What is meant by historian:

a person who researches, studies and writes about the past and regards an authority om it is known as
historian. Historians are concerned with the continuous ,methodical narrative and research of past events
as relating to the human race as well as the study all history in time. If the individuals is concerned with
events preceding written history, the individual is an historian of reserved more recently for those who
have acquired graduate degrees in the discipline . some historians, although , though are recognized by
publications or training and experience historian became a professional occupation in late nineteenth
centuary.

Women status in india:

The status of women in India has been subject to many great changes over the past few millennia.[5] With
a decline in their status from the ancient to medieval times, to the promotion of equal rights by many
reformers, the history of women in India has been eventful. In modern India, women have held high
offices including that of the President, Prime Minister, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Leader of the
Opposition, Union Ministers, Chief Ministers and Governors.

Women's rights are secured under the Constitution of India — mainly, equality, dignity, and freedom
from discrimination; further, India has various statutes governing the rights of women.

As of 2011, the President of India, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and theLeader of the Opposition in
the Lok Sabha (Lower House of the parliament) were women. However, women in India continue to face
numerous problems, including violent victimisation through rape, acid throwing, dowry killings, honor
killings, marital rape, and the forced prostitution of young girls.

A poll in October 2017, the first of its kind in the world, which was published by Thomson Reuters
Foundation, found that Delhi was the fourth most dangerous city in the world for women and it was also
the worst city in the world for women when it came to sexual violence, rape and harassment. [13]

womens education in india:

Though it is gradually increasing, the female literacy rate in India is less than the male literacy rate. Far
fewer girls than boys are enrolled in school, and many girls drop out. In urban India, girls are nearly on a
par with boys in terms of education. However, in rural India, girls continue to be less educated than boys.
According to the National Sample Survey Data of 1997, only the states of Kerala and Mizoram have
approached universal female literacy. According to scholars, the major factor behind improvements in the
social and economic status of women in Kerala is literacy.

Under the Non-Formal Education programme (NFE), about 40% of the NFE centres in states and 10% of
the centres in UTs are exclusively reserved for females. As of 2000, about 300,000 NFE centres were
catering to about 7.42 million children. About 120,000 NFE centres were exclusively for girls.
According to a 1998 report by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the chief barriers to female
education in India are inadequate school facilities (such as sanitary facilities), shortage of female teachers
and gender bias in the curriculum (female characters being depicted as weak and helpless).

The literacy rate is lower for women compared to men: the literacy rate is 60.6% for females, while for
males it is 81.3%. The 2011 census, however, indicated a 2001–2011 decadal literacy growth of 9.2%,
which is slower than the growth seen during the previous decade. There is a wide gender disparity in the
literacy rate in India: effective literacy rates (age 7 and above) in 2011 were 82.14% for men and 65.46%
for women

Indian women historians and a brief introduction of them:

Uma chakravarti

Uma Chakravarti is an Indian historian and feminist who taught at the miranda House, University of
Delhi. Her scholarship focused on Buddhism, early Indian history, 19th century history, and
contemporary issues. She has also been an activist associated with the women's movement and the
movement for democratic rights, participating in several fact-finding committees including the
`International Tribunal on Justice for Gujarat'. A leading scholar of feminist history-writing in India, she
has been called the `founding mother' of the Indian women's movement.

Books

 Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism

 Delhi Riots: Three Days in the Life of a Nation
 Rewriting History: The Life and Times of Pandita Ramabai

From Myths to Markets: Essays on Gender (with Kumkum Sangari, Indian Institute of Advanced
Study, Simla, 1999)

 Gendering Caste through a Feminist Lens Everyday Lives, Everyday Histories: Beyond the Kings
and Brahmanas of Ancient India
 Shadow Lives: Writings on Widowhood

Maria Aurora Couto :

Maria Aurora Couto is an Indian writer, historian and educationalist from Goa. Her novel Goa: A
Daughter's Story has received particularly wide attention.

