History of India: A Concise Introduction to Indian History, Culture, Mythology, Religion, Gandhi, Characters, Empires, Achievements & More Throughout The Ages

India is one of those places that seems magical to some people, and this book did nothing but confirm just how incredible it is. It’s steeped in tradition and history, both secular and religious and with such beautiful cultural nuances, it’s hard not to fall in love with it, even if I’ve never been there in person.India is somewhere I have always known I wanted to go and see for myself, and this book just makes me that much more committed to do so. It’s well written, and I love how it’s broken down and explained in ways that make it easy to understand even for those of us who don’t have heritage from that magical land.If you like history, culture, or just learning about far away places, this book is a great way to do that! Give it a go, and see what you think!

The book is as described: it’s a good summary of India’s history, important events, and cultural development. I bought three others since reading this (China, Japan, and Scotland) and expect toOrder more of them.

Be forewarned that this text, in spite of its warnings that it is an introductory primer to Indian history, is disappointing in so many ways.1. The author provides no references to substantiate any of his claims, including controversial ones such as Aśoka's religious affiliations before and after the Kaliṅga War which would seem to deserve some supporting citations.2. There are no illustrations, maps, or graphics of any kind, which is unfortunate for a text of this type.3. The author provides an in-depth summary of the two main Hindu epics, the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata, and does a horrible job. He makes so many atrocious errors about both texts that it is obvious he has not read either one. For example, he claims that Rāma ordered Sītā into fire to prove her purity when in fact there is no such command in the Rāmāyaṇa. The claim about Rāvaṇa participating in Sītā-svayamvara is also not there in Rāmāyaṇa, but comes from a later tradition. He also claims that Yudhiṣṭhira was given a choice to surrender his wife Draupadī or choose exile. That is false - he was given no such choice. According to the Mahābhārata, Draupadī was released from her incarceration after an enslavement attempt by the Kauravas is overturned by an uncharacteristically principled objection by their father, who later relents when his sons try to cheat the Pāṇḍavas again through gambling and only then sending them into exile.4. Author makes statements like, "it is said Mahābhārata was written in 500 AD" but fails to provide any evidence of his claim. In fact, his wording suggests that Hindus themselves accepted these dates, but in fact such dates are assumptions made by non-Hindu schools of history. You *must* distinguish between what outsiders think of Hindu history and what Hindus thought of Hindu history! This is not a trivial distinction!5. Author also suggests that ancient Hindus did not consider the epics historical, but that, too, is false. Textual references to the Hindu epics from later commentators show that ancient and medieval Hindu thinkers did in fact regard them as historical, and in fact their historicity is central to the development of traditional Hindu thought. The belief that they represent mythology mostly gained traction in the post-colonial period.6. Author makes the classically wrong statement depicting Rāmāyaṇa as fundamentally a text about dharma. Though in all fairness, many outsiders make that same mistake. But it's wrong, and that error colors his perception of the development of Indian historical thought.7. There is sadly not much discussion about pre-Mauryan kingdoms, which is a glaring oversight in many Indian history books.8. Author makes outdated references to Aryan Invasion Theory, failing to point out that this is controversial at best, yet his understanding of it colors his entire perception of early Indian history.9. His understanding of Hinduism is also deeply flawed. He mentions the Vedic tradition being too esoteric for people of the Gupta dynasty who then took to Viṣṇu-worship and Śiva-worship, implying that these are non-Vedic developments. But he gives no reason why he thinks that - everyone knows that Viṣṇu and Śiva are Vedic deities, and his assumption that their worship represent a departure from Vedic orthodoxy is completely without basis.All in all, if you want to learn about India and Indian culture, I would not suggest this book. It's useful for getting a few names and dates right in regards to Mauryan and Gupta period kings. Beyond that, I find that the author's lack of grounding in traditional Hindu literary scholarship very detrimental to his understanding of how the literary tradition affected Indian history and vice-versa.Of note, this review is based on my reading for the first 6 chapters only.

I got this book for a short review of the history of the Indian subcontinent. It is short and I did get some broad outlines of history. However I had the impression that it was written by a young teenager. Not for an audience of young teens but by an actual teen.

This was an interesting book to read. I learned a lot of things I didn't know before and it made me want to learn more. It was written well and I thought it was a good length. I do wish it had showed the pronunciation for many of the words because I got confused very easily in that regards. Over all, i think it was a good book, and a good tool to learn some of the history of India.I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Not the best, but a good starting place for the history of this country