William Dalrymple Reveals the Forgotten Age When India Ruled the World’s Mind
Nidhi | Oct 15, 2025, 17:34 IST
William Dalrymple, Image Credit: Times of India
Historian William Dalrymple reveals how ancient India once ruled the intellectual and cultural world, shaping civilizations across Asia and beyond. From zero and mathematics to Buddhism, Sanskrit, and epic literature, India spread ideas through trade and culture rather than conquest. Dalrymple highlights Nalanda University, Roman trade relations, and the enduring legacy of Indian science and philosophy. In an interview with Fareed Zakaria, he calls India the cultural superpower of Asia and urges the world to recognize a civilization whose innovations still influence modern mathematics, computing, and global culture.
India - the land that gave humanity the zero, the game of chess, and the idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun - once led the world not through armies, but through ideas. Yet this truth, says historian William Dalrymple, has been forgotten by most of the modern world.
In his new book, The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World, Dalrymple paints a breathtaking picture of an era when India was not just a participant in global civilization - it was its beating heart. Speaking to Fareed Zakaria on CNN’s GPS, Dalrymple said his work aims to recover “the enormous Indian influence throughout Asia,” describing ancient India as “the cultural superpower of Asia.” 
Between 200 BCE and 1200 CE, India’s influence spread across the ancient world not by conquest, but through culture, trade, and philosophy. “Buddhism not only conquered Southeast Asia - Thailand, Laos, Cambodia but also China itself,” Dalrymple explained.
He calls this India’s “empire of the spirit,” a civilizational network where Sanskrit, Hindu philosophy, and Buddhist thought shaped societies across the East.
Even today, that influence is visible: Indonesia’s national airline is called Garuda (after Vishnu’s mount), Cambodia’s Angkor Wat remains the world’s largest Hindu temple, and Borobudur in Java stands as one of Buddhism’s grandest monuments. 
Dalrymple compares Sanskrit’s ancient role to that of Latin in medieval Europe. “If you were a scholar or ambassador in 10th-century Java or 7th-century Afghanistan, you would be speaking Sanskrit,” he said.
From Afghanistan to Bali, Sanskrit texts, plays, and philosophies defined the intellectual language of Asia. The Ramayana and Mahabharata were retold across continents, etched into temple walls in Thailand and Sumatra — proof of India’s vast soft power long before the term existed. Behind this cultural expansion lay another revolution - one of science and mathematics.
Dalrymple reminds us that the numbers we call “Arabic” are, in fact, Hindu numerals, borrowed by Arab scholars from India and then carried to Europe. “We call them Arabic numbers because that’s where the West got them from. But the Arabs got them from the Indians,” he said.
He credits Aryabhatta, the 5th-century mathematician, for introducing the concept of zero and place value, breakthroughs that made modern mathematics, computing, and even artificial intelligence possible.
“Thanks to him, we have algebra, algorithms, and binary,” Dalrymple added - noting that even those words trace back to Sanskrit translations of Indian texts. 
Long before Oxford or NASA, there was Nalanda University in Bihar - the greatest center of learning the world had ever seen.
Dalrymple calls it “the Harvard, Oxbridge, NASA of its day,” where thousands of scholars from across Asia studied mathematics, astronomy, logic, and medicine.
Chinese monk Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) traveled to India knowing Nalanda’s unmatched reputation — a symbol of how the subcontinent was once the nerve center of global knowledge exchange. Dalrymple also challenges the Eurocentric idea that China dominated ancient trade. Instead, he argues that India was the true hub of global commerce.
“The Romans traded extensively with India via maritime routes,” he said, pointing out that most of the Roman coins ever found are in India and Sri Lanka. Every year, fleets of ships sailed from Egypt down the Red Sea to Indian ports, returning with spices, silk, gemstones, and wisdom. For Dalrymple, India’s story is not just ancient history - it’s a cycle of rediscovery.
“Islamic scholars in 12th-century Spain described Indians as masters of mathematics,” he said. “And if you go to Silicon Valley today, people will tell you the same story.”
As India’s economy rises; projected to surpass Japan and Germany within the next five years — Dalrymple believes the country is once again reclaiming its lost centrality.
“It’s time,” he said, “that we recovered this forgotten truth, that for much of history, India ruled not by sword or empire, but by mind and imagination.”
In his new book, The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World, Dalrymple paints a breathtaking picture of an era when India was not just a participant in global civilization - it was its beating heart. Speaking to Fareed Zakaria on CNN’s GPS, Dalrymple said his work aims to recover “the enormous Indian influence throughout Asia,” describing ancient India as “the cultural superpower of Asia.”
India: The Empire of the Spirit
India
( Image credit : Freepik )
He calls this India’s “empire of the spirit,” a civilizational network where Sanskrit, Hindu philosophy, and Buddhist thought shaped societies across the East.
Even today, that influence is visible: Indonesia’s national airline is called Garuda (after Vishnu’s mount), Cambodia’s Angkor Wat remains the world’s largest Hindu temple, and Borobudur in Java stands as one of Buddhism’s grandest monuments.
Sanskrit: The Latin of the East
Sanskrit
( Image credit : Pexels )
From Afghanistan to Bali, Sanskrit texts, plays, and philosophies defined the intellectual language of Asia. The Ramayana and Mahabharata were retold across continents, etched into temple walls in Thailand and Sumatra — proof of India’s vast soft power long before the term existed.
The Forgotten Indian Foundation of Science and Math
Dalrymple reminds us that the numbers we call “Arabic” are, in fact, Hindu numerals, borrowed by Arab scholars from India and then carried to Europe. “We call them Arabic numbers because that’s where the West got them from. But the Arabs got them from the Indians,” he said.
He credits Aryabhatta, the 5th-century mathematician, for introducing the concept of zero and place value, breakthroughs that made modern mathematics, computing, and even artificial intelligence possible.
“Thanks to him, we have algebra, algorithms, and binary,” Dalrymple added - noting that even those words trace back to Sanskrit translations of Indian texts.
Nalanda: The Harvard of the Ancient World
Nalanda
( Image credit : Pexels )
Dalrymple calls it “the Harvard, Oxbridge, NASA of its day,” where thousands of scholars from across Asia studied mathematics, astronomy, logic, and medicine.
Chinese monk Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) traveled to India knowing Nalanda’s unmatched reputation — a symbol of how the subcontinent was once the nerve center of global knowledge exchange.
India - The Hub of Global Trade
“The Romans traded extensively with India via maritime routes,” he said, pointing out that most of the Roman coins ever found are in India and Sri Lanka. Every year, fleets of ships sailed from Egypt down the Red Sea to Indian ports, returning with spices, silk, gemstones, and wisdom.
The Return of a Civilizational Power
“Islamic scholars in 12th-century Spain described Indians as masters of mathematics,” he said. “And if you go to Silicon Valley today, people will tell you the same story.”
As India’s economy rises; projected to surpass Japan and Germany within the next five years — Dalrymple believes the country is once again reclaiming its lost centrality.
“It’s time,” he said, “that we recovered this forgotten truth, that for much of history, India ruled not by sword or empire, but by mind and imagination.”