Writing a Book about India

Abstract

This chapter discusses the challenges of writing a book about India. Three main points emerge from this discussion: (1) Our own presumptions about India make it hard for us to see writers like Nearchus, Onesicritus, and Megasthenes clearly, or to see India with their eyes. (2) Many of the authors who have formed our preconceptions can be used as corroborative detail for what is in the classical authors. Among the most valuable are Xuanzang, al-Biruni, Babur and even Mandeville. (3) Could our central authors—Nearchus, Onesicritus and Megasthenes—see India clearly, or did they look for what Ctesias and Scylax had taught them to expect? Because the earlier authors are lost to us this is very difficult to estimate. With this in mind, one should always test them against other available sources and their likely Indian informants.