The Mlechchhas in Ancient India Their History and Culture By Alakananda Bhattacharyya

The Mlechchhas of Ancient India - their History and Culture embodies in eight chapters a detailed survey of references to the Mlechchhas found in early and medieval Indian Literary texts, foreign notices and epigraphic documents. The term Mlechchha originally denoted a language or speakers of a particular language. Later, it was attributed to both foreigners and some indigenous racial stocks who did not abide by Brahmanical rules and regulations relating to religious rites and social customs. Mlechchhas were not always shunned as impure barbarians. Matrimonial alliance with them was often cemented by ruling houses adhering to Indian religious systems. An attempt is perceptible in later Smriti texts at absorbing the Mlechchhas into the Brahmanical fold by providing for them a berth in the jäti system. The concluding chapter deals with the development of the concept of the term mlechchha in the light of available source materials.

Dr. (Smt.) Alakananda Bhattacharyya has a brilliant academic career. She graduated from the Govt. Sanskrit College, Calcutta, standing First in First Class Honours in Ancient Indian and World History in 1968. She took her Master's Degree from the Calcutta University, standing First in First Class in Ancient Indian History and Culture with specialisation in Epigraphy and Numismatics. She joined the Department of Ancient Indian and World History, Govt. Sanskrit College, Calcutta, in 1974. She was awarded the Ph. D. degree of the University of Calcutta in 1992. Dr. (Smt.) Bhattacharyya is now a Joint Director of Public Instruction, Department of Higher Education, Govt. of West Bengal. Her work entitled 'Nepalese Inscriptions in Pre-Newari Eras An Annotated Bibliography' was published in 1994.

The term Mlechchha is well known to the sources of Indian his- tory and several sections of the Indians even of the present time. But the connotation of the name in different sources and ages is often controversial and is a subject of intense discussion. This observation can be made even after the publication of Dr. Aloka Parashar's (now Parashar-Sen's) commendable monograph Mlechchhas in Early India: A Study in Attitudes towards Outsiders up to A. D. 600 (New Delhi, 1991). Hence a new attempt in this direction is always welcome.

The latest entrant in this field of study with the publication of a treatise is Dr. Alakananda Bhattacharyya. Her book is divided into nine chapters. There is also a well informative Bibliography.

The first chapter furnishes a short account of important studies on the subject, a survey of the relevant sources, and the justifications of a new approach to a well-known topic. The next seven chapters (II-VIII) collect critically the data from sources arranged according to their nature and types. This arrangement provides us with a clear idea about the attitude of the writers or people of different groups and communities towards the Mlechchha. The chronology of the development of the attitude is very critically treated in the last chapter (IX).

Thus the treatment of the subject by the scholar seems to be very scientific. The readers will understand the evolution of the role of the Mlechchhas or rather the concept of the term Mlechchha in Indian history from the age of the Indus civilization (if Meluhha of some old West Asiatic documents can somehow be connected with it) or at least from the (early?) Vedic times to the "early mediaeval period". The period called by the authoress "early mediaeval", may, however, better be known (as the undersigned has shown else- where) as "protomediaeval" (ending in c. A.D. 1200).

In the middle of the eighties of the last century Prof. B. N. Mukherjee, the then Carmichael Professor of the Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture, Calcutta University, advised me to write an article on the Mlechchhas of ancient India. In course of exploration of relevant documents I found that the wealth of materials had swelled up beyond my comprehension. Then I contemplated upon writing a monograph on the topic.

I am grateful to my mentor Prof. B. N. Mukherjee without whose guidance the work could not have been completed. I am indebted to him for writing a Foreword to it. I would be failing in my duty if I do not record here my gratitude to Dr. Munishwar Jha, Formerly Vice- Chancellor of the Mithila Sanskrit University, Darbhanga, Dr. Satya Ranjan Banerjee, formerly Professor of Linguistics, University of Calcutta, Prof. Paresh Chandra Majumdar (Retd.) of the Department of Bengali, University of Calcutta, Pandit Madhusudan Vedatirtha of the Sanskrit Sahitya Parishad, and to my father-in- law the Late Kalidas Bhattacharyya, a well-known college teacher of Sanskrit Language and Literature of yesteryear.

I am also thankful to the authorities and employees of the National Library, Calcutta, Asiatic Society, Calcutta, Sanskrit Sahitya Parishad, Calcutta, Museum Branch of the Archaeological Survey of India, Calcutta, and the Indian Museum, Calcutta for providing me with the opportunity of using the reading room of the Libraries concerned. I am beholden to Smt. Jalpana and Kalpana Ganguly, Smt. Manjari Ghosh and Sri Banabihari Bhattacharyya of the Library of the Government Sanskrit College, Calcutta, for extending their co-operation and supplying books whichever and whenever necessary.

I am also thankful to my colleagues and friends for the inspiration I derived from them. Thanks are also due to my daughter Ananfitra who used to reprove me everyday for not completing the work. She has also prepared the Index