– This is a classic that anybody with an interest in the civilisational beginningsof India must read, and it hasn’t been out of print since the 1950s.

– Dr Basham gives us one of the most accessible troves of information onancient and classical India, both for the general and the academic reader.

– Using massive research and findings, the book explores the Aryan invasiontheory in great detail.

– It studies the evolution of Hinduism starting from the Harappa era to theend of the 12th century.

– The book includes sections on prehistory, history, society, state, everydaylife, religion, arts, language and literature.

A. L. Basham’s The Wonder That Was India is a brilliant early history of one of theworld’s oldest civilisations. When it was first published in the United Kingdom in1954, it became an instant hit, as it would in the United States a few years later.Since then, it has consistently found an avid readership all over the world, beentranslated in many languages, and has educated and entertained generationsof general readers and serious students of Indian history alike. The foreword,by Thomas R. Trautmann, brings alive the man and the academic behind thisvolume and illuminates the historical influences upon it.

The Wonder That Was India is a classic that anybody with an interest in thecivilisational beginnings of India must read. It is a work of uncompromisingscholarship and a labour of love