Indians A Brief History of a Civilization by Namit Arora Must Read on Indian Civilisation Glimpse of History of Indian Culture

Deepens our sense of the wonder that was India' ~ Pankaj Mishra'A gem of a book that is a joy to read . . . You can almost touch and feel the centuries and millennia as they pass by' ~ Tony Joseph'Arora explores how Indians lived ate loved built fought and made sense of the material rational and spiritual world down the ages . . . [A] mega-ambitious project' ~ The Hindu'A wonderfully evocative book. Arora invites the reader to reflect on the past without overwhelming her with dry historical facts but luring her in with vivid human stories' ~ Prof. Mohan RaoA BRILLIANT ORIGINAL BOOK THAT REVEALS INDIA'S RICH AND DIVERSE HISTORIESWhat do we really know about the Aryan migration theory and why is that debate so hot? Why did the people of Khajuraho carve erotic scenes on their temple walls? What did the monks at Nalanda eat for dinner? Did our ideals of beauty ever prefer dark skin?Indian civilization is an idea a reality an enigma. In this riveting book Namit Arora takes us on an unforgettable journey through 5000 years of history reimagining in rich detail the social and cultural moorings of Indians through the ages. Drawing on credible sources he discovers what inspired and shaped them their political upheavals and rivalries customs and vocations and a variety of unusual festivals. Arora makes a stop at six iconic places -- the Harappan city of Dholavira the Ikshvaku capital at Nagarjunakonda the Buddhist centre of learning at Nalanda enigmatic Khajuraho Vijayanagar at Hampi and historic Varanasi -- enlivening the narrative with vivid descriptions local stories and evocative photographs. Punctuating this are chronicles of famous travellers who visited India -- including Megasthenes Xuanzang Alberuni and Marco Polo -- whose dramatic and idiosyncratic tales conceal surprising insights about our land. In lucid elegant prose Arora explores the exciting churn of ideas beliefs and values of our ancestors through millennia -- some continue to shape modern India while others have been lost forever. An original deeply engaging and extensively researched work Indians illuminates a range of histories coursing through our veins. Review Namit Arora is one of the most acute observers of contemporary India and in his new book he extends his gaze to the past. Resourcefully researched and elegantly writtenIndians deepens our sense of the wonder that was India -- Pankaj Mishra author of ""Age of Anger""Namit Arora is the finest kind of travel companion curious well-read even-tempered and imaginative. Touring India's oldest cities with him is an acute pleasure. Arora dissolves the time between the past and the present revealing how complex and diverse India has always been and how by misunderstanding our history we run the danger of mismanaging our present.Indians is both timely and necessary -- Samanth Subramanian author ""This Divided Island""Namit Arora has created a gem of a book that is a joy to read. It defies categorisation as it seamlessly combines travelogues historical accounts and biographies. This approach brings alive ancient medieval and modern India in such a way that you can almost touch and feel the centuries and millennia as they pass by. It takes a remarkable feat of insightful writing to cover such a long period within a single volume while also avoiding a top-down perspective. An easy entertaining and engaging book -- Tony Joseph author of ""Early Indians""Namit Arora explores how Indians lived ate loved built fought and made sense of the material rational and spiritual world down the ages . . . [A] mega-ambitious project . . . He draws in philosophy competing themes and ideas making the book as much about beads pottery and food as it is about how Indians might have thought in times past. This ability to compress a complex discussion on people places things across thousands of years and yet never let the reader once think of it as