This claim was met with skepticism and ridicule from the public and the academic community. The claim was based on a 10th-century inscription found in the temple of Ganesha at Ellora, Maharashtra. The inscription, however, did not mention anything about cosmetic surgery. Instead, it described the temple’s construction and the dedication of the temple to Ganesha.
Dalrymple argues that India was not just a passive recipient of foreign influence but a dynamic force that shaped the world. He uses the Silk Road as a central metaphor to illustrate this point. The Silk Road, he argues, was not just a trade route but a conduit for cultural exchange, ideas, and technologies.
These are examples of the “soft power” of ancient India, which was able to spread its influence through its cultural and religious ideas. Dalrymple’s fascination with these monuments is not merely a superficial appreciation of their beauty. He delves into the historical context, exploring the cultural and religious exchanges that took place between India and other civilizations.
This is a testament to the Indian legacy of scientific and mathematical brilliance, a legacy that has endured for centuries. Aryabhata’s contributions to mathematics and astronomy are significant and far-reaching. He is credited with developing the concept of zero as a placeholder in the decimal system, a revolutionary idea that paved the way for modern mathematics.
It is only in the final pages that Dalrymple acknowledges the debates about Indian history that have become unavoidable in recent years. He believes that an earlier generation of post-partition “left-leaning” historians didn’t dwell much on the violent Turkish incursions into the subcontinent in the 11th and 12th centuries so as not to worsen the sectarian turbulence in a fragile new republic. Under Modi, however, “the reverse is true and the destruction of Hindu temples is almost all that many in India seem to know of the medieval period of India-Islamic history”. Dalrymple doesn’t mention the unprecedented ways in which the current regime has marginalised India’s 200 million Muslims by characterising them as “infiltrators”, omitting references to Mughal rule in history textbooks, even renaming towns and cities that reflect the country’s long Islamic heritage. The struggle of ideas in modern India is not so much between right- and left-leaning historians, but between those who write about the past and those who aspire to rewrite the past.
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