The Case That Shook India

Title: The Case That Shook India – The Verdict that Led to the Emergency
Author: Prashant Bhushan
Publisher: Penguin Viking, 2017 (First published 1978)
ISBN: 9780670090051
Pages: 314

India awoke to freedom at midnight while the world was sleeping on the fifteenth of August, 1947, as extolled poetically by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. 28 years later, on a hot summer day in June, it tumbled and fell headlong into a dictatorship instigated by his daughter and grandson. The dark night that began on June 26, 1975 would run till March 20, 1977, when the ruling party and its authoritarian prime minister were voted out of office by an indignant populace. Indira Gandhi’s era marked the pinnacle of military glory for India in the spectacular victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war. In fact, a triumph of this scale was not witnessed within a thousand years. But that was the only saving grace of her disastrous stint as prime minister of India. Having no regard for political ideals or personal integrity, her rule pushed Indian polity to the lowest depths of corruption, nepotism, separatism and sycophancy. Her populist policies devastated Indian economy in the name of socialism and put the country at least two decades behind among the world’s financial powers. In 1991, Narasimha Rao reset all that she had initiated in the 1970s and steered India back into the path of progress. Indira’s declaration of Emergency in 1975 was caused by many factors, the most serious among them Opposition protests that were growing in vehemence and stridency each passing day over price rise, loss of employment and grinding poverty. However, the proximate cause of the nation’s tipping over to dictatorship in 1975 was a court case in the Allahabad High Court in which a judge invalidated her election to parliament in 1971 which took away her claim to continue in office. This book is a detailed narrative of the case right from its filing in 1971 and till it was quashed on appeal in the Supreme Court in 1975. This is authored by Prashant Bhushan who is the son of Shanti Bhushan who was the lawyer of Indira’s opponent who argued the case against her. The junior Bhushan relies on the notes he had prepared in court while the advocates were arguing the various aspects of the case and his own father’s legal notes. This book was first published in 1978 immediately after lifting the Emergency and reprinted in 2017. You can find reviews of several books on Emergency in this blog, but this book is totally different from others as it has solely focussed on the legal aspect. Prashant Bhushan is a public interest lawyer in the Supreme Court of India most known for cases such as 2G and coal scam during the Manmohan Singh era. He is a vocal critic of Narendra Modi and the NDA government.

To say that the case against Indira Gandhi was sensational would be an understatement. The entire nation looked eagerly upon Allahabad as every legal point or loophole was assiduously dissected by both sides. It was the only hope of an Opposition that was suffering from a lack of leadership – or, the excess of it, depending on which way you look at it. The people’s verdict was crystal clear. Indira won by bagging 60 per cent of the popular vote in Rae Bareli constituency in 1971 trumping over the combined Opposition’s candidate Raj Narain. Shanti Bhushan was the senior counsel for Raj Narain who was confused on how to go forward in the case at first. The first draft of allegations claimed that magic ink was used in printing of ballots on special paper. This erased the mark stamped by voters while the pre-printed voting mark for Indira would become legible after a few days. This claim was so outlandish and ridiculous that it was dropped by the petitioner immediately and instead they focussed on corrupt electoral practices of Indira by exploiting her position as the prime minister of the country. The case trial lasted for four years in which four judges heard the arguments, the last being Jag Mohan Lal Sinha who pronounced the judgement in 1975. Oral evidence was recorded between August 1974 and January 1975. Indira Gandhi herself appeared in High Court for two days and bungled under cross-examination. Justice Sinha held Indira guilty and set aside her election as void and disqualified her from holding office for six years. However, he stayed the execution for twenty days for filing appeal in the Supreme Court. Justice V R Krishna Iyer of the Supreme Court formally stayed the High Court order but restrained Indira from voting in parliamentary proceedings. She declared an internal Emergency in retaliation and suspended the Constitution. She convened the parliament after jailing many opposition members and passed an amendment of all provisions of electoral laws on which she was disqualified with retrospective effect from 1971. This would have forced the Supreme Court to have no alternative than to validate her election. Not content with this, she introduced and passed the 39th Constitution amendment in just three days which forbade challenging the election of the prime minister in a court of law. So, by the time the Supreme Court convened to consider her appeal, she had changed all laws and even the Constitution itself to force the court’s hand. Bhushan explains the arguments and logic heard in both the courts.

