This remarkable work is a product of sustained collaboration between a Sanskrit scholar and a sociologist for three decades and more. Through meticulous analysis of Sanskrit texts, it lays bare the forces and processes which have shaped the basic elements of social structure and culture in India.

It thus provides a new and deeper under-standing of the processes of social change, social stratifications, family, status of woman, religion, the doctrine of Karma, the Sanskaras, the Asramas, and cultural interaction among ancient civilizations. The analysis is truly sociological. It brings out latent function of pervasive beliefs and practices; and in the domain of sociology of knowledge even metaphysical theories are related to factors of social existence.

Works on Indian society so far, tend to paraphrase and piece together material drawn from texts composed in widely diverse historical eras. The picture that emerges from such exercise is, therefore, fictitious. It represents no real socio-cultural system. On the other hand, the present work an endeavour to understand the dynamics of various aspects of the social system by relating the content of a text to the socio-cultural era in which it was composed. This work is intended neither to glorify nor to detract, but to give an objective and verifiable account.

1. Methodological Approaches for the Study of Society In India

2. Salient Features of Indian Society and Culture

3. The Perspective of Social Change

4. Emergence of the Traditional Pattern of Social Stratification

5. The Family

6. The Samskaras

7. The Asramas

8. The Position of Woman: Socio-Cultural compulsives of Attitude Towards Woman

9. Correspondence between woman and nature in India Thought: An Essay in Sociology of Knowledge

10. Religion of India: The Reassertion of Subjugated Cultures

11. Latent Function of the Doctrine of Karma

12. The Rise of Elite Tradition and Genesis of Indian Civilization

13. Culture Contact Between Ancient India and Iran: consequences of Antagonistic Interaction

Indra Deva, a sociologist of international repute, was Professor Emeritus at the Ravishankar University, Raipur. His research papers on Indian society and culture have been published in international journals such as Diogenes, Cultures and Impact of Science on Society. His research writings have been translated into many languages, including French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic and Korean. He has also served as an expert for the UNESCO and various national and international commissions. He was the President of Indian Sociological Society for two years. He was the first social scientist to receive the ‘Dr. Hari Singh Gaur Award’ in 1985 from the President of India.

Shrirama was Professor of Sociology and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Ravishankar University, Raipur. Her pioneering interdisciplinary research work, embodying sociological interpretation of Sanskrit texts, has been published in reputed international journals, including those of the UNESCO. It has been translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish and Arabic, and has received wide national and international acclaim.