The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World

Last updated

The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World
Author William Dalrymple
LanguageEnglish
GenreNon-fiction
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date
2024
Publication place United Kingdom
Pages496
ISBN 978-1639734146
OCLC 1408379702
934.
Website https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/golden-road-9781408864418/

The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World is a 2024 history book by William Dalrymple. It discusses the ways in which India's ideas and influences spread throughout and shaped Eurasia. [1]

Contents

Overview

The book argues that the primary route connecting Eurasia from 250 BC to 1200 AD [2] was a route going through India referred to in the book as the "Golden Road"; this route facilitated an Indian sphere of influence, referred under the name Indosphere.

India's outward influence began with the west coast of India interacting with the outside world, with the Roman Empire's conquest of Egypt in the 1st century establishing the peak of Indo-Roman trade; [3] the fall of Rome in the 5th and 6th centuries then forced Indian traders to turn their attention eastward, resulting in significant influence upon Southeast Asia. By the 7th century, Buddhism had penetrated China, with the reign of Wu Zetian resulting in a brief Indianization of the royal court and a general explosion of learning from India. [4] [5] And by the 13th century, Indian mathematical and astronomical ideas had gone through the Arab world [6] and reached Europe, [7] but in the same century, conquests put an end to the heretofore peaceful expansion of Indian influence. Mongol conquests in Eurasia ended India's centrality by paving the way for the Silk Road, giving China greater prominence as it thus gained access to the Mediterranean, [4] while Muslim armies temporarily interrupted trade routes to India's west and took over North India. [8]

Dalrymple was inspired to write the book after a visit to Angkor Wat, the largest Hindu temple in the world. [9] He spent five years travelling throughout the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia to do research for the book. [10]

Reception

Manu S. Pillai of Frontline wrote, "What is surprising about The Golden Road is the period: while all of [Dalrymple's] histories so far are set in the modern age, the newest one takes us to the ancient world. Its ambitions are greater, and Dalrymple is in fresh territory. But he pulls it off expertly. The book is edifying, well-structured, learned, and thoroughly interesting." [11] The Week's Meera Suresh wrote, "The book's lustre lies in its exhaustive coverage of ancient Indian history and Dalrymple's true-to-life descriptions. From a historian's point, The Golden Road – How Ancient India Transformed the World is an ode to the forgotten chapters of ancient India and its unparalleled riches." [12]

Tanjil Rashid of the Financial Times called The Golden Road "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 — that ancient India 'transformed the world'." [13]

Abhrajyoti Chakraborty, writing in The Observer , said that Dalrymple "is enthralled by the postcard monuments of ancient India's 'soft power': the magnificent Borobudur Buddhist temple in Indonesia; the Hindu temple Angkor Wat in Cambodia. He recounts the flourishing trade between ancient India and the Roman empire following the famous Battle of Alexandria in 30BC... He persuasively argues that this maritime trade route preceded the overland Silk Road connecting China, Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea by several centuries." He added, "It is only in the final pages that Dalrymple acknowledges the debates about Indian history that have become unavoidable in recent years." [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asia</span> Continent

Asia is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the human population, was the site of many of the first civilisations. Its 4.7 billion people constitute roughly 60% of the world's population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silk Road</span> Historical network of Eurasian trade routes

The Silk Road was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 km (4,000 mi), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the Eastern and Western worlds. The name "Silk Road" was coined in the late 19th century, but some 20th- and 21st-century historians instead prefer the term Silk Routes, on the grounds that it more accurately describes the intricate web of land and sea routes connecting Central, East, South, Southeast, and West Asia as well as East Africa and Southern Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maurya Empire</span> Ancient Indian empire (ca.320–185 BCE)

The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary sources for the written records of the Mauryan times are partial records of the lost history of Megasthenes in Roman texts of several centuries later, the Edicts of Ashoka, which were first read in the modern era by James Prinsep after he had deciphered the Brahmi and Kharoshthi scripts in 1838, and the Arthashastra, a work first discovered in the early 20th century, and previously attributed to Chanakya, but now thought to be composed by multiple authors in the first centuries of the common era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trade route</span> Series of roads, pathways and stoppages for commercial trade on land; excludes rail

A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. The term can also be used to refer to trade over bodies of water. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a single trade route contains long-distance arteries, which may further be connected to smaller networks of commercial and noncommercial transportation routes. Among notable trade routes was the Amber Road, which served as a dependable network for long-distance trade. Maritime trade along the Spice Route became prominent during the Middle Ages, when nations resorted to military means for control of this influential route. During the Middle Ages, organizations such as the Hanseatic League, aimed at protecting interests of the merchants and trade became increasingly prominent.

