'The Golden Road' and 'The Lucky Ones' examine India's ancient and recent history

NPR's Book of the Day

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 16 May 2025

⏱️ 18 minutes

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Summary

In light of the latest conflict between India and Pakistan, today's episode focuses on two books that examine India's ancient and recent history. First, ancient India was home to the exchange of goods and ideas that transformed the world, including the number system, heliocentrism, and Buddhism. In his book The Golden Road, historian William Dalrymple makes the case for India's centrality to the story of human civilization. In today's episode, the author speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about why this history isn't a larger part of our popular imagination. Then, we hear from Zara Chowdhary about The Lucky Ones, her first-person account of anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat. In today's episode, she speaks with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about the aftermath of the Godhra train burning, Prime Minister Modi's role in the incident, and the dangers of releasing her book in this political moment.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. India is in the news these days for
0:07.3	trading blows with its neighbor, Pakistan. It's a delicate situation and the outcome, whatever it is,
0:13.7	will have far-reaching effects for the people there and us in the States. But we thought it'd be a good
0:19.5	time to take a step back and look at two
0:21.8	books that examine the history of India, both long term and short. In a bit, we'll hear about a
0:27.4	memoir about experiencing anti-Muslim violence in India firsthand. But first, let's take a long look
0:33.9	back. The book, The Golden Road, How Ancient India Transformed the World,
0:37.6	is a tallying of the number of things we encounter in the world today that trace their
0:42.5	roots back to ancient India. Historian William Dalrumpel talks at NPR Scott Simon about
0:47.7	Buddhism, heliocentrism, and the number zero. After the break. In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:58.1	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.
1:02.5	On our new show, Sources and Methods.
1:04.6	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:12.2	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:17.4	Before the Silk Road, there was India's Golden Road, says the story at William Dalrymple.
1:23.3	It was a route that ran from the Roman Empire in the West to Korea and Japan and the Far East,
1:29.4	enriching the world with spices, gems, oils, ivory, language, goods, literature, science,
1:35.8	and people, faiths, and ideas that changed the world.
1:40.1	His new book is The Golden Road, How Ancient India Transform the World, and William Dalruppel joins us now from Houston on his
1:48.9	U.S. book tour.
1:49.8	Thanks so much for being with us.
1:51.4	Great pleasure, Scott.
	...

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