A complete one-volume history of India illustrated throughout by maps and photographs in full colour. The book covers all the major landmarks of Indian history from prehistoric times up to the twenty-first century— starting with the country’ s geological origins a few billion years in the past and the migration of Homo sapiens from Africa into the region several millennia ago. It traces the evolution of Indian civilization through a multitude of epochs personalities and turning points including the Harappan Culture Vedic Society the age of Mahavira and the Buddha Ashoka and the Mauryas the Gupta period the Delhi Sultanate major kingdoms in the east west and south the Mughal empire European incursions into the subcontinent the British Raj the freedom struggle led by Gandhi Nehru Patel Bose Tagore and others Independence and Partition and key developments in the life of the modern republic. Deepening the overarching narrative are essays on archaeology caste religion art architecture philosophy language culture the economy and various aspects of the nation’ s plural diverse society. Written by award-winning historian Rudrangshu Mukherjee along with cultural historian Shobita Punja and photographer-archivist Toby Sinclair A New History of India brings the story of one of the oldest most complex countries on earth to vivid life by blending state-of-the-art pictures and maps with a text of depth clarity and rigorous scholarship.