Synopsis A prolonged enquiry into the problems relating to the Historiography of Civilizations which creatively uses the concepts derived from both the Indian and the western traditions to understand man's most complex and enduring creation, that is, civilization. Silpa, Sastra, Samskara, Purusartha, Svapna, Smrti and Vasana provide a key role in this understanding and a new concept of the empirical a priori is developed to provide the theoretical underpinning for their understanding.