Her family hails from the Goan Catholic community, a Christian community in Goa. She taught English
literature in colleges in India and has contributed to periodicals in India and the United Kingdom.
She lives in the North Goa village of Aldona, from where she has played an important role in the literary
and cultural life of Goa. Her late husband Alban Couto was a senior civil servant with thegovernment of
Goa and other governments, and worked in many parts of India. After the end of Portuguese rule in Goa
in 1961,Alban Couto was a senior member of the civil service in Goa.

In 2010, she received the Padma Shri award.

Books:

 Goa: A Daughter's Story

 Ethnography of Goa, Daman and Diu (Viking, Penguin, 2008) (a translation of Etnografia da
India Portuguesa by A.B. Braganza Pereira from Portuguese)
 Filomena's Journeys: Portrait of a marriage, a family and a culture 2013)

Jasleen Dhamija :

Jasleen Dhamija is a veteran Indian textile art historian, crafts expert and former UN worker. Based in
Delhi, she is best known for her pioneering research on the handloom and handicraft industry, especially
history of textiles and costumes. She has remained professor of living cultural traditions at the University
of Minnesota. Over the years, during her career as a textile revivalist and scholar, she has authored several
books on textiles, including Sacred Textiles of India (2014)

She started her career in 1954, with culture and craft revivalist Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay in the
Government of India, and started working on craft revival, community development and women's
employment. In the 1960s, she worked with the Handicrafts Board of India, next she started working with
artisans directly in rural area, this in time lead to her work with the UN developing self-help programmes
for women in war-torn Balkan countries.

Over the years, she has curated several textile and crafts exhibitions. Besides several books, on crafts and
textile, she has also written two cookbooks, including Joy of Vegetarian Cooking (2000). In 2007, she
published a biography of Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and her role in the revival of the arts and crafts in
modern India.

She has remained faculty at the National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi, where she taught
History of Indian Textiles and costumes.

Books :

 P.n. mago; jasleen dhamija (1970). Himachal heritage. Tata press.

 Jasleen dhamija (1976). Role of institutional support on the rural non-farm sector. Employment and
rural development division, world bank.
 Jasleen dhamija (1979). Living tradition of iran's crafts. Vikas.
 Jasleen dhamija; carnegie corporation of new york; ford foundation (1981). Women and handicrafts:
myth and reality. Seeds.
 Jasleen dhamija (1983). Income-generating activities for rural women in developing countries : an
overview. International labour office.
 Jasleen dhamija (1985). Crafts of gujarat. Mapin.
 Jasleen dhamija; jyotindra jain (1989). Handwoven fabrics of india. Mapin pub.
 Jasleen dhamija (1994). Indian folk arts and crafts. National book trust.
 Jasleen dhamija (1995). The woven silks of india. Marg publications.
 Jasleen dhamija (2000). The joy of vegetarian cooking. Penguin books. .
 Jasleen dhamija (2002). Woven magic: the affinity between indian and indonesian textiles. Dian
rakyat.
 Jasleen dhamija (2003). Cooking for all seasons. Penguin books india. Isbn
 Jasleen dhamija (2003). Handicrafts of india: our cultural tradition. National book trust, india. Isbn
 Jasleen dhamija (2004). Asian embroidery. Abhinav publications. Isbn
 Jasleen dhamija (2007). Kamaladevi chattopadhyay. National book trust. Isbn
 Joanne b. Eicher; jasleen dhamija (2010). Berg encyclopedia of world dress and fashion: south asia
and southeast asia. Berg.

Jasleen dhamija (2014). Sacred textiles of india. Marg publications.

