The Golden Road cover art

The Golden Road

How Ancient India Transformed the World

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Golden Road

By: William Dalrymple
Narrated by: William Dalrymple
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £14.99

Buy Now for £14.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Bloomsbury presents The Golden Road written and read by William Dalrymple.

FROM THE AWARD-WINNING, BESTSELLING AUTHOR AND CO-HOST OF THE CHART-TOPPING EMPIRE PODCAST – A REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF THE DIFFUSION OF INDIAN IDEAS
‘A master storyteller’ Sunday Times

India is the forgotten heart of the ancient world

For a millennium and a half, India was a confident exporter of its diverse civilisation, creating around it a vast empire of ideas. Indian art, religions, technology, astronomy, music, dance, literature, mathematics and mythology blazed a trail across the world, along a Golden Road that stretched from the Red Sea to the Pacific.

William Dalrymple draws from a lifetime of scholarship to highlight India’s oft-forgotten position as the heart of ancient Eurasia. For the first time, he gives a name to this spread of Indian ideas that transformed the world. From the largest Hindu temple in the world at Angkor Wat to the Buddhism of China, from the trade that helped fund the Roman Empire to the creation of the numerals we use today (including zero), India transformed the culture and technology of its ancient world – and our world today as we know it.

©2024 William Dalrymple (P)2024 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Ancient Asia India South Asia Southeast Asia Ancient History Middle ages China Imperialism Middle East Nepal Ancient Greece

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Eighteen cover art
Just One Thing cover art
Debt of Bones cover art
Woman on the Edge of Time cover art
The Worldship Humility cover art
The Storyteller of Casablanca cover art
The Terminal List cover art
The Lost Past of Billy McQueen cover art
The House of the Witch cover art
Warm Up cover art
Top Girl cover art
The Rising Sun cover art
The Anarchy cover art
In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat cover art
The Fyodor Dostoyevsky Complete Collection cover art
The Life of Samuel Johnson cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
I had no idea of the central historical importance of India and so found the account given here a re eye-opener. The text was full of detail which, in all honesty, went past me - nonetheless, the story and presentation carried me along to the end. A great ‘read’!

A wonderful account!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I am tempted immediately to start again at the beginning. Completely fascinating story of the history and influence on the rest of the world of India. Beautifully, clearly and enthusiastically read by the author. Superb.

Captivating and engrossing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent. The depth of research stands out. When other authors talk about the Silk Road, they focus on what they know. No new research and ignore research that may exist for a European focused perspective.

This books is expansive and extensively researched in time and geography. Well done.

Depth of research stands out.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
this book is packed with delightful threads of history woven into a tapestry of the flow of beliefs, ideas, art, gold and civilization. if you want to know how we got here and why we should thank India and in particular the Buddha, then read or better still read and listen to this book.

a delightful revelation

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
If you are like me, and are super fascinated by Asian, and Indian history you definatley need to pick up this book. William Darlymple read with such passion, and enthusiasm you can tell he loves Indian History.

A MUST READ!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I'm not normally interested in history but this is absolutely fascinating and extremely well written. The narration is absolutely superb too. First book I've ever been inspired to review!

Outstanding.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I chose this book because I was excited to learn about the long and rich history of India, but over half way through I’ve realised that I’ve spent barely any time there - instead it’s been about how India/Indians have travelled and traded and shared their culture and religion around a very wide proportion of the world…and while I have a clear idea of the religion, because that’s the mechanic used here, I honestly have no idea about the cultures, nor do I have much of an idea of what was going on in India. More over, one character he has given a lot of attention to, the Empress Wu Zetian of China, I happen to know a bit about…and he hasn’t quite got the right of it, starting by saying that all the surviving texts loathe her he then simply repeats that misogyny coloured discourse without discussion, and there is plenty of discussion and nuance there. So reluctantly I’m giving up , at least for for the moment.

May be I misunderstood the brief

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Another brilliant book by William Dalrymple - fantastic exploration with usual excellent research. a must read and has encouraged me to explore The Golden Road further!

Excellent exploration of the roots of civilisation in India

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A book that, for me ,connected in a brilliantly coherent way so many strands of the history and geography of India and the world. The reading was as good as it gets.
I was sent to the internet to look up old maps and pictures of stunning architectural remains. There's a magnificent TV series I've just imagined to be made.

Brilliant Account

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The wonder, the passion and the well researched educational info - a great companion to the book and plates.

The wonder

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews