and issues have gained more traction than others. Temporal frames, such as the early medieval and the medieval, for example, are central to the debates and discussions on various registers. This chapter focuses on conceptual, discursive, and institutional aspects of vibrant debates on various issues of these periods. Perception and practice of archaeology have, concurrently, been attended to as the main frame of reference for unsettling the ways archaeology is practiced as well as archaeological data are treated in historical discourses. It is claimed that there is an essentialised and reified perception and usage of archaeological data in history writing which is dominated by textual, epigraphic, and art historical sources. The traditions of archaeological practice pertaining to these historical periods, it is asserted contend, are characterized by de-contextualized understanding of objects, typological dating, and classification of material culture. An inclination to a pan-Indian homogenization, and object-/monument-centric surveying and excavation is normalised. By arguing for a rethinking of the normalized and dominating traditions, the chapter has tried to tease out the foundational and historically formed fractures as well as mutual sharing by both archaeology and history. At the same time, the framework and rationales of this volume are framed in the space of Ganges-Brahmaputra Basin lying at the periphery of central and north India-centric standards.
