Book Review: A Bird's Eye View of India's Epic History
The book is a brief yet informative journey through India's 140 million years of history
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2025-06-10 11:28 GMT
After authoring a book on Love, Lust and Battles of Indian Royalty titled Roving Eyes, journalist-turned-author Mahesh S. is back with yet another work of non-fiction. And this time too, he has delved into history yet again. His latest book is titled "India 140 million years of history". The first thing that strikes you about the book is it's size. The numbers are pages are not many. However, what is commendable is how much information the author has managed to provide in the limited space.
Getting on to the book...
If one really wants to venture into writing the history of India, it may run into millions of pages. But to get a bird's eye view of this land with a rich history, this book can serve as a ready reckoner.
The current young generation would have got immensely benefited had the author delved deep into vedic age which would have served as a beacon of light to throw insights on the glory of our ancient India and its culture. Our generation was contented with reading of Mughals' invasion and resistance offered by some valiant kings and queens in the past in different parts of our country and colonialism etc. We really have a history of kings who ruled the entire planet earth (the whole bhumandal)!
But our glory doesn't stop there. We had wonderful physicians and scientists who could measure the distance between Earth and the Sun.
That apart we had seers and sages, and even demons who could make the five elements dance at their fingertips!
As this author puts it, our country suffered a lot under the rule of crazy kings, who with their inconsiderate decisions, made subjects under their rule suffer incalculable harm at the hands of cruel subrulers.
We consider Mughals' invasions and their atrocities and British colonialism as the worst chapters in our indian history. The young patriots of the current generation is likely to seethe with rage and regret, all at the same time, after going through this book upon realising that we have not learnt our lessons despite history having so many examples on how not to do things. The book is worth reading for this very reason.
Having said that, the author could have delved into the rich woven tapestry of Indian civilization highlighting the interplay between Aryan and Dravidian traditions.
However, like I mentioned earlier, Indian history requires longest narratives which cannot be confined in a small book. Being non contemporaries, it's no mean task to compile and publish with accuracy. But the author's efforts to give an intro through this small book deserves praise.