Saryu Vinod Doshi :


Saryu Vinod Doshi is an Indian art scholar, art historian, academic andcurator, known for her
erudition in Indian miniature paintings and Jain art.[1] She is the founder director of the National
Gallery of Modern Art,Mumbai and a former pro-tem chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi, New
Delhi.[2] She is the author of several books[3] including Masterpieces of Jain Painting, a monograph on
selected Jain art pieces.[4] The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian award of
thePadma Shri, in 1999.[5]

 Saryu Doshi (Ed.) (1981). Homage to Shravana Belgola. Marg Publications. P. 176.
 Saryu Doshi (1982). Homage to Karnataka. Marg Publications.
 Saryu Doshi (1982). Shivaji and Facets of Maratha Culture. Marg Publications.
 Saryu Doshi (1983). Goa Cultrual Patterns. Marg Publications. P. 152.
 Saryu Doshi (1983). Continuity and Change: Festival of India in Great Britain. Marg Publications.
P. 113.
 Saryu Doshi (Editor), Karl Khandalavala (Editor) (1983). An age of splendour: Islamic art in India.
Marg Publications. P. 149.
 Saryu Doshi (Ed.) (1984). Images and Tradition - Festival of India in Great Britain. Marg
Publications. P. 100.
 Saryu Doshi (Ed.) (1984). Pageant of Indian Art: Festival of India in Great Britain. Smithsonian
Institution Press
 Saryu Doshi (1984). Symbols and Manifestations of Indian Art. Marg Publications.

Sharada Dwivedi :

 Sharada Dwivedi was a Mumbai-based historian and researcher. She wrote several books on the
history and culture of Mumbai She was also on the panel on the Mumbai Heritage Conservation
Committee.[2]

 Among her most famous works was Bombay, the Cities Within (1995).[3]She had great
fascination for Victorian Mumbai. Later, in her life, she developed a great affection for the
city's art deco stylings.

Dwivedi's writings covered subjects such as art, architecture, interiors, heritage, conservation and the
traditions of cuisine and beauty.[3]

Dwivedi[7] wrote numerous articles on conservation and urban issues on Mumbai. Among these were:[3]

 Lives of the Indian Princes (1984) with Charles Allen

 Reach for the Stars (1993) – the corporate history of Blue Star Ltd
 The Broken Flute (1994) – a children's novel
 The Maharaja (1999)
 A Celebration of Style (2000) Abu Jani & Sandeep Khosla.

Leela Gandhi :

Leela Gandhi (born 1966) is John Hawkes Professor of Humanities and English at Brown University and
a noted academic in the field of postcolonial theory. Previously, she taught at the University of
Chicago, La Trobe University, and the University of Delhi. She is a founding co-editor of the academic
journal Postcolonial Studies, and she serves on the editorial board of the electronic journal Postcolonial
Text. Gandhi is a Senior Fellow of the School of Criticism and Theory at Cornell University.

 Gandhi, Leela. The Common Cause: Postcolonial Ethics and the Practice of Democracy, 1900-1955.
University of Chicago Press (2014).
 Gandhi, Leela and Deborah L. Nelson eds., Around 1948: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Global
Transformation,Critical Inquiry, Summer 2014, Volume 40 Issue 4.
 Blake, Ann; Leela Gandhi; and Sue Thomas. England Through Colonial Eyes in Twentieth-Century
Fiction. Palgrave Macmillan (August 18, 2001).
 Ezekiel, Nissim; Leela Gandhi; and John Thierne. Collected Poems (Oxford India Paperbacks).
Oxford University Press, USA; 2 edition (December 13, 2005).
 Gandhi, Leela. Postcolonial Theory: A Critical Introduction. Columbia University Press (1998).
 Gandhi, Leela. Affective Communities: Anticolonial Thought, Fin-de-Siècle Radicalism, and the
Politics of Friendship (Politics, History, and Culture). Duke University Press (January 2006). .

 Gandhi, Leela. Measures of home: Poems. Distributed by Orient Longman

 Papiya Ghosh was a historian of South Asian history and a professor of the University of
Patna, Patna, India. She was found murdered on 3 December 2006, along with her elderly
housemaid, Malti Devi, apparently as a result of an attempted burglary.

