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The Golden Road

How Ancient India Transformed the World

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The Golden Road

By: William Dalrymple
Narrated by: William Dalrymple
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Bloomsbury presents The Golden Road written and read by William Dalrymple.

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
A Waterstones and TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR
A SPECTATOR and History Today BOOK OF THE YEAR

A revolutionary new history of the diffusion of Indian ideas, from the award-winning, bestselling author and co-host of the chart-topping Empire podcast

‘Richly woven, highly readable ... Written with passion and verve’ Spectator
‘Dazzling ... Not just a historical study but also a love letter’ Guardian
‘An outstanding new account ... The most compelling retelling we have had for generations’ Financial Times

India is the forgotten heart of the ancient world.

In the millennium and a half from c. 250 BC to 1200 AD, Indian art, religion, technology, astronomy, music, dance, literature, mathematics and mythology blazed a trail across the world – a Golden Road that stretched from the Red Sea to the Pacific.

Here, William Dalrymple draws from a lifetime of scholarship to highlight India’s oft-forgotten position as the heart of ancient Eurasia. For the first time, he gives a name to this spread of Indian ideas that transformed the culture and technology of not only its ancient world, but of the world as we know it today.

Praise for William Dalrymple and The Anarchy

‘A superb historian with a visceral understanding of India’ The Times
‘Magnificently readable, deeply researched and richly atmospheric’ Francis Wheen, Mail on Sunday©2024 William Dalrymple (P)2024 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Ancient Asia India South Asia Southeast Asia Ancient History Middle Ages Thought-Provoking China Imperialism Middle East Nepal Ancient Greece
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Critic reviews

With a mind-boggling mastery of sources, Dalrymple weaves a thrilling tale of India’s cultural hegemony, not forgetting its invention of mathematics and related disciplines still in use today (Andrew Lycett)
A terrific story, told with tremendous brio (Dominic Sandbrook)
An outstanding new account of ancient India’s cultural conquest of the globe … The Golden Road is an absorbingly literary history, a tale of tales ... Xi Jinping’s China is currently much better at promoting itself as the heart of Asia. But it may ultimately prove no match for India’s primordial gift for myth and narrative, and this is what Dalrymple has so successfully channelled into The Golden Road. The plot, especially for South Asians, may be an old one, but it’s the most compelling retelling we have had for generations
Dazzling ... The Golden Road, teeming with his own evocative descriptions of far-flung cave and forest temples, sculptures and wall paintings, is not just a historical study but also a love letter – to a lost syncretic world of interacting and evolving religious creeds and intellectual movements, when Indian ideas transformed the world
In his masterful new work, The Golden Road (Bloomsbury, April 29), historian William Dalrymple argues that India has both the potential and the historical track record to catch up with its former peer to the northeast . . . The Golden Road fills an important gap in our understanding of the intra-Asian relations that predated the arrival of European colonisers. (Kishore Mahbubani)
A multifarious and engaging narrative, which, like Indian trade, takes us in many directions, peppered with lively stories and charismatic individuals
A richly woven, highly readable account of the highlights of India’s outsized influence on the world. It is also a celebration of cosmopolitanism and cultural exchange, written with passion and verve and hinting at an optimism for India’s future of which Tagore himself would no doubt heartily have approved
As always, Dalrymple writes with great knowledge and verve, and with telling details (Richard Harries)
Dalrymple is erudite and wonderfully entertaining … This is a wonderful book. Read it through in delight, acquiring knowledge, perhaps even wisdom. Then you will surely return to read much of it again (Allan Massie)
William Dalrymple’s luminous new book … In brilliantly excavating the Golden Road in the current age of the Silk Road, Dalrymple’s book is both contemporary and altogether foreign. It does not so much explain the present as indicate the long and even insurmountable distance between then and now
A pioneering new book based on methodical historical research to showcase the huge loss for the world in misunderstanding and misrepresenting India
All stars
Most relevant
Another brilliant book by William Dalrymple - fantastic exploration with usual excellent research. a must read and has encouraged me to explore The Golden Road further!

Excellent exploration of the roots of civilisation in India

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Covers a period and area of history (and geography) that is generally overlooked. This can be overwhelming in the narrative as the 'indosphere' is massive! In summary, it places India at the heart of much of our cultural and intellectual development, recognition of humanity's ability to endlessly synthesize ideas to suit it's purpose and subsequently take credit for them. Well done us!

Worthwhile listen...

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There's quite a little of misrepresentation of Buddhism within. For example, there's no historical evidence that Buddhism (especially Yogacara) was influenced by Greek philosophy, in fact it's much more likely to be the inverse. Unfortunately, a lot of misrepresentation persists in tge West due to imperial/colonial agendas ie presenting Indian philosophy as lesser than Greek to maintain racial superiority and justify colonial 'intervention'

fascinating but questionable claims, especially on Buddhism

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A book that, for me ,connected in a brilliantly coherent way so many strands of the history and geography of India and the world. The reading was as good as it gets.
I was sent to the internet to look up old maps and pictures of stunning architectural remains. There's a magnificent TV series I've just imagined to be made.

Brilliant Account

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I'm not normally interested in history but this is absolutely fascinating and extremely well written. The narration is absolutely superb too. First book I've ever been inspired to review!

Outstanding.

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