lu SOCIAL SCIENTIST changes in the technique of production give rise to changes in the relations of production or to transformations of existing classes, the formation of new classes and the conflicts between various (old and new) classes. It is this basic approach of looking upon the history of all human society as the history of class struggles that is lacking in historical writings on India with, of course, very few honourable exceptions. Here it is proposed to trace the immediate consequences of foreign (British) impact or, in other words, how the representatives of the new capitalist society came from outside and subjugated the Indian people, how they destroyed the basic institutions of Indian society handed down through.the centuries, dislodged the ruling classes of India and ruined the toiling people. The conflict between this new alien ruling class on the one hand, and the representatives of the old ruling classes and the mass of people on the other, erupted into a series of resistance actions culminating in the countrywide revolt of 1857; the defeat of that revolt symbolized the defeat of the old Indian society and the victory of the new, vigorous but alien society. Ancient Heritage a Liability Nationalist-minded historians and publicists are proud of India's past. They claim that Indian society was superior in all respects to the Europe of the medieval period. The destruction of that society by the foreign rulers was, in their view, the violent act of an alien regime which created acute misery for our people. Militant nationalists like Tilak as well as renowned leaders of the fighting masses like Mahatma Gandhi had in fact combined nationalism with revivalism of various shades and forms. The militant use of Ganesh Puja by Tilak and of the Gharkha by Gandhi and the latter's slogan of 'back to the villages' illustrate the manner in which the leaders of the freedom movement tried to integrate the mass national movement for freedom with the nostalgic vision of reviving the 'glories of ancient India5. The question, however, arises: if India had such a glorious heritage; if pre-British society in India was superior to societies in the rest of the world (particularly those of medieval Europe). why is it that 'less civilized^ nations, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French and the English, transformed themselves from the traders they were in the beginning into conquerors with arms in hand? How were the ruling classes of the 'superior' Indian society obliged to seek the help of these 'less civilized5 nations, so that in the end the strongest of them, the English, became the supreme rulers of the country? To raise these questions is, of C3urse, not to deny that India has an ancient civilization—a civilization which is among the earliest and most glorious in human history. The Indus Valley Civilization, on which a growing body of evidence has accumulated thanks to the painstaking research of a host of scholars, is something which no European land of that epoch can match. Even after the destruction of that civilization,