 Ghosh, an ethnic Bengali, was the sister of Tuktuk Kumar, an officer of Indian Administrative
Service[2] from the West Bengal cadre, and a close associate of the writer Jug Suraiya from
the Times of India

 Ghosh, Papiya (2010). Muhajirs and the Nation: Bihar in the 1940s. New Delhi: Routledge.
 Ghosh, Papiya (2008). The Civil Disobedience Movement in Bihar. New Delhi: Manak. P. 290.
 Ghosh, Papiya (2008). Community and Nation: Essays on Identity and Politics in Eastern India.
New York: Oxford University Press, usacollected Essays
 Ghosh, Papiya (2007). Partition and the South Asian diaspora: Extending the Subcontinent. New
York: Routledge.

Details of other publications are available at The Nobel laureate Amartya Sen released a commemorative
volume in Papiya Ghosh's memory – Resurrection of the State, A Saga of Bihar – on 4 February 2013 in
Patna. The volume is edited by Sunita Lall and Shaibal Gupta.

Suvira Jaiswal :

Suvira Jaiswal is an Indian historian. She is known for her researches into the social history of ancient
India, especially the evolution of the caste system and the development and absorption of regional deities
into the Hindu pantheon.

Suvira Jaiswal obtained a master's degree in history from Allahabad University. She received her
doctorate under at the guidance of Ram Sharan Sharma at Patna University.

Jaiswal taught at Patna University from 1962. She was a professor at the Centre for Historical Studies
at Jawaharlal Nehru University from 1971 until her retirement in 1991.

In 2007, Jaiswal was the General President of the Indian History Congress.
Articles:

 Jaiswal, Suvira (1974). "Studies in the Social Structure of the Early Tamils". In Sharma, R.S. Indian
Society: Historical Probings (In Memory of D.D. Kosambi). New Delhi: ICHR.
 Jaiswal, Suvira (1975). "Women in Early India: Problems and Perspectives". In Horner, I.B. Women
under Primitive Buddhism. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas.
 Jaiswal, Suvira (1979–80). "Studies in Early Indian Social History: Trends and Possibilities". The
Indian Historical Review. 6 (1-2).
 Jaiswal, Suvira (1991). "Varna Ideology and Social Change". Social Scientist. 19 (3/3).
 Jaiswal, Suvira (1993). "Historical Evolution of the Ram Legend". Social Scientist. 21 (3/4).
 Jaiswal, Suvira (January 2000). "Sculpture at Vijayanagara: Iconography and Style". Indian
Historical Review. 27(1).
Books:

 Jaiswal, Suvira (1981). The Origin and Development of Vaisnavism from 200 BC to AD 500.
Munshiram Manoharlal.
 Jaiswal, Suvira (2000). Caste: Origin, Function, and Dimensions of Change. Manohar..
 Suvira Jaiswal, ed. (2016). The Making of Brahmanic Hegemony: Studies in Caste, Gender, and
Vaiṣṇava Theology. Tulika Books

Geeta Kapur :

 Geeta Kapur (born 1943) is a noted Indian art critic, art historian and curator based in New
Delhi. She was one of the pioneers of art critical writing in India, and who as Indian
Express noted, has "dominated the field of Indian contemporary art theory for three decades now"
. Her husband is installation artist Vivan Sundaram. In 2011, Hong Kong-based Asia Art Archive
digitized their archive and held an exhibition titled, Another Life at the Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi in February 2011.

 She was awarded the Padma Shri for her contribution to Art by the Government of India in 2009.

 Geeta Kapur is the elder daughter of M N Kapur, the Principal of Modern School in New Delhi
from 1947 to 1977. She excelled in art while studying at the Modern School from 1947 to 1959.

 Kapur has an M.A. in Arts from New York University (1963/63) and another M.A. in Arts from
the Royal College of Art, London.

 She taught in the Humanities and Social Sciences department of IIT Delhi from 1967 to 1973.
She has held fellowships at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla and Nehru Memorial
Museum & Library, New Delhi.

Books :

 Geeta kapur. Contemporary indian artists, vikas pub. 1978. .

