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Land Of Seven Rivers: History Of India's Geography (2012)

by Sanjeev Sanyal(Favorite Author)

3.85 of 5 Votes: 2

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English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Viking

review 1: This is a comprehensive history of Indian civilisation from human evolution to the modern times presented from the perspective of Geographical influences.Though the author is not a professional historian his interest in the subject can be found in every page and the efforts he put into the book visiting various historically important sites.But as the other reviewers pointed out the whole narration is mostly North-India centric leaving out famous South Indian dynasties.For example the palce I come from-Deccan Plateau-was ruled by Kakatiyas from 11th to 14th centuries.As it is a semi-arid area covered with rock formations and uneven terrain where ground water is not available vastly.So the rulers dug large number of interconnected lakes system which get filled during monsoon... mores and the excess water flows down to lower terrain lakes.Even today these water bodies are the most important source of irrigation which have a huge impact on agricultural economy.Though it is highly impossible to include everything in a 310 page book it would have had few points of such locally important details
review 2: Sanjeev Sanyal's Land of Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India's Geography ambitious, quite interesting in most parts, yet underwhelming. History of India is grand and fascinating. However, the quality of writing leaves a lot to be desired. There are two undercurrents in the book. One is that of reporting historical facts and events -- this piece is quite good. You are reminded of many things you might have read as part of History textbooks long ago. There are also many new things you will learn -- for example, the efforts of the Survey of India and the Great Trigonometric Survey project. The other undercurrent is that of the author's commentary and insight. Between passages of reporting, the author breaks in to offer his perspective. These perspectives are often truisms and not terribly interesting in general. In the initial sections of the book Sanyal develops a few motifs: continuities of cultural elements across civilizations; the symbolic value of pillars, and that of the lion; the trade routes rediscovered and used by different civilizations separated by millennia. In the later sections he spends a lot of effort in emphasizing and establishing them, so much so that they start appearing forced.Overall, it's a good refresher on Indian history, which also refers to a number of studies and other books on the topic. One such book is India: A History by John Keay. Sanyal refers to this once every few pages. I look forward to reading that book very soon. less

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