About 150 kilometres north of New Delhi, in the state of Haryana, are the sacred plains of Kurukshetra, the site of both the most destructive battle of ancient mythic India, as well as the most profound discourse in Hindu philosophy. On the Kurukshetra plains, in Jyotisar, under a banyan tree, Krishna, the charioteer, had a philosophical conversation with Arjuna, the warrior. This is recorded in the 700 verses of the Bhagavad Gita which is one of the books that form the Mahabharata, an epic story centred on the 18-day battle between cousins belonging to the Kuru clan. At this site, a mango-shaped pond and a marble chariot with Arjuna and Krishna have been built to commemorate the event.

A few kilometres away are remnants of a fort which has been called Abhimanyu's Fort. At the end of the epic battle described in the Mahabharata, only Parashit, the son of Abhimanyu and the grandson of Arjuna, is left to continue the Kuru line. Many subsequent rulers of the Gangetic kingdoms trace their genealogy to the mythical Parashit. One study of genealogical lineage from known historical figures has dated the epic battle at Kurukshetra and Parashit's rule to about 1200 BCE.

Unlike the Indus Valley Civilization, there are no relics or artefacts from the Vedic Age for us to study. The lack of physical objects is compensated by a profuse volume of literature which includes the four Vedas (Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva) and the two Epics (Ramayana and Mahabharata.) The Vedic corpus cannot be accurately dated as they were transmitted orally from generation to generation, and only committed to writing hundreds of years later. There is no mention of writing in the Vedas and, even after India reacquired the art of writing, for centuries, the priestly castes resisted the transcription of the Vedas to protect their monopoly of knowledge on the purported proper conduct of religious rites. Elaborate systems of memorization were developed to limit the introduction of errors. The Vedic verses were composed in ancient Sanskrit with many antique and obscure words making a literary understanding of the Vedas difficult even for scholars. The introduction of errors during oral transmission over multiple generations is impossible to detect without reference to authentic written works.

Of the twelve apostles of Jesus, churches have been built over the tombs of only three of them – the Basilica over the tomb of Peter at the Vatican, the Cathedral of Santiago over the tomb of James in Spain and the Santhome over the tomb of Thomas in Mylapore, a suburb of Madras. Madras, renamed Chennai, during a bout of exuberant regional pride, is the capital of Tamil Nadu. A city of more than seven million people, it is India's fourth largest metropolis and a rising star in the global information and communications industry. It is in the most Dravidian of the four southern states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. Dravidian culture originates from the south of India and in relative terms, it was subject to less foreign influence than Indian culture in the north.

The Mauryan Empire had initiated an era of international trade and economic growth in India that continued for several centuries after the collapse of the empire. Along these international trade routes, a new religion, Christianity, was brought to India by Thomas, one of the original twelve apostles. After preaching for twenty years, Thomas was killed in 72 CE at a hillock in Mylapore. The hillock is now named after him – Saint Thomas Mount. His body was buried a short distance away and the gothic church, Santhome, was built over the tomb.

When Asoka died in 232 BCE after ruling for thirtyseven years, his grandsons divided the empire. Through a succession of weak kings, the Mauryan Empire began its journey of decline. In 180 BCE, the last Mauryan king was assassinated during a military parade by his Brahmin commander-in-chief, Pushyamitra Shunga. Although Pushyamitra managed to stop the advance of the Bactrians and stabilized the borders of the empire to the Gangetic plain, his persecution of the Buddhist community within his empire weakened its internal cohesion. After several Shunga kings on the throne at Pataliputra, the empire or what was left of it had shrunk to an area smaller than the original Magadhan state. The last Shunga king, a man overly fond of women, was in his turn assassinated by the daughter of his concubine at the behest of his Brahmin minister, Kanva. The decline continued under several Kanva kings and the Magadhan kingdom disappeared into oblivion in 28 BCE.

The ancient city of Lahore has no buildings or large monuments that pre-date 1241. In that year, the Mongols massacred its inhabitants and levelled the city. The cities of North India faced a similar fate but they were saved by the Turkish slave general, Balban, who halted the Mongol advance into India and pushed them out of Punjab. In South Delhi, the ruined tomb of Balban lies close to the tomb of his master, Iltutmish. The arched entrances to the square building open to the sky are the first examples in Indian architecture of the use of scientifically designed wedge shaped stones to create a stable arch.

