Description: This is the first volume of a series, dealing with the history and culture of ancient India, which is intended to fulfill the needs of the university student as well as of the general readers who desire to know the past history of India. The series consists of three volumes dealing respectively with (1) political history, (2) theories of government, administration, and economic life, and (3) society, religion, and philosophy. The present volume deals with the political history of ancient India, and presents the facts avoiding the theories as far as possible. Hence it has been possible to describe within the space of this volume the history of India from the Harappa culture down to the fall of the Hoysalas, including the rise and fall of all the great dynasties and also of the important minor dynasties with adequate accounts of the reigns of the famous monarchs. Two of the special features of this work are the exhaustive description of the source materials, and of the Arabs and Turks in India, which deals, among other topics, with the 'nature and pattern of Muslim conquest, 'while an analysis of the causes which led to the defeat of the Hindu kings is discussed in the preface.