A Mix of the Old and the New

The title of the book is inviting and indicates in an immediate sense that there would be something new to look forward to. An initial glance at the contents page, however, lends a picture that we are already familiar with. The book under review is thus marked by a terrain that is all too well-known to students of history. The special reference part of the title that the author intends to make as the new intervention into the interpretation of the Mauryan period of ancient Indian history is to bring to the forefront sources of study that he feels have been neglected from the perspective of their being particularly applicable to the Mauryan period. These are the Pali and Ardha Magadhi sources that, it must be stated at the outset, have been well exploited for the study of the Sramanic religions of early India.