By the thirteenth century, Islam had a five hundred year history of relentless expansion. A stream of plunder taken from the non-believers helped sustain a fl ourishing Islamic civilization. North India was the most recent conquest of the Muslim armies. Suddenly, the fortunes of Islam were reversed when the Muslims became the prey of an adversary more ferocious than them—the Mongols.

In a period of less than fifty years, the Mongols killed more Muslims than the number of non-believers killed by Muslims in the preceding five hundred years. The accumulated wealth of Persia, Iraq and Syria was either taken back to Mongolia or destroyed. The Mongols struck at the heart of the Islamic civilization and almost snuffed it out. Islam was saved by two Turkic Slave Sultans at the periphery of the Muslim world—Sultan Qutuz of Egypt who defeated the Mongols at Ain Jalut in Palestine and Sultan Balban of Delhi who halted the advance of the Mongol armies into India.

In 1216, Genghis Khan, the ruler of the Mongols, was nearly sixty years old. He had united the nomadic tribes of Mongolia and controlled territory that stretched from Central Asia to North China. Juvaini, the Muslim historian, describes the condition of these lands:

“He [Genghis] had brought about complete peace and quiet, and security and tranquillity, and had achieved the extreme of prosperity and well-being; the roads were secure and disturbances allayed.”

India is a diverse country with a long history of cross-cultural interactions, complex philosophical ideas, and multifaceted literary traditions. To capture the intricacies of Indian history is no easy feat. For people of Indian origin who visit the country sporadically, their ancestral homeland can be mysterious, exotic, and incomprehensible. In his lifetime, despite ailing health, the late Dr Balaji Sadasivan spent long hours digging into India's ancient history to present his findings to the Diaspora Indians. Admirably, with great insights into important events, he has expressed his findings in a way that is exciting to read and easy to follow. His achievement is even more commendable considering that Dr Balaji Sadasivan was not a historian but a neurosurgeon and a full-time politician.

Divided into several chapters, The Dancing Girl: A History of Early India, covers over four thousand years of Indian history. From the Indus Valley Civilization, which produced the beautiful figurine of the dancing girl on the cover of this book, to the splendours of Islamic traditions under the Mughal empire, Dr Balaji has outlined the evolution of Indian religions and philosophical traditions, analysed the Buddhist interactions between India and China and the trading relations between South Asia and Southeast Asia, and given a fascinating account of the spread of Islamic ideas into India.

Every chapter of this book is carefully researched and organized. In the chapter titled “The Reformation”, for example, Dr Balaji points out the complexities of Hinduism, its Vedic origins and its “reformation” during the Gupta and post-Gupta periods. At the same time, however, he is meticulous about the developments taking place within Buddhism and the support it receives from the Pala rulers of Bengal. He is also thorough in his discussions about the increasing importance of Buddhist monastic institutions and Hindu temples in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Although Dr Balaji notes that the book is intended for the Diaspora Indians, I am hopeful it will attract a much wider audience. Students of non-Indian heritage will find the discussion of India's contact with the wider world particularly useful.

I met Dr Balaji Sadasivan in connection with our collective effort to reestablish an Asian international university at Nalanda, the site of perhaps the oldest university in the world. I could see that the erudite, soft-spoken doctor and foreign affairs expert harboured a fascination for history, especially the elements of South Asian culture that flowed to Southeast Asia to be creatively adapted in new ways. I did not know then that he was writing his own account of that history for the children of the vast Indian Diaspora. When Ambassador Kesavapany, Director of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), brought to my attention the existence of his manuscript, we could only be grateful that he had more or less completed it before his sad, untimely death. The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, must be congratulated for providing the finishing touches and further embellishing the work with pictures and maps.

Dr Balaji Sadasivan's book displays his eye for vivid detail and his ability to choose the most compelling anecdotes to illuminate larger historical themes. His skills as a story-teller will enable him to reach the younger generation of readers. This book is not boring! The stunning urban culture of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, the enlightenment of Gautama Buddha, the dhamma of Asoka, the light of knowledge dispersed from Nalanda, the naval expeditions of the Cholas, are all depicted with great insight in the form of a stylish and eloquent narrative.

