Upinder Singh is Professor of History at Ashoka University. Her writings range over various aspects of Indian social, economic and religious history; the intersection between political ideas and practice; Indian archaeology; the modern histories of ancient sites and monuments, and cultural interactions between India and Southeast Asia. She is the author of Ancient India: Culture of Contradictions (2021), Political Violence in Ancient India (2017), The Idea of Ancient India: Essays on Religion, Politics, and Archaeology (2016), A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the Twelfth Century (2008), The Discovery of Ancient India: Early Archaeologists and the Beginnings of Archaeology (2004), Ancient Delhi (1999), and  Kings, Brāhmanas, and Temples in Orissa: An Epigraphic Study (AD 300-1147) (1994). She has edited The World of India’s First Archaeologists: Letters from Alexander Cunningham to J.D.M. Beglar (2021), Rethinking Early Medieval India (2011), and Delhi: Ancient History (2006). She has co-edited Buddhism in Asia: Revival and Reinvention (2016), Asian Encounters: Exploring Connected Histories (2014) and Ancient India: New Research (2009). 

Upinder Singh taught in St. Stephen’s College (1981-2004) and subsequently in the History department of the University of Delhi (2004-2018). After her BA (Honours) in History from St. Stephen’s College, she obtained her MA and MPhil from the University of Delhi, followed by a PhD from McGill University, Montreal. She has received fellowships to conduct research in Leiden, Cambridge, Harvard and Leuven. In 2009, she was awarded the Infosys Prize in Social Sciences – History. 

Naina Dayal is Associate Professor in the department of History at St. Stephen's College, where she teaches early Indian history. She has published on Puranic Hinduism, the Sanskrit epics and the Pali Jatakas. Her research interests include the period c. 320 BCE to 300 CE, and the history of Delhi in the 20th century. She is the co-editor of Questioning Paradigms, Constructing Histories: A Festschrift for Romila Thapar (2019) and Of Thieves and Therīs, Potters and Pativratās: Essays on Early Indian Social History for Kumkum Roy (2023).