30 SOCIAL SCIENTIST by the dynamics of movement and change. This view emphasizes the fact that a radical change of tradition and history through human endeavour is a legitimate possibility, rather than mere internal rearrangements of human societies. However, it should be made clear that there is no inevitability involved in the theme of evolution, progress and change; and all deterministic philosophies, whether materialistic or spiritualistic, have to be rejected since the fundamentals of a new social and moral order are constantly renewable and amenable to change. In short, the basic proposition is that political and economic goals of developing nations will be realized sooner if their socio-cultural institutions are also favourable, that is, politico-economic conditions of a country at a given time are related to the broad social and cultural environment. It may be recalled that the mere use of science and modern technology is seldom an indicator of radical change because cultures have adopted innovations without altering the general structure of society. Therefore, the role of any academic discipline in a policy of cultural transformation is foremost in radically restructuring its own philosophic foundations and research goals. To illustrate, in India, many of the research objectives of anthropology, archaeology and history until recently have encouraged elitist and obscurantist interpretations by, for instance, concentrating on the rise and fall of kings or by studying chiefly caste, religion and race.1 Consequently, it is only when intellectuals begin to formulate dynamic concepts which somehow also relate to social and economic development that new value systems will emerge for the majority, as alternative models become available. It will then be possible to perceive the universe in such categories as are in consonance with contemporary knowledge and even our current goals of nation-building. To be more specific, the task of a student of Indian history, archaeology and civilization is no less concerned with a reconstruction of such images of the past that help to establish certain positive and affirmative values of our civilization, in opposition to the existing negative and life-denying ones. New images of the past may restore idealism and hope for the large majority of citizens who have yet to discover their legal, political, economic and social rights and bring into focus a clearer vision of the future. Past and Prejudice In the study of India's past, there is a notable neglect of theoretical developments and interpretative machinery, or even an examination ot basic premises. There has been a great deal of descriptive research with frames of reference or models which are by and large implicit. Even today the formulation of explicit models, hypotheses or theories forms a minor fraction of research work. The study of India's past continues 10 be dominated by field work, and statistical and taxonomic developments. Theoretical inadequacies have resulted in simplistic methodologies that stress the uniqueness of traits, sites and cultures, and in the absence ot consciously formulating sophisticated concepts and models there has been