The First Spring: The Golden Age of India

by Abraham Eraly

The history of classical India is a huge and complex maze with many snares to entrap the explorer. Much of it is so thickly encrusted with myths that it is often difficult to separate facts from fables. Undaunted by this prospect Abraham Eraly unfolds, in First Spring, a profoundly illuminating panorama of an age that flowered luxuriantly before its inevitable decay. The vast landscape of Eraly s narrative covers more than a thousand years, from around the middle of the first millennium bce, to around the middle of the first millennium ce, when India was a prosperous and marvellously creative civilization, making many seminal contributions in multifarious fields of culture. From its ascent to the rarefied heights of the golden age to its descent into the swamp of the dark ages, from the daring intellectual adventurism of the first spring to the winter of corruption and cultural hibernation, this book tells the story of the classical Indian civilization in a manner that is both lucid and thoroughly engaging.

Genres: History, India

952 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 16, 2011

About the author

Abraham Eraly is an Indian writer. He has written many acclaimed books on Indian history.

Reviews

[Lavanya · Rating 1 out of 5]

When you buy a hard cover book at full price, read it and because you threw good money after it, can't bring yourself to burn it..

[Phool Chand Jangir · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book written with prejudice towards Hindus and Brahmins. Lopsided and unjust.
Shame on Abraham Early.

[Ashwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

When someone spends 9 years reading and researching, its difficult to give such an exhaustive work only 3 stars.

History in India is a politically and tribally fraught endeavor. The source you use, read, forget, or choose to ignore, inform the publisher, the reviewers, and the readers which "side" you're on because no one can agree on facts. And the paucity of Indian sources, either because of cultural neglect or invasion, don't make the situation easier. However, it does leave a lot of room open to the historian who more often than not veers into storytelling to fill in the gaps.

If any Indian author were really honest, there would be more "I don't knows" than statements of fact. I'm sure the editor would love that.

Despite the exhaustive references that give us a glimpse into India as it was, the reader can very clearly tell where the author is editorializing. Unlike Western historians who try to take themselves out, Eraly is clearly the narrator here. When he makes sweeping statements about the Golden Age of India such as "Classical Indian civilization was essentially a Buddhist civilization and not a Hindu one", there is not one source to be found nor any examples or anecdotes to back them up. (Nor does the rest of the book seem to support this odd statement)

In fact, while there is a scant bibliography (at least for a work this size), there are no references at all for the curious reader to continue digging on a particular subject.

And while Eraly attempts to give us a "people's history" by collating North and South and reconstructing the lives of commoners, it is not easy to navigate. An entire section devoted to the arts, for example, has only section breaks with no marks on what's in the book.

Eraly the narrator also belongs to a previous educated generation with British influence who talk of India with a certain distance, as if education has elevated them far above it. Of course, this is mostly preference, but when historians generally bat for their subject matter, the tone and tenor are odd.

Overall, this is a nice jumping point for Indian history from which to delve deeper yourself. Hopefully as modern research continues, the story of India will be less fiction and more fact.

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

While not as good as his Gem In The Lotus (c. 3000-200 BC), Abraham Eraly's book on India's classical golden age and early medieval decline (c. 200 BC - 1000 AD) is still solid. The main drawback is that the structure is thematic rather than a chronological synthesis as in Gem in the Lotus, so it feels rather fragmented. The upside to this is that, besides the introductory and political history sections, you can essentially read whatever sections interest you in whatever order. While I skipped the sections on the state, economy, and family because of their relative aridity, these will undoubtedly be highly valuable for anyone seriously studying the era. I devoured the sections on science, philosophy, religion, and culture. Eraly was a somewhat idiosyncratic historian, his tone often that of a grumpy old man prone to old fashioned academic practices and a tendency to repeat himself. But this doesn't detract from his sharp intellectual depth and breadth, passion for the subject, and willingness to ruthlessly critique sacred cows (pun intended). It's a real pity he died before he could finish his pre-modern India series with a book on the medieval era.