A Peace History of India : From Ashoka Maurya to Mahatma Gandhi

This book is a great contribution to Peace Research. It places India in the world as a worthy player in international relations from ancient times. The selection of four of the most significant historical peaks over two millennia, the Ashoka era, the Pala era, the Orientalist era and the Gandhi era shows the uniqueness of India's peaceful history, relevant not only for herself, but for the whole of humankind. To the point that in present times, her engagement is destined to contribute to the urgent long-awaited transformation of the United Nations Organization. J.S.

Advance Praises

The present book is called to become a classic among the works to bring to an end the historical stage of solving human conflicts by war. Let Mahatma Gandhi's message take its place in a novel warless stage, and let this book be one ofthe keys that can open such stage.

(Professor Jorge Serrano, National University of Mexico)

Hither to Indian history has been interpreted from three angles, namely imperialist,nationalist and Marxist. But the soul of India has eluded these efforts. APeace History of India is an attempt to fill this gap … the author has made this book authentic by including various studies and multiple historical facts… it is intelligible even to a layman because of its lucid style.

(K.H. Prabhu, Kannada author)

After having devoted nearly twenty years on a thorough analysis on the pre-war peace history of Japan, Klaus Schlichtmann returns with his new book on the peace history of India, a country he first encountered as a twenty year-old Buddhist novice at Benares's Sanskrit University. The outcome is a fascinating attempt to link Max Weber's religious studies with the worldwide impact of Ashoka's and Gandhi's personal peace messages.

(Professor Hermann Kulke, Kiel University)

This work shows great scholarship and historical detail. The way the author strives to adhere to the themes of the place and importance of the peace traditions in India, commended for the rest of the world, is remarkable. India remains a contested cultural space, with the strong traditions the author has so admirably researched and brought together in this book. It is a valuable contribution to the peace history literature and defines India's place in theworld.

(Professor John P. Synott, Adjunct Professor, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, The University of Sydney)

• Author Name: Klaus Schlichtmann

• Book Details
• Author
• TOC

Vij Books

• Pages: 280
• 9789385563515 • HARDBACK • Sep 2016 • Rs.795
• 9789385563522 • EBOOK • Oct 2016 • Rs.595
• Subjects: Peace Studies, Indian History, History of South Asia
• A Peace History of India : From Ashoka Maurya to Mahatma Gandhi

author details

Dr. Klaus Schlichtmann was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1944, before the end of World War II. As a teenager he developed an interest in philosophy, Asian culture, Buddhism, the arts, politics and peace. He left Germany at the age of 18 and soon after started his Yatra to India, travelling overland through Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan. From 1962 to 1964 he taught German at the Sanskrit University in Benares. In 1976, after several more years of private research in India, he returned to Germany, and a few years later enrolled in Kiel University to study Asian History, International Law and Political Science. In 1992 he obtained a scholarship to go to Japan to work on his doctoral dissertation about the Japanese diplomat and post-World War II Prime Minister Kijuro Shidehara (1872-1951) who is credited with having suggested the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution to General Douglas MacArthur in January 1946. He has published books and numerous articles in German, English and Japanese. Dr. Schlichtmann has two sons and a daughter.

Foreword, 

Preface and Acknowledgements; 

PART I Ashoka of the Axial Age, His Time and his Work, 

1. Entering History, 

2. The Buddha’s Prophesy, 

3. Max Weber and India, 

4. Life in the Capital Pataliputra, 

5. Taxila, Kautily and the Arthashastra, 

6. The conquest of Kalinga and the subsequent pilgrimages, 

7. The Buddhist Dharma and Ashoka, 

8. The Administration of the Empire, 

9. Economy, Trade, Industry and Rationality, 

10. Welfare, Law and Order, 

11. Education and Learning, Temporal and Spiritual Matters, 

12. World Order, Peace and Justice, a Contemporary View, 

13. Some Conclusions; 

PART II The Palas in India and Abroad, 

1. Backdrop, 

2. Geopolitics and Prehistory, 

3. The Pala Influence in Burma (Myanmar) and Parts of China, 

4. Pala and Suvarnadvipa (Sumatra: Sri Vijaya), 

5. The History of Java before the Pala Era— Hinduism and Buddhism , 

6. The Shailendra and the Palas, 

7. The Predominance of the Pala Culture in Jambudvipa (Java) , 

8. The Palas and Tibet (Atisa), 

9. Description of the Borobudur, 

10. The Meaning of Borobudur; 

PART III A Little Axial Age around 1800, 

1. Prelude to a Global Renaissance of Peace , 

2. The Historical Setting , 

3. India’s central place, a Gangetic Hub , 

4. The East India Company  ,

5. Cosmopolitan Kolakata’s (Calcutta) ‘Cognitive Revolution’, 

6. The Works , 

7. A ‘Golden Age’?, 

8. Rammohun Roy , 

9. Modern Science takes Roots and Buddhism once more becomes a World Religion,

10. Backlash , 

11. Japan (and China) at the Other End of the World, 

12. Chinsura and Dejima, 

13. The Bengal Plunder—an Excursus , 

14. The Economic Downturn , 

15. Conclusion; 

PART IV Modern India, Gandhi and World Peace, 

1. Where We Want to Go , 

2. The Background , 

3. Times of War , 

4. The Cripps Mission , 

5. The Quit-India Resolution , 

6. The United Nations, Beacon of Hope in an Imperfect World, 

7. Conclusion , 

Epilogue, 

Bibliography, 

Index