Modern India is an emerging economic and military power whose reach extends beyond the geographical boundaries of South Asia. At the same time, it is the heir to an ancient and diverse civilization. In Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, in the 3rd millennium BC, the first South Asian urban civilization emerged; this was followed in the 2nd millennium BC by the Vedic Indo-Aryan civilization, and gradually cultural patterns were formed that have since marked the culture and history of the subcontinent.

The West has been interacting with this civilization in various ways since antiquity, as evidenced by the Greco-Indian kingdoms of northern India and Afghanistan. The appearance of Islam, the arrival of European colonizers in more recent times, and in the 20th century, decolonization and the creation of nation-states have all left their strong imprint. The Indian subcontinent has been the vast field where diverse population groups, religions, and cultures met, each influencing in its own way the social, spiritual, scientific, and technological sphere.

Thomas Trautmann's book is a reliable guide to this intricate historical journey, a guide that does not succumb to hasty overgeneralizations but helps the modern reader to understand the fundamental aspects of Indian culture in an accessible, coherent, and thoroughly documented manner.