Had he been with us for a bit longer, I would have tried to persuade Dr Balaji Sadasivan of the grandeur of the Indo-Islamic cultural ecumene that was forged in the subcontinent during the last millennium under the patronage of regional Muslim Sultans and the great Mughal emperors who invited non-Muslims to be partners in building that magnificent edifice. Nineteenth-century colonial accounts of the role of Islam in India had often privileged myth over history and emphasized the destructive rather than constructive dimensions of the rule by Muslim sovereigns.

One example will suffice to illustrate this point. Dr Balaji Sadasivan tells us that Lord Ellenborough, the Governor-General of India, at the time of the First Anglo-Afghan War “accepted the legend” that the gates of Mahmud of Ghazni's tomb had been looted from the temple in Somnath.

Feeling remorse for the slaughter and horrors he inflicted on the people of Kalinga, Asoka, the son of Bindusara, became a Buddhist and built a stupa on the hill at Sanchi, nine kilometres from Vidasha—a special place in his heart. In this city, as a youth, he learnt about the Buddhist faith through his love for a Buddhist maiden and fathered two children who would later play a major role in the propagation of the Buddhist faith. The original structure built by Asoka was damaged and the present stupa at Sanchi was rebuilt in the second century BCE.

When the Buddha was cremated, his ashes, also known as his holy relics, were divided into eight parts by his disciples and the parts were buried in different locations. The burial mould of his relics became a symbolic object of veneration for the Buddhists since it was not the custom in the early days of the religion to make physical representations of Buddha. Asoka opened up seven of the original burial moulds and distributed the relics to several thousand sites over which stupas were built.

The grandest of the stupas which still exists is the Great Stupa at Sanchi which rises to 90 metres and consists of a hemispheric dome of about 40 metres diameter sitting on a square base, topped by a spire with a triple parasol. The structure is full of symbolism, with the square base representing the earth, the hemispheric dome representing water, and the spire above the dome representing fire and its energy ascending towards the heaven. The triple parasol symbolizes the Buddha, his teachings and the sangha.

The stupa was neglected and fell into disrepair for several centuries during the period of Muslim rule over India until it was rediscovered by the British in the nineteenth century. Now restored and sitting majestically on the hill, the Great Stupa of Sanchi radiates serenity over its surroundings as the many pilgrims and tourists enter through one of its four elaborately carved gateways to look upon the oldest known stupa in the world. Asoka had a single brother, Vitasoka, and many half brothers, the children of his fifteen stepmothers. His mother was not the palace favourite and because of his rough features, neither was he.

In the State of Maharashtra, sixteen kilometres north of Aurangabad lies the ruined fortress of Devagiri, the capital of the thirteenth century Seuna kingdom. The kingdom extended from the Narmada to the Tungabhadra and was a flourishing centre of Maratha culture. Devagiri Fort stands on a conical hill about 200 metres high. The Seuna kings cut the lower slopes of the hill to create vertical sides 50 metres high. The hill was enclosed by three lines of walls each of which was protected by moats and turrets. The only means of access to the summit was by a narrow bridge and an equally narrow long gallery. Prior to the thirteenth century, the Muslim armies had not attacked the Deccan. During the Khalji dynasty, Devagiri was captured and used as the base for plundering South India.

The Khaljis, an Afghan clan, ruled the Delhi Sultanate for thirty years (1290-1320). When the Turkish slave Aibek died, his Turkish slave, Iltutmish, killed Aibek's son and succeeded to the throne. In turn, when Iltutmish died, his Turkish slave, Balban disposed of Iltutmish's heirs to become the Sultan. Balban had weakened the Turkish faction and created a more diversified political elite which included Afghans and Tajiks. After the Great Khan Mongke's death, Mongol unity disintegrated and some Mongols sought refuge in India. Balban allowed them to settle in India and their leaders became part of the elite. The Muslim historian, Barani, referred to them as “Neo-Muslims”.

