India’s is a story of ideas that transformed the world, says Dalrymple

Historian William Dalrymple discusses India and China's historical significance, soft power, and contributions to the world at TiE Kerala 2024.

Historian and best-selling author William Dalrymple has said that ‘’we are at a juncture in time and Asia - India and China, is returning to its traditional place in history when the two countries together accounted for the better part of the global economic production.’‘

He was speaking on his latest book, The Golden Road : How Ancient India Transformed the World, at the TiE Kerala 2024 conclave on Wednesday.

He called the 500 years of European supremacy in India as a freak phase in history, but there is nothing accidental about India and China’s continuing resurgence now. He said that the inevitable equilibrium is being returned.

He said Buddhism, Hinduism, and Mathematics helped India exercise its soft power. Not only material goods, but also ideas from India travelled the world. The fame of Nalanda university is still visible in the way some of the Western universities are architecturally modelled, he said.

On being asked by one of the audience about his preferred phase in history for a possible time travel, he said he would like to be at the port of Muziris, north of Kochi, in the 1st century AD, to see the ships from Rome docking to unload its goods and Muziris loading black pepper, silk and ivory, destined for the West. He visited the Pattanam archaeological site after his talk as part of his visit to Kerala.

He said he is a historian and not a prophet and would not predict the future, but called for openness on the part of India, a willingness to learn, a readiness to receive ideas, and a cosmopolitan outlook.

He said India contributed enormously through Buddhism, Hinduism, and Mathematics. India, at its peak, helped the world address fundamental questions like who we are and what we are. But while the Greek civilization’s glory has been sung widely through colonial British rule and the Chinese story has been spread far and wide, not even Indians are seized by the enormity of India’s contributions to the world.