ROMILA THAPAR is emeritus professor of history at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She is a fellow of the British Academy and holds an Hon D.Litt each from the University of Calcutta, University of Oxford and the University of Chicago. In 2008, Thapar was awarded the prestigious Kluge Prize of the US Library of Congress for Lifetime Achievement in the Humanities and Social Sciences. She has authored over twenty-five books.