This third edition of Exploring Early India up to c. AD 1300 offers a broad overview and connected narrative of early Indian history, taking into consideration major historical developments from the earliest times to c. AD 1300. Salient features of political, socio-economic and cultural history have been discussed elaborately, and regional diversities in early Indian history have been commented upon, keeping in sight the commonalties at the subcontinental level. Rich in empirical details and containing relevant illustrations and maps, the book delves into the historiographical thrusts and shifts in the study of early India and is marked by attempts to demonstrate elements of change in early Indian history beyond dynastic shifts. It also offers critical readings of diverse primary sources from the fields of archaeology, epigraphy, numismatics and art-history, and the various congruent, and contesting, images of the past which they generate. This book also includes two new appendices respectively on the Kushana political history and the seafaring to the island of Socotra in the light of recently discovered epigraphic data.