From Dionysus to Vasco da Gama: How Europeans Saw India before the Age of Exploration?

Tom Holland in conversation with William Dalrymple | From Dionysus to Vasco da Gama: How Europeans Saw India before the Age of Exploration?
Before the age of colonialism, Europeans saw India very differently from the familiar racist and Orientalist stereotypes of the Raj. Far from being a benighted land of poverty and famine, India was seen as a land of wealth and riches and plenty, a centre of philosophy and astronomy, science and mathematics, learning and wisdom. Classicist Tom Holland and historian William Dalrymple talk together about the very different Western views of India held from Herodotus and Ashoka to the age of Aryabhatta and the Guptas.
Tom Holland, an award-winning historian, translator and broadcaster, is the co-presenter of Europe’s most downloaded history podcast, The Rest is History, and has written and presented several TV documentaries on subjects ranging from ISIS to dinosaurs. Holland has been described in The Times as “a leading English cricketer”.
William Dalrymple is the author of the Wolfson Prize-winning White Mughals, Duff Cooper Prize-winning The Last Mughal, and the Hemingway and Kapuscinski Prize-winning Return of a King. His book, The Anarchy, was shortlisted for the Duke of Wellington medal, the Tata Book of the Year, and the Historical Writers Association Award, and won the 2020 Arthur Ross Medal from the US Council on Foreign Relations. Dalrymple has been awarded five honorary doctorates, is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the Royal Asiatic Society, and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and has held visiting lectureships at Princeton, Brown, and Oxford, where he is currently an Honorary Bodleian fellow and Visiting Fellow at All Souls. He was presented with the President’s Medal by the British Academy and was named one of the world’s top 50 thinkers for 2020 by Prospect Magazine. He is a founder and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival.
#TomHolland #WilliamDalrymple #EuropeanPerspectives #IndiaBeforeColonialism #AgeOfExploration #HistoricalViews #CulturalExchange #ClassicistTalks #HistoricalInsights #WesternPerspectives #IndianHistory #PhilosophyAndAstronomy #LearningAndWisdom #CulturalConversation #HerodotusToAryabhatta #GuptaDynasty #HistoryDiscussion #ExploringIndia #CulturalHeritage #EnlightenmentEra

[@shobadasari5363]

If Homer was influenced by Mahabharata, is the dating of Mahabharata right. Is Mahabharata referred in biblical terms. Is meluha right term for India as of the Bible. What would be the closest language in linguistic tree to translate Mahabharata from Indo European languages i.e either Sanskrit or Pali ?

[@shobadasari5363]

How many of ethnographic findings relate to Krishna of Mahabharata across the continent. Either along trade routes, or submerged as marine archaeology. How many philosophers describe to Krishna of Mahabharata or for that matter any of pagan gods of Hinduism or refer Hindu rituals which describes Industan.

[@janakjodhan3322]

Alexander was not great. He was a BUTCHER.

[@jaiku99]

This idea that Alexander defeated Porus is suspect. It is more like he was defeated and sent back. The story that the soldiers had enough and therefore returned may be just be a face saving story to keep the legend that he conquered the world.

[@aryafarn]

exactly! Indian sources of that period didnt notice such "great invasion" of Alexander! ( they also didnt know any raj Porus).Pay atyentiin that Puranas noticed later- real massive invasion of Menander). it seems that this Alexander's invasion was totall failure for Alexander and this "semi-god" was defeated by local Indian warlord/commander, so unimportant that he was unknown in other parts of Bharat. but to keep great Alexander myth alive- and hide its shamefull reality- greek historians created rich fiction story full of sothisticated episodes. but european academic history believes in every word of greeks .they dont care that ancient Indian sources (puranas) keep total silence on Alexander 's "invasion".

[@aryafarn]

Indian sources of that period didnt noticed such "great invasion" of Alexander! ( they also didnt know any raj Porus).Pay atyentiin that Puranas noticed later- real massive invasion of Menander). it seems that this Alexander's invasion was totall failure for Alexander and this "semi-god" was defeated by local Indian warlord/commander, so unimportant that he was unknown in other parts of Bharat. but to keep great Alexander myth alive- and hide its shamefull reality- greek historians created rich fiction story full of sothisticated episodes. but european academic history believes in every word of greeks .they dont care that ancient Indian sources (puranas) keep total silence on Alexander 's "invasion".

[@1234ksn]

Good lord !! What a whole bunch of baloney being posed as speculative history putting together arbitrary strings and just like AIT , jumping into improbable conclusions