<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: A succinct and compelling history of India
Review: After reading V.S. Naipaul's "An Area of Darkness" about his first journey to India, I felt that I needed a more balanced view of the country. This book was just what was called for."A Traveller's History of India" was written by a historian from Sri Lanka with an English education. He knows how to give a good overview of the various cultural influences that met and merged in India. His narrative is chronological. It is the best way to illustrate the growth, glory, decline and disappearance of vast empires. It also serves well to refute the Naipaulian idea that there is something particularly evil about the Muslim influence in India. The Islamic believers who invaded India in the 7th century AD shared many things with the Aryan invaders 1500 BC or the Christian invaders in the 18th century AD: they all came, conquered, prospered and some of their influence continues until today. The Aryans brought the caste system and Sanskrit literature; the Muslims built the Taj Mahal, and gave birth to the Urdu language; the Christians built railroads, left a working legal system and administration, and English as a common language that was understood in the whole subcontinent. In one aspect, however, the Islamic invaders were more ruthless than the others. No other invading culture erased a religion as barbarously as Islam uprooted Buddhism in India: "The conquest of Bihar [in 1202 AD] saw the systematic destruction of all the remaining Buddhist monasteries and the wanton slaughter of all the monks. [...] The ruthless fanaticism of the new conquerors led to the complete disappearance of Buddhism from the land of its birth." On the other hand, the Muslims exported the decimal system and the symbol zero from India to Europe, both of which later played a crucial role in the development of Western science. Sinharaja Tammita-Delgoda strikes a fair balance between the failures and the successes of the cultures that came to play a role in India. And he has a fine sense of irony when it comes to the impact of the English on India. He notes that the Indian nationalist movement which began in the mid 19th century had its origins in a common identity and a new sense of purpose instilled by the new political and social ideas carried with the English language; and he observes that the discoveries of many British scholars who made it their life's work to unearth the story of India's ancient past gave Indians an important sense of their own identity and a feeling of pride in their past. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this history of India. My greatest delight - and inspiration to do further research and reading - were succinct portraits like the one of Babur (1483-1530 AD), who was not only the founder of the Muslim Mughal empire but also "one of its most fascinating and attractive personalities. A poet and a man of letters, he was also an adventurer of iron nerves and powerful determination. A keen diarist, he recorded his experiences in his memoirs, the Tuzuk-i-Baburi, which are an important source for the history of the period. These memoirs speak of a tremendous zest for life, a man of boundless energy and optimism, a dedicated drunkard and a wholehearted sportsman and polo player. They also reveal an artistic nature of great sensitivity and refinement. Wherever he went Babur laid out Persian gardens, and his memoirs are full of references to the beauties of nature. Cold-blooded and ruthless at times, he was also capable of great generosity and chivalry, and his memories are laced with that rare quality - an endearing sense of humour."
Rating: 
Summary: Worth it if you're going to India
Review: Lots of historical information. Easy to read. A must for your trip to India.
<< 1 >>
| 
