Romila Thapar has specialised in early Indian history and has written extensively on the many aspects of the past. Her books include Aśoka and the Decline of the Mauryas; From Lineage to State; History and Beyond; Cultural Pasts: Essays in Early Indian History; Early India; Somanatha: the Many Voices of a History; The Aryan: Recasting Constructs; The Past as Present: Forging Contemporary Identities through History; The Public Intellectual in India; The Historian and Her Craft: Collected Essays and Lectures; among others. She has been a visiting professor at universities in Asia, Europe, and the US, and is currently Professor Emerita at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. In 2008, she was awarded the Kluge Prize (the American Nobel) for Lifetime Achievement in the field of History.
