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“The rising Bharat is not surprising: it is the natural balance of the world that is scratching after 400 years,” said historian William Dalrymple, while tracking the historical return of India to global prominence at the Bharat Summit in Ascent 2025 2025
William Dalrymple at Rising Bharat Summit 2025. (Image: News18)
In the CNN-News18 Rising Bharat Summit 2025, the renowned Scottish historian William Dalrymple argued that the current rise of India is not an accident of modern politics, but a natural return to the position of the position that is the richest and theisal of the world of the world of the world of the world.
Speaking in a talk by the fire entitled “Hidden History of the Chronicle” Dalrymple said that during most history, India and China generated 70 to 80 percent of the world economy. “The ascendant Bharat that this summit is celebrating is not surprising. It is only the natural balance of the world that reaffirms Itaft after 400 years strange of European colonialism,” he said.
Dalrymple, who recently published The golden roadA radical story of the global influence of ancient India, explained that ancient India was the center of world trade, linking Rome, Southast Asia and China through maritime routes. Citing the Roman historian Plinio, he said that India was seen as “the drain of the wealth of the world” due to its mass exports in pepper, cotton, ivory and silk.
Hello, they also challenge popular perceptions around the “Silk Route”, describing it as an invention of the nineteenth century. “The silk route never existed in the way we think. India, not China, was the true center of the old Asian trade,” said Dalrymple.
Power of knowledge of India: from Nalanda to Southeast Asia
During the intellectual history of India, Dalrymple talked about Nalanda, the old famous university in Asia. He highlighted how Nalanda attracted the academics of China, Korea and Japan, and described it as “the Harvard, the Oxford, the NASA of its time”, based on accounts of the Chinese monk Xuanang.
“The prestige of India extended far beyond its coasts: its language, literature and ideas transformed Southeast Asia,” he said, pointing out the Sanskrit of Cambodia, Java and Bali. “It was an empire of ideas, not of swords,” said Dalrymple, underlining the soft power of India in ancient times.
He added that the Sanskrit became the diplomatic and cultural language from Kandahar to Bali, shaping entire societies in Southeast Asia, a diffusion of culture achieved without military conquest.
Violence and survival: a complex story
When asked about the destruction of Nalanda and the criticisms of Muslim invasions, Dalrymple acknowledged that India’s knowledge systems suffered serious losses that turned the first Islamic conquests, especially in the twelfth and 13th centuries. “Nalanda’s burning was one of the great tragedies of world history,” he said.
However, the caotos against a simplistic reading of history. “The story is full of violence,” he said, and said that only Hindu Kings like the cholas committed acts of destruction against rival kingdoms. By admitting the devastation scale, Dalrymple emphasized that much of the intellectual traditions of India survived, indules through Tibetan monasteries that retained Nalanda manuscripts, and later periods or donated scholarships.
In response to the criticism that it had been harder with British colonialism than with previous invasions, Dalrymple said: “The fact that we are discussing this today shows that the national thread of Indian civilization never broke up.”
About history, memory and cancellation of culture
As conversations in India grow around the recovery of historical memory, Dalrymple urged a nuanced approach. “The story is not about heroes and villains. It’s about understanding complexity,” he said.
He opposed the culture, the demolition of the statue and the rewriting of history to adapt to contemporary political narratives. “I don’t believe in demolishing statues or eliminating names. Even figures such as Aurengzeb and Rudyard Kipling must be studied, not erased,” he said. “You don’t learn about history when you arrive with a set of political views and trying to find the facts that show it.”
Instead, Dalrymple advocated better preservation and celebration of the inheritance of India. He pointed out that Nalanda largely not excavated and requested a greater investment in archeology and museums. “There is so much rich material here. India could become a global center of cultural tourism and learning,” he said.
Dalrymple closed an optimistic note, saying that India’s learning and creativity traditions could make it a global beacon, if they are properly preserved and celebrated. “The power of the civilization of India endures. You can do a lot to show it to the world.”
