‘India and Faraway Lands’ is a compact yet panoramic exploration of the story of India from a global perspective. Meticulously researched and lucidly told, the book takes the readers on a journey around the world, in reverse chronological order, tracing pivotal events and unravelling intriguing connections with India—starting with the present that is more visible and relatable to the readers and moving towards the past that is relatively lesser known. Ashutosh Mehndiratta’s retelling of the evolution of the United States, Britain, Ireland, Russia, Germany, Japan, France, Portugal, Central Asia, China, Rome, Persia, and Greece provides a context often missing in conventional histories of India. Along the way are recounted fascinating tales of travellers, the earliest accounts of the interaction between the East and the West, forgotten cities that were once glorious, and books that changed the course of history. While there are many excellent works on world history as well as Indian history, there are not many books where the stories of India and the world are juxtaposed. ‘India and Faraway Lands’ aims to fill that gap and will at once inform and entertain the readers. Here’s our interview with the author Ashutosh Mehndiratta.
How does ‘India and Faraway Lands’ paint India’s picture from a global perspective?
India and Faraway Lands takes the readers through centuries and millennia to demonstrate how India was always connected with the outside world. It narrates the momentous global events that shaped the Indian subcontinent, and vice versa.
Blessed with bountiful rivers and fertile lands, India has historically been a self-sufficient land able to support large populations and generate massive economic output, drawing waves of conquerors, merchants, and adventurers. The Indian Ocean was the hub of maritime trade and migration for thousands of years before humans were able to cross the Atlantic and the Pacific; steep mountain passes in the north-west allowed invading armies and trading caravans to pass through.
How will the diaspora relate to the book?
People living far away from their homelands are better positioned because of their exposure and experience with diverse communities, cultures, and geographies. Comparison between India and their chosen foreign land is inevitable, which often leads to questions in one’s mind as to how and why nations turned out the way they are today. This book will, hopefully, help them connect the dots and understand India’s historical trajectory to date.
What kind of myths does the book bust about general perception of Indian history?
Nearly every page of this book highlights and reinforces the fact that India did not evolve in isolation and the genesis of pivotal events often lay in faraway lands. This book also offers the readers a more nuanced historical view of outsiders and the outside world, helping move away from simplistic binaries like rapacious outsiders vs virtuous natives or East-good West-bad. Rather than trying to bust myths, my intent is to shift the readers’ focus to far beyond the Indian subcontinent.
How difficult and important is to juxtapose India and world stories together?
Personally, it turned out to be far more difficult to narrate the story of India on a global canvas than what I had imagined when I set out to write this book! The challenge is to draw meaningful connections and avoid getting lost in the deluge of contemporaneous events. The interconnected history is much needed so that we can put together all the parts of the puzzle and comprehend the complete picture of our past.
Why should our readers grab a copy?
India and Faraway Lands aims to stoke the readers’ curiosity about our intertwined past. The book is unique in multiple ways – with a global narrative, it aims to fill a gap common in histories of India as they are mostly confined to India’s boundaries, thereby missing a vital component, the story of the ‘outside’. Deviating from the standard chronological order, this book starts with the relatable modern times and moves backwards. Lastly, this book recounts the history of the West from an Eastern lens.
