Why's Indian history worth thinking about? After all, we live in a world so dominated by a globalised culture dominated by Western philosophy, technology and economies, so if anything we should only focus on that.
But think about this.
India: not the Republic of India but really the Indian subcontinent, is a place where millions upon millions of diverse human beings interacted and fused over thousands of years, becoming something new, becoming us. It shows us what happens when you put a bunch of people together and let them go nuts with their plurality and diversity. The conflicts that emerge. The subjugation of some, the upliftment of others. The synthesis, fusion, and creativity that characterises our species.
This land has seen amazing insights into the nature of humanity and of reality itself. There have sublime aesthetic productions and triumphs against all odds. And of course, there were (and are) terrible actions, violence, cruelty and bloodshed.
But there's something to learn from it all, not just about being Indian, but really something about what it means to be human. And since, for some reason, there are no podcasts reflecting an Indian view of our shared past, that's exactly what I'm going to do.
I'm Anirudh Kanisetti, a history and geopolitics researcher, and welcome to the first history podcast about India, by Indians, and for Indians.
Echoes of India is written and narrated by Anirudh Kanisetti and is produced by IVM Podcasts.