Sometime at the start of this month, Western media and its tributaries in the global and social media started praising and publicising in one voice author William Dalrymple's latest book, Golden Road—a story of how Indian civilisation and culture started capturing the world in ancient times. The distributors of Western books and literature in Pakistan announced that September 10, 2024, would be the date the much-expected book would be released here. Slow publicity of the book had already been going on in Western media since the award-winning author first announced his latest work on the intellectual history of India. But since the start of September, an avalanche was let loose on viewers and readers of Western media—dozens of book reviews, commentaries, analyses, interviews, and excerpts from the much-awaited book flooded media in the Western world. Since the advent of social media, it's not possible to restrict any newspaper or news outlet to any geographical setting. For instance, London's The Guardian and New York's New York Times have become breakfast newspapers in Islamabad, New Delhi and Jakarta. So, I would not be surprised if William Dalrymple and his new book, Golden Road, are now household names in these cities. I vividly recall a massive campaign in Western media publicising a cause, as this one, in support of Malala Yousafzai when the Taliban ambushed her school van in Swat and later when she was awarded the Nobel prize.
Although the two cases are not connected, both campaigns in Western media were massive and in both cases, the story was and is related to something happening in our part of the world—South Asia. In the case of Malala Yousafzai, this was related to an ambush in Swat by a terror organisation and in the case of Golden Road, it is related to the Indian civilisation.
The political inclinations and focus of the Western political elites have changed from international terrorism to a contest for world supremacy between the United States on the one hand and China and Russia on the other
The question arises: when was the last time the entire Western media spoke with one voice? It spoke unanimously after and about the 9/11 attacks on America when a campaign against religious terrorism emanating from the Muslim world. Their support of Malala Yousafzai's cause was unanimous, and their campaign in her support was massive. Now, the world is changing around us. The political inclinations and focus of the Western political elites have changed from international terrorism to a contest for world supremacy between the United States on the one hand and China and Russia on the other. Malala Yousafzai became the symbol of the anti-terror campaign by the Western intellectual elites and media—a Pashtun girl from the Taliban heartland who advocated literacy for women and girls.
William Dalrymple's Golden Road is the new icon in a new war. In the book—undoubtedly a masterpiece and I have read half the book so far—Dalrymple advocates for India's role as the centre of the Asian world since it was at the centre of the trading route in the ancient world when the Roman elites were in love with Indian luxury products and Indian Gods were being worshiped around the world in pagan temples. This is when China itself came under the sway of Indian civilisation. Almost half of the book relates to how Buddhism, an Indian religion, spread into China and the Far East by Buddhist clergy of Indian origin. The Silk Road is a hoax— the very Silk Road, which is at the heart of the ongoing global Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and represents a dream to create a world order parallel to the so-called rules-based international order that the West dominates. Golden Road and its themes, thus, sound like an argument in support of the West's new project to prop up India as a counter to China in Asia's regional politics.
Indian civilisation is undoubtedly one of the greatest civilisations the world has witnessed. But unlike common beliefs of narrow-minded cultural chauvinists, no civilisation or culture grows in isolation from other cultures and civilisations. And no civilisation is exceptionally great. It is as great as other civilisations
I do not want to sound as if I am not impressed by "Golden Road's" literary qualities—I am a great fan of William Dalrymple's books, and his "Last Mughal" is one of my all-time favourites. And I am not at all arguing that Malala Yousafzai did not suffer a tragedy and deserves the recognition and Nobel prize she got. All I am saying is that in both cases, the massive media campaign the Western media conducted clearly appeared to be stage-managed.
Usually, publicity campaigns and book reviews in newspapers are initiated by publishers, who usually hire a publicity firm to conduct the campaign. I believe no publicity firm is so powerful to simultaneously manage a campaign in the Australian, British, Japanese, and American media. Political causes can bring the media in these countries together—a political cause that can create an imaginary enemy, much like a cause to prop up India against China in this case. And this is exactly the political import of Dalrymple's Golden Road that the Indian civilisation is the mother of all civilisations, especially the Chinese civilisation. Again, Indian civilisation is not my target. It is undoubtedly one of the greatest civilisations the world has witnessed. But unlike common beliefs of narrow-minded cultural chauvinists, no civilisation or culture grows in isolation from other cultures and civilisations. And no civilisation is exceptionally great. It is as great as other civilisations. Civilisations do not grow up in watertight compartments; rather, they grow up because of the processes of cultural interaction and learning from each other. I will never challenge the intellectual honesty of William Dalrymple. It was not his intention to pit China against India. But at least this is the political import of the media campaign in support of his book. He can compensate by authoring a book about the Chinese civilisation and the much larger area which came under its influence in the ancient world. This is the only way he can come out of the trap of Western warriors sitting in the foreign ministries of the Western world who just want to use every resource at their disposal to initiate a new cold war in the world.
Praising an ancient civilisation is itself a praiseworthy activity, primarily because by understanding these ancient civilisations, we can chalk out a future for a better and harmonious world. And the Indian civilisation, especially, has a lot to offer the world in terms of lessons in human morality that humanity needs in this age of turmoil and moral anarchy. It was old Indian Rishis who first taught the world that religion ought to be utilised for moral purification and not simply for amassing wealth and increasing the number of offspring. Monotheistic religions came much later in the history of human civilisations. Anthropologists and social historians are clear about one point: originality is a myth in the history of civilisations, as normally, a new vibrant civilisation is an outcome of the interaction between civilisations that are older than it. So, despite its greatness, there is nothing exceptional about the Indian civilisation. Those who promote the exceptionality of civilisations are mostly in the business of commercialising their intellectual endeavours to sell their books and other intellectual products among the host societies. You will be surprised to count the number of books praising the Islamic civilisation at bookstores in Islamabad—books which take great pains to prove that the Islamic civilisation is exceptional.
The US used the religious conservatism of Middle Eastern societies to block the entry of Soviet communism into Arab societies during the Cold War. Bernard Lewis was part of a panel of experts who advised the State Department on this
William Dalrymple is, by all definitions, a marvellous historian, and I agree with the idea that he is a rarity because he could be counted among those historians who really know how to write. His books carry the flavour of a literary novel while at the same time serving the purpose of pure history. But he needs to distinguish himself from other Western historians in support of which Western foreign ministries had been running campaigns. The late Bernard Lewis is one such historian who used to advocate that Islam as a religious and civilisational system is responsible for the social, political, economic, and technological backwardness of the Muslim world. Originally a British citizen, he migrated to the United States and spent his academic career at Princeton University. US State Department used to describe him as a "Strong Defender of democracy in Middle East", whereas he spent his life advocating that Islam was anti-democratic—which is a patently incorrect notion. It was only Mr Lewis' bad fortunes that he lived and authored his books in times when social media was still decades away, otherwise, he would have been as much of a household name in our part of the world. His books have served the diplomatic objectives of the US State Department as much as those authored by William Dalrymple's books are serving them today. The US used the religious conservatism of Middle Eastern societies to block the entry of Soviet communism into Arab societies during the Cold War. Bernard Lewis was part of a panel of experts who advised the State Department on this. During the later part of his career, Bernard Lewis became a firm advocate of democracy in the Middle East—again his somersault matched the twists and turns in US foreign policy towards the Middle East.
I have read most of William Dalrymple's books and have not found such biases and prejudices in his writing. His love of the Indian civilisation is not something to be abhorred. Western media's slant to portray India's civilisation as exceptional is what causes the problem.