The image we have of India in the UK, is of a third world country, one of our ex Empire colonies which the British civilised and brought democracy too. But this view is not entirely in alignment with what is known about its history prior to the British Raj, nor how it is today. William Dalrymple in The Golden Road, sets out a compelling case for India being one of the world's main civilising cultures, from which we have inherited more than perhaps we might wish to fully acknowledge.
India brought highly developed civilising ideas to Europe from quite early on, which Europe then took and developed further. India was a dominant trading nation even during the days of the Roman Empire. Hoards of Roman gold coins keep being found in India wherever there's an archeological dig. India was always a kingpin of the spice trade, luxury fabrics, minerals and gems. The Romans could never get enough, and sunken shipwrecks have revealed just how much their appetite for bling was being fed by Indian traders. It's estimated a good forty percent of all high ticket price goods sent to the Roman Empire, were being imported from India. And when the Roman Empire fell, and that trade dried up, the Indians swiftly changed their primary focus from West to East, to the economies of China. Korea. Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia and Japan.
Historians refer to the effect on Medieval Europe of trade opening up via the Silk Road. Even though The Silk Road is a modern concept invented by a German geographer in 1877. But for at least a millennia prior to that, India's Golden Road, as Dalrymple has named it, was a far greater influence on the development of culture and civilisations both east and west. This appears to have been a fact largely forgotten or brushed over post the age of Empires.
The rise of an adventurous entrepreneur Indian mercantile class was key, and with them they brought their religion, their culture and their mathematical prowess. As they sailed both east and west on favourable winds. And it was initially Buddhism they brought with them. Buddhist sutras contain many references to merchants and traders as converts. They were the early adopters of what was then a new and relatively fringe faith. Buddhism became the dominant faith in India entirely due to Ashoka's conversion and widespread promotion of it. In comparison to this, Constantine making Christianity the faith of the Holy Roman Empire feels a bit lukewarm, and more of a strategic than a heartfelt conversion. Ashoka just went for it big time, and the effects of his enthusiasm spread around the known world via its trading network.
There are records of figures like Amoghavara and Vajrabodhi, actively travelling around South East Asia spreading their Vajrayana message of tantric rituals and mandalas. Which in succeeding generations strongly influenced by them, built the temples of Borobudur and Angkor Wat, both of which utilise mandala ideas in the construction of their vast temple courtyard complexes.
Buddhism and goods to trade, were only two things which they brought with them. By far the greater influence came through the practical and mathematical ideas that travelled with them. The creation of large courtyard universities centering around a library, as places of learning, similar to Nalanda, was one such idea that became embedded in European cities. The mathematical concept of zero, was a logical development from the Mahayana Buddhist notion of shunya. Indo-Arabic numerals, is another of its mathematical legacies to The Renaissance. The game of chess originated from India too.
All of these, and more, arrived in Europe from India via Islam. The presence of Islamic Moors in Spain brought much of what the Arabs had learnt from trading and invading India, into the European sphere of its intelligentsia and cultural development. Chinese figures such as Xuangzang travelled to India, specifically to visit Nalanda, in order to copy Buddhist texts to bring back to China. His ten year round journey became so inspirational, because his return coincided with the ascent of Empress Wu, who was another active royal proselytiser for Buddhism. Even if her personal ethical practice we would think these days to be more than questionable, in how far it fell short of the ideal.
That the British East India Company came to India in the first place, was because India in the 17th century was responsible for 46% of all world trade, and they wanted a bigger slice of it. Which ended with the East India Company becoming the first corporation to hold its own standing army, in order that it could take over India and asset strip it. When that all went seriously pear shaped with the Indian Mutiny, the British dissolved the East India Company. Repackaging the Empire as a benevolent force for good, including making Queen Victoria it's Empress. And we know the rest. By the time it became independent India hung on to 4% of world trade. Since then it has consistently regained the trading ground lost during it's colonial years. And some would say India could well become the world's third largest economy before too long.
William Dalrymple, writes with incredible verve and love of the telling details. Which makes this a hugely enjoyable book to absorb the contents of. As he richly recounts the story of the Indosphere, and the quiet revolution that it brought to the world. This is a fabulous and revealing book, that begins to set the historical record straight.
CARROT REVIEW - 6/8
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