The Illustrated History of South India (Oxford India Collection)

Gives a good background to South Indian history.

First of all, I must thank Amazon for their survice and quality of products. Once I got a damaged product from Amazon, but since then they left no room for complaint.Now, the book is a very recent andwonderfully Illustrated edition of Sri Nilkantha Sahstri's Histiry of South India.It is a product by Oxford Paperback. Like always they had done a Wonderful job.Being a student of History, I genuinely know how much a great scholar NK Sashtri sir is. From the very beginning, our history books are always North India prone. Thus we often tend to ignore our glorious past that lies in the south.But yes, there are a lot of research work had been done on this field by various scholars. But these specialized materials are not suitable for the understanding of general readers.Here, in this book Sashtri sir brings for us an vivid scenario of South Indian history in a lucid language that anyone with a basic knowledge of english and quest for knowing the past, can read and consume easily. This book begins with an forward by R.Champaklakhsmi, who is again another genious in terms of south Indian history.So if you guys are interested in knowing our past and specially the stories of South India, you must go through this masterpiece; the illustrations in this edition will engage you throughout your reading.

One of the foremost work written both in Sanskrit and Tamil by Vaishnavite Acharya Swami Desikan have not been mentioned in the book even once. In fact, Swami Desikan and Vidhyaranyar of Vijaya Nagara Emporer were contemporaries. There are enough evidences collected by Historians and works written by Swami Desikan mentions about Vijaya Nagar Dynasty. Swami Desikan's period were very much part 'n parcel of Vijaya Nagar (1268 - 1369).It is unfortunate this book does not mention about the works of Swami Desikan.

As the author, K A Nilakanta Sastri, is known for his expertise in the field of Indian history, there is no question the book is an exemplified creation from the author. But the rating had to be 3 for the poor illustrations which clearly shows they were done by a person who do not have a subtle knowledge of the content, probably done after the book has been first written by K A Nilakanta Sastri (died in 1975), without his knowledge.

This review is not about the content but about the production quality. The illustrations are a joke. The print quality could have been better. .