Land of The Seven Rivers A Brief History of India's Geography by Sanjeev Sanyal - Paperback

This book is a second, much grander and a much better attempt by the author to answer one question. This time around though, he goes deeper and farther back in the history of the land of seven rivers - India, presents us with his findings, and posits that India has had a sense of history - one that not only goes back several unbroken thousand years, but has found echo in successive empires and invaders seeking to associate themselves with this history. As the author travels through the country - in time as well as geography - we are treated to some long-forgotten incidents that should have been part of our curricula, as well as fascinating insights into such endeavours as the mapping of the country by the colonials, which itself was a source of competitive advantage in a manner of speaking. The second question, which the author attempted to answer in his first book, but with less than middling success, is why India went into decline a thousand years ago. The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind, and you need to turn the pages to find it. The truth is out there in the hardcover. A must read.Two insidious charges leveled at India and Indians - that they are "no more a nation than the equator" (pg 5, uttered by many in different forms, this one from the mouth of the one of the biggest racists of the twentieth century, Sir Winston Churchill), and that Indians have no sense of history - have been used time and again. That both charges have little to no grounding in fact is what this book gently attempts to do.The book cites several points to make the case that Indians have had a sense of history and have exhibited a unity not unlike nation states. Some examples from the book are worth quoting to elucidate the point.A column carrying "an edict by Emperor Ashoka from the third century BC" is one of "two Ashokan columns that Sultan Feroz Shah Tughlaq got transported with great care to his new city (the 'New' Delhi of its time)." It is said to "have been brought from Topara near Ambala, Haryana", and the Sultan had it "carefully wrapped in cotton and slk and transported on a forty-two-wheel cart pulled by two hundred men..."Another pillar, called the Iron Pillar, stands in the Qutub Minar complex in New Delhi, is made of "almost pure iron and yet has not rusted despite being exposed to the elements for fifteen centuries." "The inscription is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu and tells of the exploits and conquests of a king called Chandra..." Yet the pillar was allowed to stand by Islamic kings. "Why? Perhaps the new rulers wanted to link themselves to the past."Another strong connection that India has to its past - and we are talking thousands of years in the past - is the ratio 5:4 that "was commonly used in the town planning of Harappan cities in the third millenium BC. the city of Dholavira in Gujarat, for example, is 771 metres by 617 metres. Over a thousand years later, the same ratio appears in Hindu texts like the Shatapatha Brahmana and Shulbha Sutra that use the ratio in their precise instructions on how to build fire-altars for Vedic ceremonies. ... The Iron Pillar of Delhi ... is also designed in the same ratio: the overall length of the pillar is 7.67 metres while the section above the ground is 6.12 metres, a ratio of 5:4. ... [W]hen .. Aurangzeb wanted to praise his vassal Maharaja Jai Singh, he called him 'sawai' (meaning that he was worth a quarter more than any other man)."A third example is the traditional Indian system of measurements and weights that "bore a striking resemblance to those used by the Harappan people. According to John Mitchiner, the difference was less than 1.8 per cent - not bad for a time lapse of over four thousand years!"Even in the area of trade, Indians had a flourishing trade with the rest of the world - "Mesopotamian tablets mention a land called Mekuha that exported bead jewellery, copper, wood, peacocks, monkeys and ivory." This tradition of trade would continue for thousands of years, with India running a surplus till the eighteenth century, till the loot by the English East India Trading Company after the Battle of Plassey in 1857 started a reversal that continues to this day.Perhaps a strong reason why India remained a pacifist yet cultural superpower for millenia has to do something with its ability to assimilate peacefully different cultures and groups. While the history of the first Jews seeking refuge from genocide almost two thousand years ago, or the Parsis is well known, Sanjeev suggests that the roots of this "genius" may "lie in the fact that the Vedas do not confine themselves to the ideas of the victors but deliberately include those of the sages from other tribes, including some of the defeated tribes. Thus, the hymns of the sage Vishwamitra, the great rival of Vashishtha, are given an important place in the compilation. In doing so, the Bharatas created a template of civilizational assimilation and accommodation rather than imposition." The Vedas seem to have been "compiled no later than 2000 BC" - this Indian template of cultural accommodation then is as old as civilization itself, but sadly not emulated elsewhere.In between this fascinating account of civilizational continuity are illuminating nuggets that highlight this point. Like the city of Varanasi, "already a large urban settlement" by the time the Buddha "went there in the sixth century" and delivered his now famous first sermon at Sarnath, "just outside the the city." Sarnath is also home to a large Jain temple dedicated to the eleventh tirthankar, and the town itself derives it name from the word "Saranganath" - "meaning 'Lord of the Deer' - another name for Shiva.Yes, this book is keeper. I look forward to Sanjeev Sanyal's next book. If you are interested in reading up more on the Harappan Civilization, I cannot recommend a better book than Michel Danino's The Lost River: On The Trail of the Sarasvati.

Very well written book

Sanjeev Sanyal’s subversive brilliance shines in this masterpiece. The vivid language instantly transported me into the world. His writing skills are a marvel and a treat for readers. Flawless and exciting, heartbreaking and fulfilling, I can go on :) All I want to say is, read it to feel it. At the end you will be a diffenrent person. Readers will know a lot about our civilazation. A must read for every Indian and Indian dispora all across the globe. Sanjeevs's writing amazes me.

I have read this book and it is fantastic who are avid interest in History specially in ancient history of India. He mentioned so many places which are part of ancient Geography if India and relate with today's places . Not only places but also Physiography and drainage' of India marshalled in a such soothing way that your excitement never has end......

really like itgood qualityMUST BUY