A comprehensive and compelling portrait of ancient India. In Gem in the Lotus, Abraham Eraly, author of The Last Spring, the best-selling and critically acclaimed history of the Mughals, identifies and explores the significant milestones in the evolution of ancient India.

Beginning with an enquiry into the enigma that was the Indus Valley civilization, he writes of the progression from the Vedic Aryan culture to the age of religious and philosophical ferment, culminating in the tenets of Jainism; the founding and consolidation of Buddhism;

Alexander’s advance into India; the rise of the Mauryan empire; and Ashoka’s unusual political career. In the final section of the book, he describes the ‘clockwork state’ of the Mauryas depicted in Kautilya’s Arthasastra and in ancient Greek accounts.