When Balban's son was killed in 1290, Jalal-ud-din Khalji, an Afghan, was invited by the nobles to become their ruler; a compromise between the various power factions in Delhi. The new ruler, seventy years old, had to tread carefully as the Turkish elements were still powerful. To reassure the nobles that he was not another ruthless Balban who may eliminate them, Jalal-ud-din adopted a benevolent attitude. When Balban's nephew revolted against him, the nobles who supported the revolt were forgiven by Jalal-ud-din. At the same time, he promoted capable family members into positions of importance. One of those promoted was his ambitious nephew, Ala-ud-din Khalji, who was appointed the governor of Kara.

Close to the Trunk Road in Sasaram, Bihar, in the middle of a rectangular artificial lake, a massive octagonal threetiered mausoleum rises out of the water. The original blue, red and yellow decorations and the dome have turned grey. Despite its dull exterior, it is the most impressive architecture built by the Afghans that still exists in reasonable splendour. The remarkable man buried in this mausoleum built the Grand Trunk Road. He was born in Sasaram as Fareed Khan, the son of a minor Afghan chief and died as Sher Shah Suri, the Emperor of North India.

At the end of the fifteenth century, Muslims had ruled the major part of North India for about three hundred years. During that time rule was enforced by brute force with little regard for the welfare of the Hindu peasants and artisans who created the wealth of the nation. There was little incentive for the cultivators to produce surpluses and villagers had to arm themselves as best as they could to protect themselves against marauding bands of officials and bandits, there being little difference between the two. Some rulers, like the Tughluks, made the peasants themselves a source of revenue and rounded up large numbers of them for sale in the slave markets of the Islamic world.

Unlike his predecessors, Sher Shah Suri created an administration that provided some protection for the cultivators and artisans. To better control the region and stimulate trade, he built the Grand Trunk Road connecting his capital Agra to his home town of Sasaram. The Grand Trunk Road would eventually extend from Kabul to Calcutta.

Sher Shah Suri was a Pushtun speaking tribesman from the Suri tribe who originate from the Ghor region of Afghanistan. In medieval India, these Pushtun speaking tribesmen were called Afghans. As neighbours, Afghans and Indians influenced each other's destiny. When Imperial Indian power was strong, during the period of the Maurya and Gupta dynasties, Indian influence and control extended beyond the Indus and crossed the Khyber Pass to Kabul and Balkh. At other times, Afghans entered India as part of invading armies that were attracted by the promise of plunder.

The deserted ruins of Nalanda lie 55 miles southeast of Patna close to the village of Baragaon. The ruins were discovered in the ninteenth century by the British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham who used Xuanzang's record of his travels in seventh century India to identify the ruins. About 150,000 square metres of ground have been excavated but this accounts for less than 10 per cent of the university site. Among the artefacts found were copper plates carrying the crest of the university with records of endowments to the university. A large stupa and living quarters for the students and teachers have been located. These excavations have only scratched the surface of the great university as most of the ruins remain uncovered. Xuanzang travelled from China to the Nalanda University for further education because in the seventh century, it was the greatest centre of learning in the world with its fame extending far beyond the borders of India.

After the death of Skandagupta in 467 BCE, the Guptas declined in importance and their Empire disintegrated into multiple small kingdoms. The three most important kingdoms were those ruled by the Vardhans with their capital at Kanauj, the Chalukyas with their capital at Badami, and the Pallavas with their capital at Kanchi. Although there was no central Imperial authority, the many kingdoms nevertheless provided a relatively safe environment for the progress of trade and industry. The general prosperity allowed the development of the sciences and the arts. Large universities came into existence and the quest for knowledge was pursued in many kingdoms. There were robbers and bandits in some lawless areas between kingdoms but there were no massive wars, large-scale destruction of cities, or disruption of settled life.

The Chinese monk Xuanzang travelled through India from 630 CE to 645 CE and as one of the greatest scholars of Buddhism, he was given the title of “The Master of the Law” by his disciples. For students of Indian history, his Record of the Western Region, which catalogued his travels through India, including visits to its three most important kingdoms, provide a most reliable account of the country.

Xuanzang was the grandson of the President of the Imperial College in Beijing. At an early age he showed great intelligence and an earnest interest in Buddhism and was duly accepted into the monastery at Luoyang.

