Upinder Singh
Upinder Singh taught in St. Stephen’s College (1981-2004) and subsequently in the History Department of the University of Delhi (2004-2018). After her BA (Honours) in History from St. Stephen’s College, she obtained her MA and MPhil from the University of Delhi, followed by a PhD from McGill University, Montreal. She has received fellowships to conduct research in Leiden, Cambridge, Harvard and Leuven. In 2009, she was awarded the Infosys Prize in Social Sciences -- History.
Professor Singh’s writings range over various aspects of ancient Indian social, economic, and religious history; the intersection between political ideas and practice; Indian archaeology; the modern histories of ancient sites and monuments; and cultural interactions between India and Southeast Asia. Her research papers have been published in several Indian and international journals.
A selected list of her published books include:
Kings, Brāhmaṇas, and Temples in Orissa: An Epigraphic Study (AD 300–1147) (New Delhi, Munshiram Manoharlal,1994); Ancient Delhi (New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1999);
The Discovery of Ancient India: Early Archaeologists and the Beginnings of Archaeology (New Delhi, Permanent Black, 2004);
A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the Twelfth Century (Delhi, Pearson, 2008);
The Idea of Ancient India: Essays on Religion, Politics, and Archaeology (New Delhi, SAGE, 2016).
Edited Delhi: Ancient History (New Delhi, Social Science Press, 2006)
Edited Rethinking Early Medieval India (Delhi, New Oxford University Press, 2011).
Co-edited Ancient India: New Research(New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2009)
Co-edited Asian Encounters: Exploring Connected Histories (New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2014)
Co-editedBuddhism in Asia: Revival and Reinvention. Her most recent book is Political Violence in Ancient India (Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 2017).
A selected list of her published papers include:
“Storage’ and ‘display’: Third World Perspectives and Practices.” In Mirjam Brusius and Kavita Singh eds. Museum Storage and Meaning: Tales from the Crypt. London and New York, Routledge.
“The Problem of War: Perspectives from Ancient India.” Hari Ram Gupta Memorial Lecture, Panjab University Journal (Arts), 18, 1&2: 1-14.
“Varṇa and Jāti in ancient India: some questions.” In Kesavan Veluthat and Donald R. Davis Jr. eds. Irreverent History: Essays for M. G. S. Narayanan, Delhi, Primus, 2014.
“Governing the state and the self: political philosophy and practice in the edicts of Aśoka.” South Asian Studies 29, 2.
“The power of a poet: kingship, empire and war in Kālidāsa’s Raghuvaṁśa.” The Indian Historical Review 38, 2: 177-98.
Exile and Return: The Reinvention of Buddhism and Buddhist Sites in Modern India.” South Asian Studies 26, 2: 193-217.
“Discovering the ancient in Modern Delhi.” In Mala Dayal ed. Celebrating Delhi, Ravi Dayal Publishers and Penguin-Viking, pp. 15-27.
“Politics, Violence, and War in Kāmandaka’s Nītisāra.” In The Indian Economic and Social History Review 47, 1.
Brahmana Settlements in Ancient and Early Medieval India.” In B.D. Chattopadhyaya ed. A Social History of Early India. New Delhi, Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy and Culture, vol. 2, part 5.
“Alexander Cunningham’s Contributions to Indian Archaeology.” In Gautam Sengupta and Kaushik Gangopadhyay eds., Archaeology in India: Individuals, Ideas and Institutions, New Delhi, Munshiram Manoharlal, in association with the Centre for Archaeological Studies & Training, Eastern India, Kolkata.
“Early Medieval Orissa: the data and the debate.” In Martin Brandtner and Shishir Kumar Panda eds. Interrogating History: Essays for Herman Kulke, N. Delhi, Manohar.
“Cults and Shrines in early historical Mathura (c. 200 B.C. to AD 200).” World Archaeology, 36, 3.
“Documentation and Destruction: The Case of Amaravati (1797-1886).” In Himanshu Prabha Ray and Carla M. Sinopoli eds. Archaeology as History in Early South Asia, New Delhi, Indian Council for Historical Research and Aryan Books.
“Amaravati: the dismembering of the mahācaitya (1797-1886).” South Asian Studies, no. 17.
Co-authored with Nayanjot Lahiri: “In the shadow of Delhi: Understanding the landscape through village eyes.” In Peter J. Ucko and Robert Layton edited, The Archaeology and Anthropology of Landscape (Routledge, 1999). This paper was presented at the 1994 World Archaeological Congress, New Delhi.
“Sanchi: The history of the patronage of an ancient Buddhist establishment.” The Indian Economic and Social History Review, 33.
Co-authored with Nayanjot Lahiri and Tarika Oberoi: “Preliminary Field Report on the Archaeology of Faridabad -- the Ballabgarh Tehsil.” Man and Environment XXI (1).
“Texts on Stone: Understanding Asoka’s epigraph-monuments and their changing contexts.” Indian Historical Review, 24.
“Interrogating varna and jati in ancient and early medieval India.” Presidential Address, Ancient India section, in Punjab History Conference Proceedings volume, (40th session) March 14-16, 2008. Punjabi University, Patiala.
“Archaeologists and Architectural Scholars in 19th century India.” In Parul Pandya Dhar ed. Indian Art History: Changing Perspectives, Delhi, DK Printworld and National Museum Institute, 2011, pp. 47-58.
“Harappan Civilization: The Decline of India’s Oldest Civilization.” In World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras, ABC-CLIO, Web 27 Sept. 2011.
“Historical perspectives: Between 400 BCE and 600 CE.” In Knut A. Jacobsen ed. Brill Encyclopedia of Hinduism, vol. 4, Leiden, Boston, Brill, pp. 29-50.
“The Gupta Empire: Historical Perspectives.” In Across the Silk Road: Gupta Sculptures and their Chinese Counterparts during 400-700 AD; Compiled by the Palace Museum, the Fujian Museum, the Zhejiang Museum and the Sichuan Museum, Beijing, Forbidden City Publishing House.
“Bodhgayā: the view from Myanmar.” In Bijoy Kumar Choudhary ed. Bodhgayā: Impressions within and beyond, Patna, Bihar Heritage Development Society, pp. 17-36.
‘The Problem of War in Ancient Indian Thought,’ in B. P. Sahu and K. Veluthat eds. History and Theory: The Study of the State, Institutions and the Making of History, N. Delhi, Orient Blackswan, 2019, pp. 168-84.
“Early remains in the Delhi Aravallis.” In Land Art, India Habitat Centre’s Art Journal, Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre in collaboration with Aravalli Utsav
Picture Courtesy: Isha Pareek, Undergraduate Batch of 2021