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The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World
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About This Book
For most of its modern history, India was fated to be on the receiving end of cultural influence from other civilisations. But this isn't the complete story. A full millennium earlier, India's major cultural exports – religion, art, technology, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, language and literature – were shaping civilisations, travelling as far as Afghanistan in the West and Japan in the East. Out of India came pioneering merchants, astronomers and astrologers, scientists and mathematicians, surgeons and sculptors, as well as holy men, monks and missionaries. In The Golden Road, legendary historian William Dalrymple highlights India's oft-forgotten position as a crucial economic and civilisational hub at the heart of the ancient and early medieval history of Eurasia. From Angkor to Ayutthaya, The Golden Road traces the cultural flow of Indian religions, languages, artistic and architectural forms and mathematics throughout the world. In this groundbreaking tome, Dalrymple draws from a lifetime of scholarship to reinstate India as the great intellectual and philosophical superpower of ancient Asia.
Reviews
"His range is deep and wide."
"Dalrymple must get credit for flying the flag of the land that has been lucky enough to become his obsession."
"Dalrymple is enthralled by the postcard monuments of ancient India's 'soft power' ..."
"Though the focus on people, stories and events makes The Golden Road enjoyable to read."
"Comprehensive and meticulously researched ..."
"Although the book is dense with far-flung names, dates, places, and ideas, Dalrymple's writing is always animated, enlivened by color plates that allow readers to readily envision the sights evoked here."
"An absorbingly literary history, a tale of tales, and, in Dalrymple's telling, it was most notably through the dissemination of stories — including ideas and doctrines given narrative form ..."
"Rich in nuance and vivid detail ..."
"He is at his best when he takes us along in person ..."
"Dalrymple is a born storyteller, with a wonderful facility for expounding complex events with verve and clarity."
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