 Apinan poshyananda, thomas mceveilley, geeta kapur and others. Contemporary art in asia:
traditions, tensions, 1997.
 Geeta kapur, when was modernism: essays on contemporary cultural practice in india, 2000.
 Jean-hubert martin, geeta kapur and others, cautionary tales: critical curating, tulika, 2007.
 Sabeena gadihoke, geeta kapur and christopher pinney, where three dreams cross: 150 years of
photography from india, pakistan and bangladesh, 2010.

Mridula mukharjee:

Mridula mukherjee (née mahajan) is an indian historian known for her work on the role of peasants in
the indian independence movement.

Mukherjee was born in 1950 in New Delhi, India. Her parents, Vidya Dhar Mahajan and Savitri Shori
Mahajan, had been renowned teachers of history in Lahore, from where they emigrated to New Delhi
following the Partition of India in 1947. Her sister, Sucheta Mahajan, is a professor of Indian history at
JNU, and her brother is Ajay Mahajan. Mukherjee is married to the historian Aditya Mukherjee. They
have a daughter, Madhavi.

Mukherjee graduated from Lady Shri Ram College in New Delhi. She joined Jawaharlal Nehru
University (JNU) as a post-graduate student in 1971, from where she obtained a phd degree. Her doctoral
thesis advisor was Bipan Chandra.

Books :

 Chandra, Bipan; Mukherjee, Mridula (14 October 2000). India's Struggle for Independence.
Penguin.
 Mukherjee, Mridula (8 September 2004). Peasants in India's Non-Violent Revolution: Practice and
Theory. SAGE Publications.
 Mukherjee, Mridula (23 November 2005). Colonizing Agriculture: The Myth of Punjab
Exceptionalism. SAGE Publications
 Chandra, Bipan; Mukherjee, Aditya; Mukherjee, Mridula (2008). India Since Independence.
Penguin. .
 Mukherjee, Aditya; Mukherjee, Mridula; Mahajan, Sucheta (5 August 2008). RSS, School Texts and
the Murder of Mahatma Gandhi: The Hindu Communal Project. SAGE Publications.
Articles :

 Mukherjee, Mridula (1973). "Premchand and the Agrarian Classes". Proceedings of Indian History
Congress. Chandigarh.
 Mukherjee, Mridula (1979). "Peasant Movement in Patiala State, 1937-48". Studies in History. I (2):
215–283.
 Mukherjee, Mridula (28 June 1980). "Some Aspects of Agrarian Structure of Punjab, 1925-
47". Economic and Political Weekly. XV (26): A46–A58.
 Mukherjee, Mridula (1985). "Commercialisation and Agrarian Change in Pre-Independence Punjab".
In Raj, K.N.Essays on the Commercialisation of Indian Agriculture. Oxford University Press.
 Mukherjee, Mridula (1995). "The Bardoli Peasants Struggle, 1928". In Dayal, Ravi. We Fought
Together for Freedom. Oxford University Press.
 Mukherjee, Mridula (2002). "Indian Historiography: Ideological and Political Challenges". In
Raghavan, Hema V.Contending Ideologies: A Quest for New Moorings. Gargi.

Gita Piramal:

Gita Piramal, also known as Dr. Gita Piramal (born c.1954) is an Indian writer and business historian. She
is the former wife of Dilip Piramal, who runs VIP Industries and Blow Plast Ltd.

Born into a business family, Gita spend several childhood years in the United Kingdom. She holds
an MA in History. After she married into a prominent business family, Gita developed an interest in
business history and earned a phd inthat subject from Bombay University in 1989.

She has authored several books:

Business Maharajas

Business Legends (1999)

Managing Radical Change

World Class in Business Mantras

Sumantra Ghoshal on Management: A Force for Good

Smart Leadership (2005)

The Smart Manager, managing editor since Feb 2002.

