THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED

William Dalrymple on The Golden Road and where he's headed next, in literature and life...

- Priya Pathiyan

Until 1877, there was nothing known as the Silk Road, even though the ancient trade route linking East and West over 6,400 kms certainly existed. And, until 2024, the Golden Road didn't feature in any vocabulary. But now, thanks to celebrated historian and author William Dalrymple's latest book titled The Golden Road, we have a name for the route that resulted in the diffusion of religion, culture, trade and science from India to a wide swathe of the world - China, Southeast Asia, West and Central Asia and on to Europe-between 250 BCE to 1200 CE. On a "slightly dystopian Delhi winter evening" (his description!) Dalrymple tells us why calling it the Golden Road seemed so apt, "It's all about gold: Roman gold coming in from the West, and then the pivot Eastwards to Suvarnabhumi, the Lands of Gold. It also sounds wonderfully resonant...like an idea that has always been there."