The Golden Road

A Revolutionary New History of India—The Forgotten Heart of the Ancient World

For a millennium and a half, a vibrant civilization developed in India, spreading with confidence and self-assurance to form a vast empire of ideas. Indian art, religions, technology, astronomy, music, dance, literature, mathematics, and mythology left a profound mark on the world. Indispensable to this was the role of the Golden Road, which stretched from the Red Sea to the Pacific Ocean.

Based on years of research, William Dalrymple highlights India's often-forgotten role as the heart of Ancient Eurasia.

From the world's largest Hindu temple at Angkor Wat to Buddhism in Japan, from the trade that helped finance the Roman Empire to the invention of the numbers we use today (including zero), India transformed the culture and technology of both its ancient world and our present day.

"A brilliant historian with deep insight, organically imbued with the authentic spirit of India."

— The Times