REFLECTIONS ON RECENT PERCEPTIONS OF EARLY MEDIEVAL INDIA 39
40. Ronald Inden, Marriage and Rank in Bengali Culture: A History of Caste and Clan in Middle Period Bengal, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1976, pp. 73-«2.
41. Inden, Imagining India, p. 155., n. 23.
42. Cf. M.G.S. Narayan, "The Cera Kingdom of Makotai.. ..' (see supra, n. 11.)
43. Andre Wink, Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1990.
44. In the case of Wink particularly, one also notices with concern the highly cavalier attitude towards the handling of secondary sources as well. This is highlighted in Vishwa Mohan Jha, The Artless Pirennian', Review of Wink's Al-Hind (IHR, forthcoming).
45. Wink accuses Sharma of following 'Europeanist models of historiography and periodization', 'misguiding virtually all historians of the period', 'repeating his view innumerable times—almost verbatim often and hardly developing them', indulging in 'obstinate attempt' to find elements which fit a preconceived picture and having 'no mood to take heed of cirticism levelled at his work.' Wink assessess that under the impact of the feudalism thesis the 'historiography of the period is still in utter disarray.' (Cf. Al-Hind, pp. 219-25). None of these accusations bear scruitny. Though published in 1990, Al-Hind is woefully out of date as far as references to R.S. Shar ma's writings are concerned, e.g. his contributions on the Kali Age (1982) and the monograph entitled Urban Decay in India (c. 300-c. 1000) (1987) are conspicuous by their absence. Of course, one does not expect Wink to be familiar with unpublished, but widely cited. Third Nathaniel Wallich Memorial Lectures on 'Metal Money in India (c. 500-1000)' delivered in 1988. No wonder, Sharma appears to him to be a Pirennian—a perception which is also echoed by Ronald Inden (cf. Imagining India, p. 156, where the 'feudal characterization' is designated as 'Indian-style Pirenne thesis'). Only someone who is thoroughly unfamiliar with the numerous writings of the last three decades seeking to refine the feudal construct— writings of not just R.S. Sharma but many others exploring the phenomenon at regional levels as well—could be audacious enough to accuse Sharma of being 'obstinate' and not open to criticism.
46. Vishwa Mohan Jha, op.cit. See also the review of Al-Hind by Sunil Kumar to be published in Studies in History (forthcoming).
47. K.M. Shrimali, 'Cash Nexus on Western Coast, c. A.D. 850-1250: A Study of the Shilaharas', in Amal Kumar Jha, ed.. Coinage, Trade and Economy, 3rd International Colloquium of the Indian Institute of Research in Numismatic Studies, Nasik, 1991, pp. 178-93; idem, 'Early Indian Coins and Economic History: Trends and Prospects', in Devendra Handa, ed., Ajay Shri: Recent Studies in Indology (Professor Ajay Mitra Shastri Felicitation Volume). Vol. I, Sundeep Prakashan, Delhi, 1989, pp. 237-51.
48. The only notable work of numismatic significance, which deals with the period under discussion, is John S. Deyell, Living Without Silver: The Monetary History of Early Medieval North India, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1990. See its limitations in the review by B.D. Chattopadhyaya published in Studies in History, VII, no. 1, January-June, 1991, pp. 168-73.
49. Andre Wink, Al-Hind, p. 359.
50. Ibid., p. 225.
51. Ibid., pp. 230-31.