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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
"Like any unofficial guide, Dalrymple prefers to tell the most colorful and charming version of the story, generally sweeping away the reservations and ambiguities of modern scholarship to his endnotes."
"Dalrymple must get credit for flying the flag of the land that has been lucky enough to become his obsession."
"Dalrymple is an energetic and learned historian of India, but this is the first of his books to delve into the country's ancient history."
"Comprehensive and meticulously researched ..."
"Dalrymple has made a heroic effort to traverse this difficult terrain, presenting a beautifully written book, replete with colourful individuals, fascinating anecdotes, little-known facts and dramatic events, all the while telling a story hitherto apparently untold ..."
"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 ..."
"Dalrymple is enthralled by the postcard monuments of ancient India's 'soft power' ..."
"Yet it's also a deeply personal work."
"A passionate tribute to the glories—and influence—of ancient India."
"Rich in nuance and vivid detail ..."
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