Even though Indira Gandhi undoubtedly misused her power to quash the legal proceedings against her, the Allahabad High Court’s order also seems to be not furthering the course of justice. By setting aside a candidate’s thumping electoral victory over a minor technical issue, the High Court, in my opinion, acted irresponsibly and committed an equal misuse of power. Yashpal Kapoor, who was an officer-on-special duty in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, was the electoral agent of Indira Gandhi. He resigned from his government post on Jan 13, 1971 whose resignation was accepted on Jan 25 with retrospective effect from Jan 14. He was not paid after Jan 13, nor did he attend office thereafter. However, the court refused to accept the retrospective part of the order and decided that Kapoor was still in official service till Jan 25. This made all political work done by Kapoor between Jan 14 and 25 a corrupt practice. The electoral laws applied from the date a person ‘held himself out’ as a prospective candidate. One would have expected this to come into force after the elections were officially notified on Jan 27. Justice Sinha made a strange observation here too. Court decided that the election became in prospect right from Dec 27, 1970 when the previous Lok Sabha was dissolved! Two days after the dissolution, on Dec 29, Indira Gandhi had replied to a question in a press conference that she doesn’t intend to change her constituency. Court presumed this to be her holding out as a candidate even though she was nominated by the party only four weeks later. Both these decisions made her electoral work a malpractice and corruption under law. Why did the court act in this obscure way to invalidate a clear selection made by the people? Reading between the lines, a motive is faintly visible to discerning readers. What follows is my own assessment and it is only an informed guess. This hostility might be a strike back by the judiciary for superseding three senior judges in favour of Justice Ajit Nath Ray for promotion as the Chief Justice of India in 1973. Justice K S Hegde was one of the overlooked judges. He had made an interim judgement in favour Raj Narain on a minor issue related to the same case that had gone to Supreme Court for consideration in March 1972. Ray’s appointment evoked strong resentment in the legal community and it is probable that some of the decisions against Indira Gandhi was coloured by this sentiment. In a total departure from precedent, Justice Bhagwati held in another election case involving a politician named A N Chawla that any expenditure by anybody in favour of a candidate as coming under his expenses. This clarification was made in Oct 1974 while Raj Narain’s case was pending in the High Court. Justice Sinha took cognizance of this judgment and added some more expenditure to Indira Gandhi’s account even though she still barely managed to be within the limits. All these point to the sad conclusion that the court too had exceeded its limits on legal propriety in this case.

The book provides a stark reminder of how large was Indira’s ego that brooked no obstacles and wanted total obeisance from all arms of the state, including judiciary. The 39th constitutional amendment was passed only for validating her election and forbidding anybody from questioning it in future. That both houses of parliament and half of the state legislatures ratified this piece of legislation in just three days shows the obsequiousness of her party whose leaders danced to her tune. The latter half of the book is dedicated to the appeal proceedings and the petition challenging the constitutional validity of the 39th amendment in the Supreme Court. Those who are not familiar with the scene of action in court would find it curious and a bit amusing to note the clarifying questions asked by presiding judges to the pleading counsels which sometimes appear to be naïve and childish. One judge asks, “if a company spends money on a candidate, is it an offence under penal code”? “Yes”, replies the petitioner’s advocate. The judge then asks to the astonishment of readers as to “how can the company be jailed or hanged”? The counsel then informs him that the person responsible for the acts of the company can be punished (p.231).

