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Ganges

The Many Pasts of an Indian River

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Ganges

Written by: Sudipta Sen
Narrated by: Neil Shah
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About this listen

A sweeping, interdisciplinary history of the world's third-largest river, a potent symbol across South Asia and the Hindu diaspora.

Originating in the Himalayas and flowing into the Bay of Bengal, the Ganges is India's most important and sacred river. In this unprecedented work, historian Sudipta Sen tells the story of the Ganges, from the communities that arose on its banks to the merchants who navigated its waters, and the way it came to occupy center stage in the history and culture of the subcontinent.

Sen begins his chronicle in prehistoric India, tracing the river's first settlers, its myths of origin in the Hindu tradition, and its significance during the ascendancy of popular Buddhism. In the following centuries, Indian empires, Central Asian regimes, European merchants, the British Empire, and the Indian nation-state all shaped the identity and ecology of the river.

Weaving together geography, environmental politics, and religious history, Sen offers a remarkable portrait of one of the world's largest and most densely populated river basins.

©2019 Yale University (P)2019 Tantor Asia Earth Sciences Environment Hinduism Nature & Ecology Science World Ancient History Conservation Imperialism Iran Indonesia Middle East China Middle Ages Africa British Empire

What the critics say

"Sudipta Sen blends geology and ecology with the legendary in a way that is scholarly and sophisticated while always entertaining and often moving to read." (Ruth Harris, University of Oxford)
All stars
Most relevant
This is too dry and academic. A million uninteresting facts about early civilizations that lived near the Ganges. I bought the audiobook thru Audible and gave it 11 hours of my time. The topic never grew on me. The reader sounded bored too. It is chronological and therefore a useful history book but I have not encountered history being written about without any sense of discovery or adventure. Good luck getting through it.

Never been so bored.

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