Includes index

a study of the early history of Indian sociology reveals two distinct trends: its appropriation of the principles, logic and methods characterising colonial knowledge and an ˜Orientalist perspective; and the opposing tendency to critique and reject Western categories of knowledge. This second strand was especially critical of the application of Western methods, categories and concepts for studying an entity as historically and culturally disparate as Indian society. ≪ em> conceptualising man and society demonstrates these opposing tendencies and ideological tensions in the writings of early Indian sociologists while exploring their anthropological, cognitive and methodological approaches to the study of Indian society.