New Perspectives on Indian Pasts is founded on the possibilities of critical ferment and creative expression in history writing. It does not call for a single pathway as the true measure of historical scholarship. Nor does the series demand any adherence from its authors to the proposals and procedures that have been proffered in this preface. New Perspectives on Indian Pasts invites varieties of history, based on the belief that plural perspectives, intellectual disagreements, and ethical contentions - each resting on responsible dialogue-are necessary for scholarly and public worlds. The series seeks to concretize these proposals by presenting a range of works: from historical biographies to labour histories, from discussions of art worlds to explorations of political cultures, from renderings of pasts of empire and nation to renditions of histories of the social-sciences and the humanities, from analyses of memory to understandings of trauma, and from translations into the English of salient studies in other Indian languages to texts presenting important archival materials. The inventory is indicative. The point is that New Perspectives on Indian Pasts will not limit itself to cutting-edge scholarship, burdened with novelty. It wishes to draw in endeavors, empirical and theoretical, that expand the critical and creative and democratic and ethical horizons of history writing. The series is especially interested in presenting the work of younger authors. But senior scholars are also very welcome.