Book on medieval India out

Shimla, March 24

The book, written by Anjali Verma, titled as ‘Women and Society in Early Medieval India - Re-interpreting Epigraphs’ has been released during the Indian History Congress Session in Bhopal by a galaxy of eminent historians like R Mahalaxmi, BP Sahu, Irfan Habib, Ishrat Alam and Sucheta Mahajan.

The book is an extensive pan-India study on women and society of the early medieval period (600-1200AC) through more than 650 epigraphs. Anjali Verma is working as assistant professor, department of history, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. She specialises in ancient Indian history, culture and archaeology.

Published by Routledge (Taylor & Francis), the book offers an analysis of inscriptional data at the pan-India level to explore key themes, including early marriage, deprivation of girls of education, property rights, widowhood and Sati as well as women in administration and positions of power, a release here today said.

The volume also traces gender roles and agency across religions such as Hinduism and Jainism, the major religions of the times, and throws light on a range of political, social, economic and religious dimensions.

The book presents an original understanding of women’s status in medieval South Asian society. Anjali completed her PhD from the HPU and has taught in several colleges . — TNS