Ancient Indian History, Romila Thapar, translation Sahavasi, 179 pp, Rs. 150 \nPublished in 1966 for class 6 by NCERT, this book outlines ancient Indian history for lay people and civil service aspirants. The book does not simply recount the history of kings and rulers but demonstrates the centrality of social class and economic constraints in determining historical outcomes. The book was withdrawn by NCERT in 2002-3 after a controversy. \n \nAuthor Romila Thapar (1931-) is a pre-eminent historian whose major area of study is ancient India but who has thrown light on several areas of Indian history. \n \nTranslator: Uma Maheswara Rao (1933-2007), is better known as Sahavasi. He worked in both the government and the private sectors and has contributed phenomenally to translated literature in Telugu.