<i>Pax Mongolica</i> Term for stabilizing effects of Mongol conquest

The Pax Mongolica, less often known as Pax Tatarica, is a historiographical term modeled after the original phrase Pax Romana which describes the stabilizing effects of the conquests of the Mongol Empire on the social, cultural and economic life of the inhabitants of the vast Eurasian territory that the Mongols conquered in the 13th and 14th centuries. The term is used to describe the eased communication and commerce the unified administration helped to create and the period of relative peace that followed the Mongols' vast and violent conquests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Dalrymple</span> British historian and writer

William Benedict Hamilton-Dalrymple is an India-based [[Scottish people|Scottish] historian and art historian, as well as a curator, broadcaster and critic. He is also one of the co-founders and co-directors of the world's largest writers' festival, the annual Jaipur Literature Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Eurasia</span>

The history of Eurasia is the collective history of a continental area with several distinct peripheral coastal regions: Southwest Asia, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Western Europe, linked by the interior mass of the Eurasian steppe of Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Perhaps beginning with the Steppe Route trade, the early Silk Road, the Eurasian view of history seeks establishing genetic, cultural, and linguistic links between Eurasian cultures of antiquity. Much interest in this area lies with the presumed origin of the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language and chariot warfare in Central Eurasia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silk Road transmission of Buddhism</span> Part of the history of Buddhism in Asia

Mahāyāna Buddhism entered Han China via the Silk Road, beginning in the 1st or 2nd century CE. The first documented translation efforts by Buddhist monks in China were in the 2nd century CE via the Kushan Empire into the Chinese territory bordering the Tarim Basin under Kanishka. These contacts transmitted strands of Sarvastivadan and Tamrashatiya Buddhism throughout the Eastern world.

<i>Spider-Man: India</i> Indian superhero comic book series

Spider-Man: India is a superhero comic book series published in India by Gotham Entertainment Group in 2004, retelling the story of Marvel Comics' Spider-Man in an Indian setting. It ran for four issues, which were later also published in the United States in 2005 and collected into a trade paperback (ISBN 0-7851-1640-0). The series was created by Sharad Devarajan, Suresh Seetharaman, and Jeevan J. Kang with Marvel Comics. The titular character of Pavitr Prabhakar / Spider-Man made his cinematic debut in the 2023 feature film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse voiced by Karan Soni, depicted as a member of Miguel O'Hara's Spider-Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greater India</span> Cultural sphere of India beyond the Indian subcontinent

Greater India, also known as the Indian cultural sphere, or the Indic world, is an area composed of several countries and regions in South Asia, East Asia and Southeast Asia that were historically influenced by Indian culture, which itself formed from the various distinct indigenous cultures of South Asia. It is an umbrella term encompassing the Indian subcontinent and surrounding countries, which are culturally linked through a diverse cultural cline. These countries have been transformed to varying degrees by the acceptance and introduction of cultural and institutional elements from each other. The term Greater India as a reference to the Indian cultural sphere was popularised by a network of Bengali scholars in the 1920s, but became obsolete in the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian maritime history</span> Aspect of Indian history

Indian maritime history begins during the 3rd millennium BCE when inhabitants of the Indus Valley initiated maritime trading contact with Mesopotamia. India's long coastline, which occurred due to the protrusion of India's Deccan Plateau, helped it to make new trade relations with the Europeans, especially the Greeks, and the length of its coastline on the Indian Ocean is partly a reason why it's known as that.

<i>White Mughals</i> 2002 book by William Dalrymple

White Mughals is a 2002 history book by William Dalrymple. It is Dalrymple's fifth major book, and tells the true story of a love affair that took place in early nineteenth century Hyderabad between James Achilles Kirkpatrick and Khair-un-Nissa Begum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indo-Roman trade relations</span> Trade between the Indian subcontinent and the Roman Empire

Indo-Roman trade relations was trade between the Indian subcontinent and the Roman Empire in Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. Trade through the overland caravan routes via Asia Minor and the Middle East, though at a relative trickle compared to later times, preceded the southern trade route via the Red Sea which started around the beginning of the Common Era (CE) following the reign of Augustus and his conquest of Egypt in 30 BCE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Post-classical history</span> Period between ancient and modern history

In world history, post-classical history refers to the period from about 500 CE to 1500 CE, roughly corresponding to the European Middle Ages. The period is characterized by the expansion of civilizations geographically and the development of trade networks between civilizations. This period is also called the medieval era, post-antiquity era, post-ancient era, pre-modernity era, or pre-modern era.