India's Industrialists,

Bhawana Somaaya:

Bhawana Somaaya is a noted Indian film journalist, critic, author and historian. She has been
honoured with the Padma Shri in the year 2017 by the honourable President of India - Mr Pranab
Mukherjee. Starting her career as film reporter in 1978, she went to work with several film
magazines, through the 1980s and 1990s. Eventually, she remained editor of Screen, a leading film
magazine, from 2000 to 2007. She has written over 13 books on history of Hindi cinema and
 biographies ofbollywood stars, including Salaam Bollywood (2000), The Story So Far(2003) and her
trilogy, Amitabh Bachchan – The Legend (1999),Bachchanalia – The Films And Memorabilia of
Amitabh Bachchan (2009) and Amitabh Lexicon (2011).

Bhawana Somaaya (1999). Amitabh Bachchan: The Legend. Macmillan India Limited.

Bhawana Somaaya (2000). Salaam Bollywood: The Pain and the Passion. Spantech & Lancer.

Bhawana Somaaya (2002). Take 25: Star Insights & Attitudes. Sambhav Publishers. .

Bhawana Somaaya (2003). The Story So Far. Indian Express Group.

Bhawana Somaaya (2004). Cinema Images And Issues. Rupa Publications.

Bhawana Somaaya (2006). "Lata Mangeshkar". In Malvika Singh. Freeing the Spirit: The Iconic
Women of Modern India. New York

Bhawana Somaaya (2007). Hema Malini: The Authorized Biography. Lotus Collection.

Bhawana Somaaya (2008). Fragmented Frames: Reflections of a Critic. Pustak Mahal.

Bhawana Somaaya (2008). Krishna-The God Who Lived As Man. Pustak MahalBhawana Somaaya
(2009). Bachchanalia: The Films and Memorabilia of Amitabh Bachchan. Osian's-Connoisseurs of
Art

Bhawana Somaaya; Jigna Kothari; Supriya Madangarli (2012). Mother Maiden Mistress: Women in
Hindi Cinema, 1950–2010. Harpercollins, India.

Bhawana Somaaya (2011). Amitabh Lexicon. Pustak Mahal.

The above given are a few famously known women historians of india. Among all of these theres a one
legend lady known as romila thapar .she is the greatest of all the woman historians and well known for
her great and amusing works

Romila thapar:

Romila Thapar (born 30 November 1931) is an Indian historian whose principal area of study is ancient
India. She is the author of several books including the popular volume, A History of India, and is
currentlyprofessor Emerita at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi. She has twice been
offered the Padma Bhushan award, but has declined both times.

Work:

After graduating from Panjab University, Thapar earned her doctorate under A. L. Basham at the School
of Oriental and African Studies, the University of London in 1958. She was areader in Ancient Indian
History at Kurukshetra University between 1961 and 1962 and held the same position at Delhi
University between 1963 and 1970. Later, she worked as Professor of Ancient Indian History at the
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, where she is now Professor Emerita.

Thapar's major works are Aśoka and the Decline of the Mauryas, Ancient Indian Social History: Some
Interpretations,Recent Perspectives of Early Indian History (editor), A History of India Volume One,
and Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300.

Her historical work portrays the origins of Hinduism as an evolving interplay between social forces. Her
recent work on Somnath examines the evolution of the historiographies about the legendary Gujarat
temple.

In her first work, Aśoka and the Decline of the Maurya published in 1961, Thapar situates Ashoka's
policy of dhammain its social and political context, as a non-sectarian civic ethic intended to hold
together an empire of diverse ethnicities and cultures. She attributes the decline of the Mauryan empire to
its highly centralised administration which called for rulers of exceptional abilities to function well.

Thapar's first volume of A History of India is written for a popular audience and encompasses the period
from its early history to the arrival of Europeans in the sixteenth century.

Ancient Indian Social History deals with the period from early times to the end of the first millennium,
includes a comparative study of Hindu and Buddhist socio-religious systems, and examines the role of
Buddhism in social protest and social mobility in the caste system. From Lineage to State analyses the
formation of states in the middle Ganga valley in the first millennium BC, tracing the process to a change,
driven by the use of iron and plough agriculture, from a pastoral and mobile lineage-based society to one
of settled peasant holdings, accumulation and increased urbanisation.

