In 1966, a former Indian student of Basham’s, Romila Thapar, published the first volume of her seminal A History of India. She noted that Roman dinari circulated freely in India’s domestic economy. Now, fast-forward to 2024 and a new book by British narrative history and travel writer William Dalrymple, The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World. Like Basham, Dalrymple focuses entirely on ancient India. Unlike the other historians mentioned here, he is not an academic, but made a career applying his lush writing style to various historical topics, most of them set in India.
Academic historians hold doctorates, supervise PhD candidates, attend conferences, and publish books and papers that postulate theories based on primary sources in order to understand and interpret historical events and materials. Narrative historians, often from backgrounds in journalism, tend to piggyback on the work of their academic counterparts, vivifying historical events using techniques associated with narrative nonfiction. At its best, their work forms an important literary bridge between researchers and the public. They sell more books and are generally easier to read.
A view of Diwan-i-Khas through a doorway at the ancient city of Fatehpur Sikri, India.Credit: Getty
At times, The Golden Road captures the enthusiasm and literary flair for which Dalrymple is renowned. But from the outset, the author is determined to make a point, at the expense of the reader’s patience and pleasure. Instead of casting a spell, a 20-page introduction provides a summary of the book’s argument.
Undoubtedly, some readers will welcome this device. Alas, it is the argument itself that I found unconvincing. Dalrymple asserts that India’s “empire of ideas” created an “Indosphere” of Sanskrit-ised cultural dominance. Fair enough, but he goes on to claim that “this entire spectrum of early Indian influence has always been there, hiding in plain sight”, and never recognised until now.
I beg to differ, and submit the works of the aforementioned Australia-based historians, none of whose work is highlighted; Basham gets a single footnote in almost 100 pages of citations.
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Ever since William Dalrymple shifted from travel writing to historical narrative, his books have exhibited an anxiety that reflects his desire to be taken more seriously as a historian. In truth, he wants it both ways, which puts him and his readers in a difficult spot.
I found the “golden road” to be a bumpy ride. The narrative often bogs down in a profusion of less than interesting material, much of it taken at face value, and which should not belabour the reader for the sake of the author’s vanity. But nor would I wish to dissuade those readers who take pleasure in his work, for those are the people – not authors, nor reviewers – who really matter.
Dr Christopher Kremmer is an academic fellow of the Australia India Institute at the University of Melbourne.