Ancient India

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.

Today's view of history cannot account for ancient anomalies, such as the Pyramids and advanced knowledge contained in India's Vedas. But in 1894, an Indian sage gave us an explanation not only for our hidden past but for the trends of today and for our future enlightenment - the 24,000-year yuga cycle.

This comprehensive history sets yoga in its global cultural context for the first time. It leads us on a fascinating journey across the world, from arcane religious rituals and medieval body-magic, through muscular Christianity and the British Raj, to the Indian nationalist movement and the arrival of yoga in the 20th-century West. We discover how the practice reached its present-day ubiquity and how it became embedded in powerful social currents shaping the world's future.

Let’s step into the realm of ancient India where history whispers through the stones and carvings of majestic monuments. In the "Bharat Ke Aitihasic Smarak”, a captivating audio series, we delve deep into the enigmatic world of ancient Indian civilizations and the architectural marvels they have left behind. From the ethereal Taj Mahal, to the awe-inspiring Ajanta Ellora Caves, these architectural wonders have stood the test of time and have been inspiring the visitors for centuries.

The oldest surviving graffiti on a cave wall immortalizing an intimate bond in the third century BCE; charred seeds and chewed animal bones that provide evidence of a peoples' food obsessions; sculptures that reveal facets of the human-animal relationship. In Time Pieces, award-winning historian Nayanjot Lahiri sifts through clues left behind by the early inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent - in plaques and inscriptions, fragments of jewellery, bones and tools, poetry, art and pottery - to reveal to us our ancient land in all its variety, splendour and contradictions.

From Graham Hancock, best-selling author of Fingerprints of the Gods, comes a mesmerizing book that takes us on a captivating underwater voyage to find the ruins of a lost civilization that's been hidden for thousands of years beneath the world's oceans. While Graham Hancock is no stranger to stirring up heated controversy among scientific experts, his books and television documentaries have intrigued millions of people around the world and influenced many to rethink their views about the origins of human civilization.

This book is a thoroughly researched primer on the 108 Upanishads, philosophical treatises that form a part of the Vedas, the revered Hindu texts. These Upanishads contain the most crystallized bits of wisdom gleaned from Hinduism. Roshen Dalal explains the concepts at the core of each Upanishad clearly and lucidly. Moreover, her vast, diverse philosophical and theological readings add priceless scholarly context to this comprehensive and fascinating volume.

Written by Thiruvalluvar in Tamil 10,000 years ago, Thirukkural and its Pearls of Wisdom is as relevant today as it was when written. Hence, it is known as a book for all ages. The Thirukkural is a classic Tamil sangam literature consisting of 1,330 couplets or Kurals. The Tirukku is one of the most important works in the Tamil language. This is reflected in some of the other names by which the text known, such as Tami Marai (Tamil Veda), Poyyamozhi (words that never fail) and Deiva Nool (divine text).  

Take a journey of the history of the Indian subcontinent from prehistory to the colonial period and the modern era through more than 80 brilliant timelines. Timelines from Indian History navigates the history of India, through the formation of kingdoms, the establishment of empires, the struggle for Independence and the emergence of a vibrant democracy and republic.

Ambu is Princess Lakshmi's servant, but the two are more like sisters. After Ambu secretly teaches Lakshmi how to swim, the princess hopes to win a swimming contest against a boy. Will anything get in her way of being the water princess?

Many stories have stood the test of time, but this selection have entranced audiences for thousands of years and remain as fresh today as they were when first told. A fascinating collection which gives vivid insights into lives in ancient times and the issues that occupied the people of the day.

Lali's first mother was an elephant. When she was found and taken in by a hunter as a baby, her elephant mother joined the family, too. Years later, the beautiful animal catches the eye of the queen. Lali fears that she will lose her elephant.

Sita, the beloved princess of Mithila, is one of the most revered women in Indian history; so well known, yet probably the least understood. At every crossroad of her life, she chose acceptance and grace over self-pity. Her life was filled with sacrifice yet wherever she was, there was abundance. It was as if she was carved out of an intense longing for Rama, yet she had infinite patience.

Tungar is a smart, but proud and vain boy. He dreams of being a general for the warrior king Asoka. Will the king want Tungar by his side? Or is he looking for a different sort of warrior?

When Prince Rishi sees a horse on the hill, he knows that King Porus' army is coming to take over his father's kingdom. The fearful boy is uncertain what the future will hold for himself, his family, and the tall, proud horse.

The Pyramid of Cheops. The largest and most enigmatic of them all. Possibly the greatest monument of all time and truly a tomb fit for a Pharaoh...or was it? Despite finding a sarcophagus in the King's chamber, many experts now believe that Khufu, the Pharaoh at the time, was never actually interred there. But if that's the case, where is he?

Veda, a classical dance prodigy in India, lives and breathes dance - so when an accident leaves her a below-knee amputee, her dreams are shattered. For a girl who’s grown used to receiving applause for her dance prowess and flexibility, adjusting to a prosthetic leg is painful and humbling. But Veda refuses to let her disability rob her of her dreams, and she starts all over again, taking beginner classes with the youngest dancers.

El Popol Vuh es una recopilación de narraciones míticas, legendarias e históricas del pueblo k’iche’, el pueblo maya guatemalteco más numeroso. Se trata de una auténtica cosmogonía de la civilización maya. El texto del Popol Vuh se conserva en un manuscrito bilingüe redactado por el dominico Fray Francisco Ximénez. ¡Disfruta de este clásico de literatura ahora en formato audible!