Recognition and honours :

Thapar has been a visiting professor at Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania, and
the College de Francein Paris. She was elected General President of the Indian History Congress in 1983
and a Corresponding Fellow of thebritish Academy in 1999.

She was awarded the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship in 1976. Thapar is an Honorary Fellow
at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of
London. She holds honorary doctorates from the University of Chicago, the Institut National des Langues
et Civilisations Orientales in Paris, the University of Oxford, the University of Edinburgh (2004),
the University of Calcutta (2002) and recently (in 2009) from the University of Hyderabad. She was
elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009.

In 2004, the US Library of Congress appointed her as the first holder of the Kluge Chair in Countries and
Cultures of the South.

In January 2005, she declined the Padma Bhushan awarded by the Indian Government. In a letter
to President A P J Abdul Kalam, she said she was "astonished to see her name in the list of awardees
because three months ago when I was contacted by the HRD ministry and asked if I would accept an
award, I made my position very clear and explained my reason for declining it". Thapar had declined the
Padma Bhushan on an earlier occasion, in 1992. To the President, she explained the reason for turning
down the award thus: "I only accept awards from academic institutions or those associated with my
professional work, and not state awards".

She is co-winner with Peter Brown of the prestigious Kluge Prize for the Study of Humanity for 2008
which comes with aus$1 million prize.

View on histography;

Thapar is critical of what she calls a "communal interpretation" of Indian history, in which events in the
last thousand years are interpreted solely in terms of a notional continual conflict between
monolithic Hindu and Muslim communities. Thapar says this communal history is "extremely selective"
in choosing facts, "deliberately partisan" in interpretation and does not follow current methods of analysis
using multiple, prioritised causes.

In 2002, the Indian coalition government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) changed the school
textbooks for social sciences and history, on the ground that certain passages offended the sensibilities of
some religious and caste groups. Romila Thapar, who was the author of the textbook on Ancient India for
class VI, objected to the changes made without her permission that, for example, deleted passages on
eating of beef in ancient times, and the formulation of the caste system. She questioned whether the
changes were an, "attempt to replace mainstream history with a Hindutva version of history", with the
view to use the resultant controversy as "election propaganda." Other historians and commentators,
including Bipan Chandra, Sumit Sarkar, Irfan Habib, R.S. Sharma, Vir Sanghvi, Dileep
Padgaonkar and Amartya Senalso protested the changes and published their objections in a compilation
titled, Communalisation of Education.

Writing about the 2006 Californian Hindu textbook controversy, Thapar opposed some of the changes
that were proposed by Hindu groups to the coverage of Hinduism and Indian history in school textbooks.
She contended that while Hindus have a legitimate right to a fair and culturally sensitive representation,
some of the proposed changes included material that pushed political agenda.

Status of women according to romila thapar recorded in her books:

Early vedic period:

Women during the early Vedic period[14] enjoyed equal status with men in all aspects of life. Works by
ancient Indian grammarians such as Patanjali andkatyayana suggest that women were educated in the
early Vedic period. Rigvedic verses suggest that women married at a mature age and were probably free
to select their own husbands in a practice called swayamvar or live-in relationship called Gandharva
marriage. Scriptures such as the Rig Veda andupanishads mention several women sages and seers,
notably Gargi and Maitreyi. On the other hand, the Rig Veda also mentions women lack discipline and
intellect, and have the hearts of hyenas. For the Shatapatha Brahmana, women, Shudra, dogs and crows
are all untruth.

Initially women were allowed to undergo initiation and study the Veda's. In thedharmasutra of Harita, it is
mentioned that:

There are two types of women: those who become students of the Veda and those who marry
immediately. Of these, the students of the Veda undergo initiation, kindle the sacred fire, study the Veda,
and beg food in their own houses. In the case of those who marry immediately, however, when the time
for marriage comes, their marriage should be performed after initiating them in some manner.

In medieval time:

In medieval times, this was dismissed on the ground that this was only the case in a previous age (yuga).
In approximately 500 BCE, the status of women began to decline. Although reform movements such
as Jainismallowed women to be admitted to religious orders, by and large women in India faced
confinement and restrictions. The practice of child marriages is believed to have started around the sixth
century.

