Between 900 BCE and 1680 CE, at least 21 military expeditions were launched by Indian rulers across raging seas and beyond the most formidable mountains to far-off foreign lands. There, Indian fleets and armies clashed with some of the mightiest military powers of human history. This myth-busting book provides a thrilling yet true account of these expeditions and explores what they tell us about the “Indic strategic mindset” from a historical perspective.
The myth that Indian rulers never ventured abroad for conquests, with a few rare exceptions, has come to be accepted as an unquestionable truth due to these distortions. It is precisely to demolish this myth that this book by Venkatesh Rangan assumes crucial importance. In recent years with the slow yet steady decolonisation of the Indian mind has taken place. An “Indic view” of our past based on not how “foreigners saw us” but how our ancestors perceived our own victories, defeats and ages of glory and despair has slowly begun unravelling. Venkatesh Rangan’s “Bharat’s Military Conquests in Foreign Lands” is a highly researched work that carries forward this process of psychological decolonisation.
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Coming up: A review of the book 'Bharat’s Military Conquests in Foreign Lands' written by Venkatesh Rangan.
Namaste Friends. My name is 'Shinil Subramanian Payamal' and you are listening to the Historylogy podcast.
Before I proceed, a full disclosure: This book was bought with my own money and not been provided to me by the author or publisher.
Little bit about the author:
Venkatesh Rangan is an author and historian who has written acclaimed non-fiction works such as “The First Republic'' and “Age of Pi and Prose” previously. He has also participated as a speaker in several national and international academic seminars, conferences and literary festivals on Indian history.
Let me read what is written on the back cover:
Between 900 BCE and 1680 CE, at least 21 military expeditions were launched by Indian rulers across raging seas and beyond the most formidable mountains to far-off foreign lands. There, Indian fleets and armies clashed with some of the mightiest military powers of human history. This myth-busting book provides a thrilling yet true account of these expeditions and explores what they tell us about the “Indic strategic mindset” from a historical perspective.
This book has forewords by two very eminent personalities. First is Vice Admiral A. R. Karve, PVSM, AVSM and Dr. Anand Ranganathan. What they have mentioned is more than enough to understand what this book is about. I am definitely not going to try and match these learned and experienced men. Hence, I will just be quoting a few things mentioned by them and add my 2 cents in the end.
I quote Vice Admiral A. R. Karve:
This book by Mr. Venkatesh Rangan complements the initiatives of the Military History Society (MHS) by opening an hitherto unexplored area of Indian politico-military maritime interventions outside the Indian subcontinent. My congratulations to the author for the excellent research. Kudos to him for having the conviction to literally take a “leap of faith” into an untouched area of our past. Perhaps the more impressive aspect of this research is that he has done it after referring to books and publications of antiquity available in libraries in West Asia, South East Asia and elsewhere. This is in itself a path breaking effort and the book is a result of his labour of love.
The expeditions in this book ─ both the terrestrial and the maritime ─ make for extremely interesting reading. The language is free flowing and makes accessible the strategic thought process of these various Indian dynasties to a larger audience. There are multiple references and notes. In a way the book represents a first step that each of the expeditions described here can be further researched into multiple independent works of their own standing. To this extent, it has the potential to be a pioneering effort in opening up a new facet of Indian historiography.
I quote Dr. Anand Ranganathan:
The myth that Indian rulers never ventured abroad for conquests, with a few rare exceptions, has come to be accepted as an unquestionable truth due to these distortions. It is precisely to demolish this myth that this book by Venkatesh Rangan assumes crucial importance. In recent years with the slow yet steady decolonisation of the Indian mind has taken place. An “Indic view” of our past based on not how “foreigners saw us” but how our ancestors perceived our own victories, defeats and ages of glory and despair has slowly begun unravelling. Venkatesh Rangan’s “Bharat’s Military Conquests in Foreign Lands” is a highly researched work that carries forward this process of psychological decolonisation.
This work is unique. Till now, as my memory serves right. No single book attempting to cover all the foreign all the foreign military conquests by Indian rulers belonging to all major dynasties has been released. This is the first book of this nature. It uncovers several original and hitherto unknown expeditions such as the Chalukyan strikes against the Rashidun Caliphate in the Tigris estuary or the Pratihara naval raids on multiple strategic Abbasid ports in the Persian gulf. Its reference to several ancient Chinese texts from the Liang, Tang and Yuan eras to describe the Mauryan rule over the Han heartland of China and the conquest of the region of Yunnan show the diligence and path breaking research of the author. The Gupta victories against the Persians and Huns showcases an interesting use of preemptive deterrence. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s little studied expeditions to the Persian Gulf also reveal an interesting facet on this fascinating hero of our history. The book also covers the better known Chola and Pallava conquests in South East Asia, albeit with a new perspective. The breadth of campaigns and dynasties covered in the rest of the book make one wonder on the number of libraries, manuscripts and field visits the author may have undertaken across India and abroad for his research.
There are so many things to takeaway for strategy, diplomacy, military tactics or political governance from these true tales of victory, valour and grit. There are lessons at a personal level too whether it be on the need for rootedness to our civilisational identities or in learning from inspirational role models in leadership and governance. The message is clear ─ there is no need to be apologetic about our ancient civilisation or its history. We may be a land of spirituality, peace and “Ahimsa”. But none of these “benign” attributes can survive without the capacity and ability to meet aggression with force. This is clearly evident from this book. My heartiest congratulations to the author and wishing him all the best for this book and future endeavours.
Now coming to my 2 cents. Having read the author's previous two books, I was not one bit surprised with the subject he has chosen for this book. More than 95% of the things mentioned in this book were not there in my school history books. The 5% I knew was about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. At least, that's what I thought. Our school history books teach us that the Maratha Navy was a ‘brown water’ one. The author has, in detail, written about a maritime expedition to the Persian Gulf proving that it was a ‘blue water’ navy.
Conclusion:
The author deserves full credit for taking subjects nobody else has bothered to talk/write about. There is so much in this book to be inspired from. I sincerely hope that all these amazing stories someday will be taught to the future generations of our country. I give this book 4.75/5 and highly recommend it.
The printed price of this book is Rs. 449/- but at the time of recording this podcast, it is available for pre-order for just Rs. 399/- at the publisher's website. The book is scheduled to officially release on the 21st of May, 2023 and once the buy links for other platforms are available, I will post them in the show notes.
Last but not the least, thank you for spending your valuable time listening to this book review. Really grateful. Please don't forget to subscribe to the Historylogy podcast on your favourite podcasting app and also feel free to leave a review. Also, please check historylogy.com for all previous episodes. Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you. Jai Hind! Vande Mataram!