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smrti 's review for:
The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World
by William Dalrymple
The Golden Road is compelling; it re-imagines the Indic regions at the centre of the ancient world. The canvas is vast, spreading across geographies where we can now see influences of Buddhism, Sanskrit literature, Mathematics, and others. Indic ideas seem to have got exported through the monsoon-aided merchants, who were searching for markets (and gold) across the oceans. Historians perhaps knew these facts already; to me it was seeing them in a new light. Thanks for that.
Now I am looking around to know more.
– What did India learn in return? The influences must have been both ways for sure. What are the influences in ancient Indic regions through these centuries-long interactions?
-Each chapter centers around a state figure or place to tell the story of this influence. That also reduces the scope of the chapter to that dominant circle. Surely there are many others who may have no access to Sanskrit or statecraft, but were on the forefront of this knowledge disbursal. There is a passing mention of DNA results of Vellalar and other groups found across the east Asian regions, and about agricultural techniques. I would have loved to hear more along those lines in every chapter. What are the influences on the general populations on both sides, apart from state sponsored religions and Sanskrit?
- Very interesting to learn what was NOT exported to other regions; Caste for example. What stopped them from being exported?
- I am still not convinced about the argument about India as a singular region from the Himalayas to the Arabian sea in the Ancient times. A consideration to the varied/opposing interests (of the Maurayas, Pallavas, Muziris merchants, Takshila scholars, and others - none of whom considered themselves as belonging to one nation helping each other) may have benefited the arguments considerably.
Now I am looking around to know more.
– What did India learn in return? The influences must have been both ways for sure. What are the influences in ancient Indic regions through these centuries-long interactions?
-Each chapter centers around a state figure or place to tell the story of this influence. That also reduces the scope of the chapter to that dominant circle. Surely there are many others who may have no access to Sanskrit or statecraft, but were on the forefront of this knowledge disbursal. There is a passing mention of DNA results of Vellalar and other groups found across the east Asian regions, and about agricultural techniques. I would have loved to hear more along those lines in every chapter. What are the influences on the general populations on both sides, apart from state sponsored religions and Sanskrit?
- Very interesting to learn what was NOT exported to other regions; Caste for example. What stopped them from being exported?
- I am still not convinced about the argument about India as a singular region from the Himalayas to the Arabian sea in the Ancient times. A consideration to the varied/opposing interests (of the Maurayas, Pallavas, Muziris merchants, Takshila scholars, and others - none of whom considered themselves as belonging to one nation helping each other) may have benefited the arguments considerably.