Indian Ocean trade has been a key factor in East–West exchanges throughout history. Long-distance maritime trade by Austronesian trade ships and South Asian and Middle Eastern dhows, made it a dynamic zone of interaction between peoples, cultures, and civilizations stretching from Southeast Asia to East and Southeast Africa, and the East Mediterranean in the West, in prehistoric and early historic periods. Cities and states on the Indian Ocean rim focused on both the sea and the land.

Meera Nanda is an Indian writer and historian of science, who has authored several works critiquing the influence of Hindutva, postcolonialism and postmodernism on science, and the flourishing of pseudoscience and vedic science. Meera Nanda taught History of Science at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Mohali from 2009 to 2017, and later - from 2019 to 2020 - she was a Guest Faculty in Humanities and Social Sciences at IISER Pune. In 2023 she became a fellow with the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.

<i>The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company</i> 2019 book by William Dalrymple

The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company is a 2019 history book by William Dalrymple. It recounts the rise of the East India Company in the second half of the 18th century, against the backdrop of a crumbling Mughal Empire and the rise of regional powers.

Run and Hide: A Novel is a novel by Pankaj Mishra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greater Central Asia</span> Central Asia and nearby regions

Greater Central Asia (GCA) is a variously defined region encompassing the area in and around Central Asia, by one definition including Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Xinjiang, and Afghanistan, and by a more expansive definition, excluding Turkey but including Mongolia and parts of India and Russia. The region was historically interconnected religiously, economically, and otherwise, being important as part of the Silk Road trading network until the 15th century; the competition between Soviet, British, and Chinese spheres of influence split the region apart in the 20th century. In the 21st century, it has been contested by a number of major powers, such as America, China and Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indo-Mediterranean</span> Indian Ocean-Mediterranean region

The Indo-Mediterranean is the region comprising the Mediterranean world, the Indian Ocean world, and their connecting regions in the vicinity of the Suez Canal.

References

  1. Krishnan, Nikhil (23 August 2024). "How India reshaped the world – then fell into decline". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235. Archived from the original on 29 August 2024. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
  2. Ghosh, Paramita (12 March 2024). "Building a new road". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
  3. Ghosh, Paramita (21 October 2024). "Indian or Indic? William Dalrymple's Golden Road drives in both lanes". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 14 December 2024. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  4. 1 2 Lakshmi, Rama (8 March 2024). "Silk Route talk irritates Dalrymple. His new book says India, not China, ruled trade, ideas". ThePrint. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
  5. "Ancient India through William Dalrymple's Lens". Open The Magazine. 29 October 2021. Archived from the original on 29 August 2024. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
  6. Suresh, Meera (15 December 2024). "William Dalrymple's new book traces ancient India's role in spreading ideas and religions across the world". The Week. Archived from the original on 19 December 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  7. "William Dalrymple's next book being penned through lockdown". Hindustan Times.
  8. Mount, Ferdinand (12 September 2024). "One-Way Traffic". London Review of Books. Vol. 46, no. 17. ISSN   0260-9592. Archived from the original on 6 September 2024. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
  9. "William Dalrymple's next: How Ancient India changed the world". The Indian Express. 11 April 2024. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
  10. "Bloomsbury snaps up historian William Dalrymple's new book on India and the ancient world". The Bookseller. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
  11. Pillai, Manu S. (11 November 2024). "William Dalrymple The Golden Road Book Review: Ancient India, Global Trade and Buddhism". Frontline. Archived from the original on 13 November 2024. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
  12. Suresh, Meera (20 November 2024). "'The Golden Road – How Ancient India Transformed the World' review: Dalrymple's latest work recounts India's glorious past". The Week. Archived from the original on 15 December 2024. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
  13. Rashid, Tanjil (8 September 2024). "The Golden Road by William Dalrymple — ancient India's cultural conquest of the globe". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 17 September 2024. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
  14. Chakraborty, Abhrajyoti (15 September 2024). "The Golden Road by William Dalrymple review – the rational case for ancient India's ingenuity". The Observer. ISSN   0029-7712 . Retrieved 24 December 2024.

Further reading