In the Mehrauli district of South Delhi, at the Qutub complex which is a conglomeration of archeological sites, a seventy-two metre tower rises over the neighbouring Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, the first mosque built in Delhi. This tower, the Qutub Minar, is the world's tallest brick minaret with 399 steps leading to the top. The diameter at the base of the minaret is 14.3 metres while the top floor has a diameter of 2.75 metres. The Qutub Minar was completed at the start of the thirteenth century by the new rulers of India—the Turkish slaves, Aibek and Iltutmish. Aibek laid the foundation stone for the minaret in 1199 but only managed to complete the first floor. His slave, Iltutmish added the subsequent three floors. In the fourteenth century, a fifth floor was added. The minaret was built using material from twenty-seven Jain and Hindu temples that stood at the site. Aibek and Iltutmish had the temples torn down and used the dismembered bricks, stones, and pillars of the temples to construct the minaret and accompanying mosque.

Military slaves were a unique feature of the political power structure in Islamic kingdoms. Rulers acquiring military slaves sought two qualities: military potential and malleability. As regards the first, hardy youth from nomadic tribes in rugged regions where only the fittest would survive were preferred. Youth from Central Asia met this requirement. As regards the second, non-Muslim boys of foreign origin between the age of twelve to fourteen were preferred.

The recruits would be converted to Islam, taught the language of their ruler and be trained in military skills. Being cut off from their original societies and with their destiny totally dependent on their new owners, these youth were easily moulded into soldiers with absolute loyalty to their rulers. A poet noted:

“One obedient slave is better than three hundred sons, for the latter desire their father's death, while the former, his master's glory.”

Qutb-ud-din Aibek was of Turkish origin and was born in Central Asia. As a child he was captured and sold as a slave to the chief judge of Nishapur, a town in Persia. Aibek was fortunate in that he was treated well by his master who gave him a good education which included archery and horsemanship.

Hampi, in Karnataka is the graveyard of one of India's greatest medieval cities, Vijayanagar. In 1336, the Sangama brothers decided to build their capital, Vijayanagar or City of Victory, along the southern banks of the Tungabhadra River. They allied themselves to the local cult based on “Pampa” which also gave rise to the modern name of Hampi. Pampa was identified with Devi, the consort of Shiva. The local deity Virupaksha, the husband of Devi, became identified with Shiva. Hampi and its surroundings are also closely linked with the Ramayana, for it is believed to be the location of the mythical kingdom of Hanuman, the Monkey God allied with Rama.

Vijayanagar became the greatest medieval city in the Deccan and lent its name to the empire governed by its rulers. In 1565, at Talikota, about 150 kilometres from Hampi, Ramaraya, the son-in-law of Krishadevaraya, gave battle to the combined forces of the five Muslim kingdoms that were the successor states of the Bahmani Sultanate. During a critical movement in the battle, he was betrayed and killed. The resulting rout of the Vijayanagar army left the capital unprotected. The city was destroyed by the invading army and its existence faded into memory as the wilderness reclaimed the area. The memory of the city is now being restored through the preservation of the ruins as a heritage site.

The remnants of the city walls enclose an area of about 26 square kilometres, which is dotted with the ruins of temples and monuments, and the rubble of destroyed buildings. Archaeologists have identified within the city two centres, the sacred and the royal, separated by a canal. The zone along the river bank, the most ancient part of the city, is called the sacred centre because of the large number of temples in the area. Within this area, the Virupaksha temple is the oldest temple with a 120-foot tall tower over its eastern entrance. The nearby monolithic twenty-feet tall statue of Narasimha was commissioned much later in the sixteenth century. The temple was important to the Sangama family who attributed their right to rule to this particular incarnation of Shiva. The Vijayanagar kingdom was a military state born during the general uprising against the Tughluks and identified itself with the Shaivite form of Hinduism.

The Emperor Jahangir was a capricious despot, addicted to alcohol and opium, whose ambition for the throne caused him to rebel against his father and imprison and blind his son. He could not trust his other sons or his nobles. The Timurid emperors maintained large harems. Akbar had 5,000 women in his harem with many of his wives taken for political purposes to create alliances. Jahangir considered himself a connoisseur and collected women for their beauty. In Mughal India, women became marriageable and sexually active upon puberty. By the age of thirty, they were considered past their prime. Jahangir realized his own limitations and his need for a trusted consul who would not pose a danger to his power. He turned to the capable thirty-five year old Mihrunnisa to fulfil this role. She was declared Empress in 1611 at the Red Fort in Agra. They had no children together. She proved a capable governing partner, ruling the kingdom and protecting his throne especially during the periods when he was indisposed through addiction or illness. She struck coins and sent royal commands in their joint name, a rare phenomena in the male dominated Islamic political power structure.

