Thread by @DalrympleWill

India & the Ancient Ocean Trade World  

My next book, The Golden Road, will be focusing on the diffusion of Indic culture in the early centuries AD, and this short video gives an idea of the richness of the archaeological material from the period.
livehistoryindia.com/tales-and-trai…

Here is an idea of some of the material I'll be covering, from a piece I wrote for the New York Review @nybooks in 2015

The Great & Beautiful Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist civilisations of Southeast Asia, Fifth to Eighth century CE

nybooks.com/articles/2015/…

There will also be a lot about the diffusion of Indic art forms and how the iconography of Ajanta diffused through Gandhara, Afghanistan and Central Asia

nybooks.com/articles/2014/…

The Ajanta cave murals: ‘nothing less than the birth of Indian art’

The paintings are the finest surviving picture galleries from the ancient world. Now, the oldest in two of the caves have been painstakingly restored to reveal their true beauty

theguardian.com/artanddesign/2…

Part 1 will tell how Buddhism became one of the state religions of China. Part 2 will deal with the spread of Hinduism & Buddhism through SE Asia. Part 3 will be on the passage of Indian mathe to Europe

"How Indian Mathematics transformed the world"

Looking forward to revisiting the Pallavas, and the whole story of how Pallava art, architecture & the Pallava grantha script spread through SE Asia.

The Mahabalipuram rock reliefs are extraordinary creations by the third monarch of the Pallava dynasty

openthemagazine.com/art-culture/ma…

The book will also deal with the Cholas and their seaborne expeditions across the Bay of Bengal to Srivijaya (Sumatra) and Sri Lanka

In the Lap of the Gods:
On Chola Bronzes

theguardian.com/artanddesign/2…

Much looking forward also to diving deep into the story of Buddhist Afghanistan

Mes Aynak: Afghanistan’s Buddhist buried treasure faces destruction

Mes Aynak, a magnificent Buddhist city, is the most important archaeological discovery in a generation.

theguardian.com/books/2013/may…

Much of the narrative will be focussed on the 7th century, and specifically the year 664, which I last wrote about in From the Holy Mountain. And I'll be returning to the W China & the Silk Road for the first time since In Xanadu

theguardian.com/artanddesign/2…