Synopsis This volume is the result of an international conference organized by the South Asia institute at the University of Texas. The purpose of the conference was to bring together the world's leading Indologist representing a variety of disciplines to discuss and share recent research on a hitherto neglected period of Indian history (300 BCE to 400 C). Patrick Olivelle has collected and edited the best papers to emerge from the conference. Part 1 of the book looks as what can be construed from archaeological evidence. Part 2 concerns itself with the textual evidence for the period. Taken together, these essays offer an unprecedented look at Indian culture and society in this distant epoch.