thumb|right|Romila Thapar speaking at the U.S. [[Library of Congress]]'''Romila Thapar''' (born 1931) is an ancient India. 

==Work==
After graduating from Panjab University, Thapar earned her doctorate under A. L. Basham at the School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of London in 1958. Later she worked as Professor of Ancient Indian History at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, where she is Professor Emerita. 

Thapar's major works are ''Asoka and the Decline of the Maurya'', ''Ancient Indian Social History: Some Interpretations'', ''Recent Perspectives of Early Indian History'' (editor), ''A History of India Volume One'', and ''Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300''. 

Her historical work is critical of elites<ref name="imaginingindia">Ronald Inden, 1990, ''Imagining India'', pp. 154-156, 197</ref> and portrays the origins of Hinduism as an evolving interplay between social forces.  Her recent work on Somnath examines the evolution of the historiographies about the legendary Gujarat temple.<ref name="somanatha">[http://www.hindu.com/br/2004/04/27/stories/2004042700121600.htm Perspectives of a history] - a review of ''Somanatha: The Many Voices of a History''</ref>

In her first work, ''Asoka and the Decline of the Maurya'' published in 1963, Thapar situates Ashoka's policy of ''dhamma'' in its social and political context, as a non-sectarian civic ethic intended to hold together an empire of diverse ethnicities and cultures. She attributes the decline of the Mauryan empire to its highly centralized administration which called for rulers of exceptional abilities to function well.   

Thapar's first volume of ''A History of India'' is written for a popular audience and encompasses the period from its early history to the arrival of Europeans in the sixteenth century.  

''Ancient Indian Social History'' deals with the period from early times to the end of the first millennium, includes a comparative study of Hindu and Buddhist socio-religious systems, and examines the role of Buddhism in social protest and social mobility in the caste system. ''From Lineage to State'' analyses the formation of states in the middle Ganga valley in the first millennium BC, tracing the process to a change, driven by the use of iron and plough agriculture, from a pastoral and mobile lineage-based society to one of settled peasant holdings, accumulation and increased urbanisation.<ref></ref>

==Recognition and honour==

Thapar has been a visiting professor at 
College de France in Paris. She was elected General President of the Indian History Congress in 1983 and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy in 1999.<ref name="visiting">[http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,,1000031775,00.html Penguin publicity page]</ref>

Thapar is an Honorary Fellow at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. She holds honorary doctorates from the University of Chicago, the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales in Paris, the University of Oxford and the University of Calcutta.<ref name="kluge-announcement"></ref>

In 2004 the U.S. Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South.<ref name="kluge-announcement" />

In January 2005, she declined the President A P J Abdul Kalam, she said she was "astonished to see her name in the list of awardees because three months ago when I was contacted by the HRD ministry and asked if I would accept an award, I made my position very clear and explained my reason for declining it". Thapar had declined the Padma Bhushan on an earlier occasion, in 1992. To the President, she explained the reason for turning down the award thus: "I only accept awards from academic institutions or those associated with my professional work, and not state awards".<ref name="padma">[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1003072.cms "Romila rejects Padma award"] - Times of India article dated January 27 2005</ref>

'''Romila Thapar''' (nascido em 1931) foi uma indiana cuja principal área de estudo era a Índia antiga.

==Obra e reconhecimento==
Após formar-se na Universidade de Punjabe, Thapar obteve o seu doutorado na Escola de Estudos Orientais e Africanos, na Universidade de Londres, em 1958. Depois, trabalhou como professora de História indiana antiga na Universidade Jawaharlal Nehru, em professora emérita.

As maiores obras de Thapar são ''Asoka and the Decline of the Maurya'', ''Ancient Social History: Some Interpretations'', ''Recent Perspectives of Early Indian History'', ''A History of India Volume One'' e ''Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300''. A sua obra histórica é crítica das elites e retrata as origens do hinduísmo como uma interação entre forças sociais. A sua obra recente sobre Somnath examina a evolução das historiografias sobre o lendário templo de Gujarat.

O ''Ancient Indian Social History'' lida com o período dos tempos antigos até o fim do primeiro milênio, inclui um estudo comparativo dos sistemas sócio-religiosos hindus e budistas e examina o papel do budismo no protesto e na mobilidade social no sistema de castas.