Mihrunnisa was the daughter of a well-educated Persian official, who having suffered a reversal of fortunes in his own country, decided to migrate to Mughal India with his family in 1577. They joined a caravan on its way to India but had the misfortune of being robbed along the way. They were in such dire straits that when Mihrunnisa was born, they considered abandoning her. Eventually, through the kindness of the caravan chief, the family including Mihrunnisa reached Agra intact. Educated Persian officials were in demand in Akbar's court and her father secured an appointment. He must have performed his duties well as he was soon appointed the Imperial treasurer in Kabul.

Mihrunnisa would have visited Agra several times and tradition has it that Prince Salim (the future Jahangir) was enchanted by her. He was known for his roving eye and lack of restraint. He had a liaison with one of his father's favourite concubines, Anakali, that led to the execution of the unfortunate beauty. In 1594, the growing interest of Salim in the seventeen-year-old Mihrunnisa, induced Emperor Akbar to betroth her to a successful Persian adventurer, Sher Afghan, who had performed good service during a military campaign.

The plains of Panipat lead to Delhi. In 1526, the Central Asian invader, Babur, defeated the ruling Afghans of North India at Panipat to establish the Mughal dynasty. Thirty years later, his grandson would re-establish the Mughal domain after his Hindu foe was beheaded at this same battlefield. The ruins of the Kabuli Bagh Mosque built by Babur in 1527 to commemorate his victory overlook these plains.

North India in the sixteenth century witnessed a three-way tussle for power between a small number of foreign Muslim newcomers from Central Asia: the Mughals, the much larger population of the more established foreign Muslims; the Afghans; and the huge population of indigenous Hindus. From this cauldron emerged a Hindu general, Hemu, the last Maharajah of Delhi is killed by a stray arrow at the Second Battle of Panipat. We know of Hemu's exploits from the accounts of Akbar's reign recorded by the Mughal historians, Abul Fazl in Akbarnama and Al-Badaoni in Akbar Shahi. The Mughals, who because of their Mongolian origins had only a thin Islamic veneer, would emerge victorious in this tussle, by suppressing their religious zeal and incorporating the Hindus into their military machine.

Babur died in 1530. His eldest son, Humayan, gave his four brothers separate provinces to govern. Kamran, who was given Kabul and Kandahar to govern, seized Punjab and forced Humayan to cede control of this territory to him. This deprived Humayan of the resources of Afghanistan and Punjab and weakened his position as Emperor. In 1535, Humayan invaded Gujarat and secured a major victory against its Sultan. When he returned to Agra, his addiction to opium caused him to neglect dealing with Sher Khan, the leader of the Afghans, until it was too late. In 1540, Humayan was decisively defeated by Sher Khan. He escaped capture and wandered as a homeless exile in Sindh and Marwar. In 1544, taking care to avoid capture by Kamran, he made his way to Persia where he was given asylum when he agreed to convert to the Shia faith.

The Shah of Persia financed Humayan's expedition against Kamran, to capture Kabul and Kandahar, on condition that Humayan cede Kandahar to the Shah after its capture.

I am a child of the diaspora, stepping foot on Indian soil for the first time at the age of 35. In some ways I see India like a detached outsider. I had intended to write a history of India for Diaspora Indians so that we could understand the origins of our Indian Heritage even if we did not live in India. This was meant to be a retirement project for which I collected notes.

I divided the history of India into five periods:

One : The ancient period up to 1200;

Two : 1200-1660, when foreign Muslims ruled much of India;

Three : 1660-1860, when Muslim power declined and the British gained power. This period ends with the first signs of Indian Nationalism emerging during the Indian Mutiny;

Four : 1860-1947, when India took the road to independence;

Five : 1947- present, which covers the post independence period.

Unexpected circumstances led me to publish the first two volumes based on my notes much earlier than I had intended to.