Throughout its long history, India has signified many things. To pilgrims from ancient China, India was the birthplace of the Buddha; to Alexander the Great it was a land of philosophers and indomitable, elephantine armies. At the height of the Mughal Empire in 1700, India meant wealth, boasting nearly 25 percent of the world economy, but then, under British rule, its economy declined.
In the nineteenth century, India’s identity continued to evolve, defined by stark contrasts of extravagant wealth and crippling poverty, symbolized by the Taj Mahal and devastating famines, maharajas, and untouchables. At the same time, the country was celebrated for its rich spirituality, from the many gods of Hinduism and Sufi saints to Buddhist philosophy, with towering figures like Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore shaping its legacy.
Andrew Robinson incisively distills India’s many incarnations, from the remarkably advanced cities of the early Indus Valley to the world’s largest democracy. Anyone curious about its past, present, or future will find this a fascinating introduction.
Contributors
Andrew Robinson
Author
Andrew Robinson has written more than twenty-five books on the arts and sciences. They include Lost Languages: The Enigma of the World’s Undeciphered Scripts, Cracking the Egyptian Code, and Earthshock, which won the Association of Earth Science Editors Outstanding Publication Award. He is also a regular contributor to magazines, such as Current World Archaeology, History Today, The Lancet, Nature, and Science. A former literary editor of The Times Higher Education Supplement, he was also a visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge.
