India Through Alien Eyes

Book excerpt: Many foreigners have written about India in the distant past. What had they expected and what did they actually fi nd? Indians have never ceased to wonder at the obsession of the western mind with India since antiquity. If you look east it is East Indies; if you look west it is West Indies. On the North American landmass there are Red Indians and there are numerous Indian tribes in South America too. Across a vast unwelcoming land mass, and across choppy seas, people from other lands set out for India. What brought them here and what picture did they have of India before coming and after they had actually come here? This book is based on writings of foreigners, both Western and non-Western, since ancient times. It should be of interest to all those who are interested in learning about this land and its people. It should be of interest to native Indians too who would be enlightened and, sometimes amused, at how people from alien lands looked at them.