Includes bibliographical references (pages [361]-394) and index.

Introduction : The Indosphere -- A gale of stillness -- India : 'the sink of the world's most precious metals' -- The great king, king of kings, son of God -- The sea of jewels : exploring the great library of Nalanda -- The fifth concubine -- The diaspora of the gods -- In the lands of gold -- 'He who is protected by the sun' -- The treasury of the Books of wisdom -- Fruits of the science of numbers.

"A soaring history of India's underrecognized role in producing the world as we know it. For a millennium and a half, India was a confident exporter of its diverse civilization, 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. In The Golden Road, 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"--Jacket flap.