Author-historian William Dalrymple's latest book, The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World, explores India's historical role in shaping global trade, science and religion.
In The Golden Road, Dalrymple eloquently reclaims India's rightful place as the heart of ancient Eurasia, highlighting its transformative influence on global culture, science and spirituality.
Spanning a "Golden Road" from the Red Sea to the Pacific, Dalrymple reveals India's critical role in shaping the ancient world—from inspiring Angkor Wat and Chinese Buddhism to pioneering the numeral system, including zero.
Dalrymple called attention to India's underappreciated historical contributions as a global epicentre of knowledge and trade during the concluding day of the sixth edition of Huddle Global held at Trivandrum, Kerala, this year.
Comparing India's legacy with countries like China and Greece, Dalrymple emphasised the need for India to assert its rightful place in history.
Speaking about India's modern prominence as an IT powerhouse, Dalrymple noted that the country's intellectual contributions are not a recent phenomenon.
"India was a part of the world which very early on answered the big questions of mankind like why we are here, how to lead a moral life, what the relation of the earth is to heaven and the size of the earth," he remarked.
However, India's influence on global thought and science remains inadequately recognised.
While names like Archimedes and Pythagoras are celebrated in the West, few know of Brahmagupta, whose works introduced the concept of zero and placed the earth within the solar system, Dalrymple said.
He also highlighted Aryabhata's groundbreaking proposition that the earth is not the centre of the universe, predating Galileo by centuries.
He argued that knowledge developed in ancient India became a tool for European colonizers to assert dominance and extract commercial benefits.
This story is from the December 28, 2024 edition of The Statesman.
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This story is from the December 28, 2024 edition of The Statesman.
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