Several Dharmashastras mention the restricted role of women, such as the Manu Smriti: Her father guards
her in her childhood; her husband guards her in her youth; and her sons guard her in her old age. A
woman is not fit to act on her own.[25] These were normative texts however, and descriptive statements do
describe women participating independently and becoming vanaprastha (forest hermits)
and saṃnyāsini (renouncers).[26]Some kingdoms in ancient India had traditions such
as nagarvadhu ("bride of the city"). Women competed to win the coveted title of nagarvadhu.Amrapali is
the most famous example of a nagarvadhu

Indian women's position in society further deteriorated during the medieval period, when child
marriages and a ban on remarriage by widows became part of social life in some communities in India.
The Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent brought purdah to Indian society. Among the Rajputs of
Rajasthan, the Jauhar was practised. In some parts of India, some ofDevadasis were sexually exploited.
Polygamy was practised among HinduKshatriya rulers for some political reasons.[24] In many Muslim
families, women were restricted to Zenana areas of the house.
Few texts exist that specifically deal with the role of women an important exception is the Stri Dharma
Paddhati of Tryambakayajvan, an official atThanjavur c. 1730. The text compiles strictures on women's
behaviour dating back to the Apastamba sutra (c. 4th century BCE)

In spite of these conditions, women often became prominent in the fields of politics, literature, education
and religion.[7] Razia Sultana(1205-1240) became the only woman monarch to have ever ruled Delhi.
The Gond queenDurgavati(1524-1564) ruled for fifteen years before losing her life in a battle with
Mughal emperor Akbar's general Asaf Khan in 1564. Chand Bibi defendedAhmednagar against the
powerful Mughal forces of Akbar in the 1590s.Jehangir's wife Nur Jehan effectively wielded imperial
power, and was recognised as the real power behind the Mughal throne. The Mughal princesses Jahanara
and Zebunnissa were well-known poets, and also influenced the ruling powers. Shivaji's mother, Jijabai,
was queen regent because of her ability as a warrior and an administrator. Tarabai was another
female Maratha ruler. In South India, many women administered villages, towns, and divisions, and
ushered in new social and religious institutions.

The Bhakti movements tried to restore women's status and questioned certain forms of oppression
Historical practices:
Traditions such as Sati, Jauhar, and Devadasi among some communities have been banned and are largely
defunct in modern India. However, some instances of these practices are still found in remote parts of
India. The purdah is still practiced by Indian women in some communities. Child marriage remains
common in rural areas, although it is illegal under current Indian law.

Sati :

Sati is an old, almost completely defunct custom among some communities, in which the widow was
immolated alive on her husband's funeral pyre. Although the act was supposed to be voluntary on the
widow's part, its practice is forbidden by the Hindu scriptures in Kali yuga, the current age. After the
foreign invasions of Indian subcontinent, this practice started to mark its presence, as women were often
raped or kidnapped by the foreign forces. It was abolished by the British in 1829. There have been around
forty reported cases of sati since independence. In 1987, the Roop Kanwar case in Rajasthan led to The
Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act.

Jauhar:

Jauhar refers to the practice of voluntary immolation by wives and daughters of defeated warriors, in
order to avoid capture and consequent molestation by the enemy. The practice was followed by the wives
of defeated Rajput rulers, who are known to place a high premium on honour. Evidently such practice
took place during the Islamic invasions of India.

Purdah:

Purdah is the practice among some Muslim communities requiring women to cover themselves in for the
purpose of modesty.
Devadasi:

Devadasi is often misunderstood as religious practice. It was practised in southern India. Women were
"married" to a deity or temple, disallowing them from ever marrying a mortal. After this, the women were
sold into sex work, 'devoting themselves to a life of service to the goddess'. The ritual was well-
established by the 10th century CE.[34] By 1988, the practice was outlawed in the country, but it
continues in some regions, usually involving girls of the lowest caste