William Dalrymple, The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World, Bloomsbury, £30

This is one of those books that became an instant ‘must have’ as soon as I saw it. William Dalrymple himself of course requires little introduction having published an array of widely acclaimed books covering aspects of Indian and Middle Eastern history, with recent examples including: The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company (2019), Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World’s Most Infamous Diamond (2017), and Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan (2012).

In essence The Golden Road explores the remarkable flourishing of Indian culture from around 250 BC to 1200 AD. During this period, India demonstrated incredible dynamism in many sectors of life, making substantial advances in areas as diverse as trade, architecture, science and culture. These in turn exerted a profound influence on other areas of Eurasia, including China, South-East Asia, the Middle East and the Roman Empire (Western Christendom). Across these regions, Indian innovations, ideas, religions, trade goods and stories found eager audiences, leaving their mark on many cultures’ development.

This is important. We are well supplied with studies covering China, Europe and the Islamic World’s impact on global history, yet far fewer works discuss India. Part of my own motivation for reading this book was a growing awareness in recent years of, on one hand, India’s substantial influence on my own field of study – medieval Middle Eastern history – and, on the other, a lack of studies capable of explaining the glimpses I found in the sources. It felt like a missing piece of the Eurasian jigsaw-puzzle; The Golden Road ably addresses this deficiency.

Structurally, The Golden Road advances broadly chronologically through these centuries and on the journey we meet many empires, merchants, warriors and invaders. The purpose here is not to provide a political history per se, but rather to explore the individuals and developments responsible for spreading and exporting Indian ideas and goods to other areas of the globe. Thus, the early chapters discuss the origins and rise of Buddhism (from the fifth century BC) and then its rapid expansion under the Emperor Ashoka. Buddhism’s story continues in later chapters which cover its rise to prominence across much of the continent including China and South-East Asia. In this unfolding tale we cross paths with the well-travelled Buddhist monk Xuanzang who covered thousands of miles and encountered many perils whilst pursuing his thirst for knowledge; we also encounter the formidable Wu Zetian, China’s only female emperor, who played a crucial role in the diffusion of Buddhism in China.  Notably, Buddhism’s impact overseas owes much to the activities of Buddhist merchants who brought their faith along with their cargoes to ports across the region.

The next cluster of chapters discuss the rise of Hinduism, particularly among India’s ruling families. Like Buddhism, Hinduism’s advocates exerted a profound impact beyond India’s borders leading to its adoption in many areas. This in turn led to many spectacular architectural works such as the vast Hindu Temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Religious change and transmission likewise brought in its wake a dynamic merging of Indian architectural and artistic styles with those of other cultures, a confluence prompting many masterpieces that have survived to the present day.

The Golden Road then focuses specifically on the role played by Indian intellectuals in driving scientific innovations, especially in astronomy and mathematics. These include the invention of the number zero, as well as foundational ideas in linked fields such as trigonometry. These ideas then diffused outwards, reaching the Abbasid caliphate in the eighth century and then Western Christendom in the central Middle Ages. Here too we follow these evolutions through the lives of key protagonists who each played their part in creating, reimagining and handing forward these innovations across different cultures, people such as: the mathematical genius Brahmagupta (seventh century); the Abbasid astronomer al-Fazari (eighth century); and the intellectual Gerbert of Aurillac who later became Pope Sylvester II (11^th century).

Across this book there are a lot of eye-openers. For example, it is well known that the Roman Empire conducted trade with India; what is less well known is the sheer scale and scope of this commerce. Dalrymple draws on research suggesting that an astonishing 1/3 of the revenue passing into the Roman exchequer came from customs taxes levied on merchants travelling to and from India. Roman products have been found as far afield as Korea.  Another crucial thread is the sheer scale of the building work conducted across the Indosphere including vast temples, complex irrigation works, and great cities. Dalrymple vividly explores these sites, drawing upon evidence for the time of their creation as well as the travellers’ tales and stories that have accrued around them ever since. He places these remarkable sites within a complex panorama, describing a varied landscape encompassing: mountains and jungle, pastures and agriculture, bustling shipping lanes and remote meditative sanctuaries.

The book ends with a thought-provoking conclusion. As Dalrymple so ably sketches out, India was a dynamo of change for over thousand years and now in 21^st century India’s presence is rising globally once again. This then leads him to wonder – could we be on the cusp of a new flourishing in India’s global impact?

Taken overall, this is a magnificent book. Packed with ideas, fascinating stories, and a huge amount of research, Dalrymple pours his passion for India and its history in these pages. The result is a remarkable achievement revealing the enormous connectivity of the pre-modern world, a time when ideas could pass rapidly from India and south east Asia, to China or all the way across the Indian Ocean to the Middle East and from there into the Mediterranean. Done well – as in this case – joined-up history of this kind can be incredibly inspiring, showing how civilizations from across the globe have collaboratively shaped our species’ story. I only hope that The Golden Road encourages further research in this area going forwards.