India is a land of long cultural continuities, and its age-old and venerable traditions are in many ways still alive in India today. Abraham Eraly here explores the fascinating story of the origins of this civilisation, and the lifestyles of its ancient people. The story begins with the Indus Civilisation, which endured for a thousand years between 2500 and 1500 BC. It was eventually superseded by Aryan migrants, who composed, on the banks of the rivers of Punjab, the Vedas, the oldest religious literature in an Indo-European language. The Vedic tradition gradually transformed into classical Hinduism, and an all-embracing and holistic worldview emerged. The central focus of the book is on the life and teachings of Buddha, whose compassionate wisdom would, over a millennium, transform the very psyche of Asia. The closing chapters of the book deal with the fall of the Mauryan Empire, the largest and most rigorously organised empire in Indian history, and portray the life of its great philosopher-king, Asoka, whose emblem, the Buddhist wheel of virtue, today adorns the national flag of India. Book jacket.