Romila Thapar (born 1931) is a Marxist Indian historian whose principal area of study is Ancient India. She secured her doctorate under A. L. Basham at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University in 1958. Later she worked as Professor of Ancient Indian History at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, where she is Professor Emeritus today.

Her major works are Asoka and the Decline of the Maurya, Ancient Indian Social History: Some Interpretations, Recent Perspectives of Early Indian History (editor), A History of India Volume One, and Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300. Her scholarly approach tends to be critical of social elites, and portrays the origins of Hinduism as an evolving interplay between social forces. For both reasons her historiography has been sharply criticized by Hindu nationalists. She has taken a strong stance against communalism and the communalisation of history textbooks. Her recent work on Somnath examines the evolution of the historiographies about the legendary Gujarat temple.

In April 2003, she was named as First Holder of the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South at Library of Congress, the USA's oldest federal cultural institution and the research arm of Congress. This appointment raised the ire of Hindu nationalists.

In January 2005, she refused to accept the Padma Bhushan awarded by the Indian Government. In a letter to President A P J

Bibliography

• Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas, 1961 (revision 1998); Oxford University Press, ISBN 019564445X
• A History of India: Volume 1, 1966; Penguin, ISBN 0140138358
• The Past and Prejudice (Patel Memorial Lectures), 1971
• Ancient Indian Social History: Some Interpretations, 1978
• From Lineage to State: Social Formations of the Mid-First Millennium B.C. in the Ganges Valley, 1985; Oxford University Press
• Interpreting Early India, 1993 (2nd edition 1999); Oxford University Press 1999, ISBN 0195633423
• Early India: From Origins to AD 1300, 2002; Penguin, ISBN 0520238990
• Sakuntala: Texts, Readings, Histories, 2002; Anthem, ISBN 1843310260
• Cultural Pasts: Essays in Early Indian History, 2003; Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195664876
• Somnatha: The Many Voices of History, 2005; Verso, ISBN 1844670201

Edited Anthologies

• Situating Indian History: For Sarvepalli Gopal
• Indian Tales, 1991; Puffin, ISBN 0140348115
• India: Another Millennium?