Recovering the Lost Indosphere

The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World is the new book by the celebrated historian William Dalrymple. For listeners of Grand Tamasha, Dalrymple surely needs no introduction. He is the bestselling author of nine books, including The Last Mughal, The Anarchy, and City of Djinns. He is cofounder of the Jaipur Literature Festival and cohost of the wildly popular podcast, “Empire,” with Anita Anand.

His new book, The Golden Road, highlights India’s often forgotten role as a crucial economic fulcrum, and civilizational engine, at the heart of the ancient and early medieval worlds. It tells the story of the forgotten Indosphere and its multiple legacies.

To talk more about his new book, William joins Milan from our studio in Washington, D.C. They discuss the reasons the Indosphere has been obscured from history, the alluring narrative of the Sinocentric “Silk Road,” and Buddhism’s extraordinary journey around the world. Plus, the two discuss the deep penetration of the Hindu epics into Asia, India’s scientific and mathematical discoveries, and whether an Indian mindset of cultural absorption and synthesis can be recovered.

Episode notes:

1. Abhrajyoti Chakraborty, “The Golden Road by William Dalrymple review – the rational case for ancient India’s ingenuity,” The Guardian, September 15, 2024.

2. William Dalrymple, “‘In Britain, we are still astonishingly ignorant’: the hidden story of how ancient India shaped the west,” The Guardian, September 1, 2024.

3. Willaim Dalrymple, “Vibrant, Cacophonous Buddhism,” New York Review of Books, September 21, 2023.