A History of Agriculture in India v1.c2.12

v1.c2.12

Dr Randhawa’s book is staggering in the wide sweep of its subject-matter and impressive in the depth of the detailed study which illuminates the pages. This is no ordinary history of agriculture. He himself has said that a history of agriculture “can only be properly understood in the light of the evolution of life and the material culture of man.” The book is therefore really a history of the origin and development of man in which agriculture, in its widest sense, has played a role which is inseparable from human life. The author goes back in geologic time to trace the birth of the Indian subcontinent. After giving an account of the soils, climate, vegetation and agricultural regions of India, he goes back to the Tertiary period and deals with the ancestors of man, tracing these from the great Apes, through the earliest known Hominids to the arrival of *Homo sapiens*. After dealing with the period of the hunters and the food-gatherers, the author refers to the discovery of agriculture and the domestication of animals. From then onward is presented a history of agriculture and man's civilization which go hand in hand. The author looks far and wide for his sources of information; apart from books and treatises, archaeological evidence and evidences from rock paintings, carvings, inscriptions, etc., are all used to build up the history of agriculture. Throughout the book, though reference is made to the world position, the emphasis is on the Indian subcontinent and India in particular.