Papers by Suchandra Ghosh
Transcending Boundaries, Pre-Modern Cultural Transactions Across Asia, Essays in honour of Osmund Bopearachchi, ed. Susmita Basu Majumdar, 2024
In this chapter, through a set of twentyseven
tablets from the Persepolis fortification tablets a... more In this chapter, through a set of twentyseven
tablets from the Persepolis fortification tablets archive, that concern the areas of northwestern borderlands, I wish to explore the content of these tablets concerning travel rations dispatched to the eastern part of
the empire, and provide a narrative of the nature of functionaries, ordinary people, commodities (subsistent rations) and related things that went into the making of a political, economic and social archive of the
Achaemenids. A section at the end of the essay would briefly discuss the bearing of the Achaemenid presence among the people of the borderlands even much later.
Self-Representation and Presentation of Others, eds.Dániel Balogh and Annette Schmiedchen in Indic Epigraphical Writing, 2024
We wish to study the epigraphic portrayal of the Śabaras and the Pulindas, who were by and large ... more We wish to study the epigraphic portrayal of the Śabaras and the Pulindas, who were by and large the “other” of the Brahmanical society. The rationale behind the choice of these two groups lies in the fact that in the textual sources Śabaras and Pulindas are often mentioned in the same context, and their names became generic appellations for “barbarous” tribes and forest groups. The marginality of the forest people remained an almost perennial theme in the long-term history of the subcontinent. However, there were occasions, particularly from the fourth century, when these forest people were represented as being in positions of power or status in a range of epigraphic records.
The Routledge Hand book of Classics, Colonialism and Post colonial Theory, 2024
It talks about the historical ties and past connected history through a set of case studies. The ... more It talks about the historical ties and past connected history through a set of case studies. The hybridity of the borderlands and the agency through which people connected has been highlighted.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia, 2022
A region-wise study of patronage to Buddhist monasteries (mahāvihāra, vihāra, and vihārikā) in ea... more A region-wise study of patronage to Buddhist monasteries (mahāvihāra, vihāra, and vihārikā) in eastern India (Bihar and West-Bengal in India, and Bangladesh) in the early medieval period, is possible taking recourse to extant remains, epigraphical and textual mentions, and art historical representations. Scholars have extensively studied the major monasteries individually, where the issue of patronage was addressed along with other themes. However, the lifeline of these monasteries were benefactions from various categories of people, and so the issue of patronage becomes singularly important. These monasteries, particularly in south Bihar and north Bengal it seems,
Looking at the Coins! Papers in Honour of Joe Cribb, eds. Helen Wang and Robert Braceybb on his 75th birthday, 2023
Asiatic Society eBooks, 2017
Exploring South Asian Urbanity, 2021
Delights and Disquiets of Leisure in Pre-modern India, ed.Seema Bawa, 2024
Geopolitical Shifts and Opportunities, New Horizons in India-Southeast Asia Relations, 2024
India-Thailand Cultural Interactions, 2017
The regional variations of the Dvaravati Buddhist clay tablets are the subject of this essay. The... more The regional variations of the Dvaravati Buddhist clay tablets are the subject of this essay. The act of making tablets as a part of meditation practice, religious exercise or merit making was itself the main reason for the production of these tablets. The essay further probes into the possible adoption or adaptation from India as the practice of making these tablets is of Indian origin and numerous equivalents in the shape of plaques dating from seventh to eleventh centuries have been uncovered in abundance on different Buddhist sites of India. The essay argues that moulded clay tablets, albeit, a minor object in the vast repertoire of artistic or religious expressions are also to be taken into account as an element for understanding shared cultural practices across Asia.
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, 2021
In Of Thieves and Theris, Potters and Prativratas, Essays on Early Indian Social History for Kumkum Roy, 2022
Economic &Political Weekly, 2022
Atrocities amid Celebrations of Independence As editor for 35 years (1969-2004) Krishna Raj gave ... more Atrocities amid Celebrations of Independence As editor for 35 years (1969-2004) Krishna Raj gave EPW the reputation it now enjoys.
Journal of Bengal Art, volume 26, 2021
Studies in People's History, 2017
The Greek tradition of coinage was maintained by the Bactrians, Indo-Greeks, Śakas and Kushanas, ... more The Greek tradition of coinage was maintained by the Bactrians, Indo-Greeks, Śakas and Kushanas, ruling successively in the North-west from the second century bc to second century ad. On their coins, apart from the rulers themselves, appear the figures and names of several deities. These were Greek deities in the beginning, to whom Iranian and Indian deities went on being added. The paper traces this process in detail and examines how the rulers first seem to address, through their coins, only an elite Greek or Hellenised aristocracy and then the wider Iranic and Indian populations, through the medium of deities figured on their coins. There was simultaneously the objective of legitimation and glorification of the rulers themselves by the same means. Curiously, Buddhism so important in Gandhara sculpture has only a rare presence on these coins even under the Kushanas.
Studies in People's History, 2016
While acknowledging the humanitarian outlook of early Buddhism, this article enquires into how fa... more While acknowledging the humanitarian outlook of early Buddhism, this article enquires into how far the Buddhist monastic order, the Saṅgha, was itself based on egalitarian principles. It is argued that in time, if not from the beginning, the Saṅgha could not avoid the creation of a hierarchy among monks, and in time the presence of a numerous class of servants or attendants, called ārāmikas, became a part of Buddhist monastic life.
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Papers by Suchandra Ghosh
tablets from the Persepolis fortification tablets archive, that concern the areas of northwestern borderlands, I wish to explore the content of these tablets concerning travel rations dispatched to the eastern part of
the empire, and provide a narrative of the nature of functionaries, ordinary people, commodities (subsistent rations) and related things that went into the making of a political, economic and social archive of the
Achaemenids. A section at the end of the essay would briefly discuss the bearing of the Achaemenid presence among the people of the borderlands even much later.
tablets from the Persepolis fortification tablets archive, that concern the areas of northwestern borderlands, I wish to explore the content of these tablets concerning travel rations dispatched to the eastern part of
the empire, and provide a narrative of the nature of functionaries, ordinary people, commodities (subsistent rations) and related things that went into the making of a political, economic and social archive of the
Achaemenids. A section at the end of the essay would briefly discuss the bearing of the Achaemenid presence among the people of the borderlands even much later.