A single-volume narrative history of the subcontinent, from early antiquity to the modern period.
This is the book I reach for when I want the long view — the whole sweep of the subcontinent in one narrative, rather than a single period or tradition in isolation. I'm still working through it, so these are notes-in-progress rather than a final verdict.
Building this archive one page at a time, it's easy to lose the thread that connects them. A text here, a period there, a tradition somewhere else — and no sense of how they sit in a single, moving story. Keay's book is my antidote to that. It's the connective tissue I keep wanting when I'm deep in the details.
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The oldest layer of Vedic literature — a large collection of hymns preserved orally for centuries before being written down.
A long, debated era associated with the composition and transmission of the earliest layers of Vedic literature.
A major tradition originating in ancient India, spanning many schools and cultures, with a distinctive analysis of self, suffering, and conduct.
A classic survey of the culture, religion, and society of the Indian subcontinent before the arrival of Islam.