The book includes a foreword by M. Hidayatullah, former Chief Justice of India and former Vice President of the nation, who was a legal luminary. The only thing that is added to the previous edition is a preface to the 2017 edition which is penned by Prashant Bhushan. As can be expected, he assails the Modi government on long-standing issues and suggests unrealistic and unworkable proposals to reform even the fundamentals of elections in such a way that no party would ever gain an absolute majority in the parliament which would push the nation into confusion and policy paralysis. Of course, the judiciary and the lawyers would have a dream time deciding even minor issues as all disputes would have to be eventually settled in courts. His suggestion to adopt the proportional representation system of Switzerland is laughable, considering the size and nature of the two societies. This is all the more comic when one remembers that women were allowed to vote in Switzerland only in 1971. Many discussions inside court which are presented in the book involves the landmark Kesavananda Bharati judgement of 1973 in which the Supreme Court constrained the Parliament's power to amend the Constitution only to those provisions which are not part of the basic structure of the Constitution. At first glance, this may seem normal and even a healthy check on the House’s unbridled power. But the sting in the tail is that it is only the judiciary which can pronounce whether an amendment violates the basic structure or not. This plain usurpation of democratic powers by a few unelected judges who are accountable to none still continues. Parliament needs two-thirds majority to amend the Constitution, but a division bench requires only a simple majority to pronounce it ultra vires. Of course, Bhushan supports judiciary’s enhanced powers, but the danger is clearly visible. Two decades later, judges took upon themselves the power to appoint those who would succeed them. The collegium system is so opaque that it is not even amenable to judicial review. Still, the Supreme Court thinks that it does not violate the basic structure! The book is quite readable even though many legal points are minutely described. An epilogue on what had happened to the new laws and amendments introduced by Indira Gandhi after the Janata Party came to power could also have been included.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

The Buddhist Landscape of Varanasi

Title: The Buddhist Landscape of Varanasi
Author: Vidula Jayaswal
Publisher: Aryan Books International, 2015 (First)
ISBN: 9788173055416
Pages: 220

Varanasi is not just the holy city of Hindus. Buddhism also locates some of its holiest spots in or near the city. It was at Sarnath – a few kilometres outside the city – that Buddha preached his first sermon upon attaining Enlightenment at Gaya. Varanasi was a prominent city in Buddha’s time as well regarding the presence of learned scholars on religion, rich merchants to support the congregation and political power to patronize the new movement. That may be why the Tathagata chose to trek the 250 km path from Gaya to a place called Rishipattana which was famous, quite literally, as the abode of sages. Sarnath is nearby this town and the Buddha thus embarked on his noble work of ‘turning the wheel of Dharma’. Jataka stories contain the quintessence of Buddhist thought and a large many of them are narrated to have taken place at Varanasi, which was the capital of the Kashi kingdom. Prof. Vidula Jayaswal taught archaeology at the Banaras Hindu University for nearly four decades and has considerable field experience at her back. She is the author of eighteen books and research monographs. This book is a snapshot of her work which identified the hamlet of Aktha near Sarnath as the ancient town of Rishipattana. The sacred architecture of Sarnath as well as the ancient remains of Varanasi which provides the backdrop of Jataka stories is covered in this nice book. It is basically a monograph that emerged from a number of short articles which the author presented in national and international seminars on Buddhist art, archaeology and culture. It is aimed at reaching a larger section of society interested in Buddhism and Buddhist sites.

In the early part of the book, the nature of state formation in the Ganga plain is described. This took place around the seventh century BCE in two distinct clusters – janapadas which were monarchical and ganas that were republican. Kashi was ruled by a king. Then she explains why Varanasi was significant for Buddhism to a great extent and to Jainism also to a lesser extent. Both Buddha and Mahavira came to Varanasi. Apart from the former’s First Sermon at a deer park called Mrugadaya at that time and later known as Sarnath, Varanasi was also the centre of origin and development of religious thought, intricacies of skilled handicrafts, performing arts, trade and commerce. The city was the foremost urban conglomeration right from Late Vedic period. Sarnath flourished between the time of Ashoka (third century BCE) when he built stupas and religious buildings there to Kumaradevi (one of the queens of Gahadvala king Govindchandra, twelfth century CE) when the last of the structures were built there. This book covers the entire time span of these fifteen centuries.

The ancient geography of Sarnath is examined in the book. The land contained many forest patches and a deer park named Mrugadaya might have come up. There was a settlement of sages named Rishipattana nearby, mentioned in Buddhist texts such as Mahavastu written in Sanskrit. The rationale for this place in becoming a resort for rishis was that it was situated at the junction of major trade routes passing through Kashi janapada. Even now, major highways pass near the town and their prototypes might have served the population in the second millennium BCE. The visit and stay of rishis and learned masters helped the town to gain the reputation of being a centre of wisdom. That may be why Buddha chose to preach his First Sermon there. The author has personally led excavations in the fields from 1994 and came out with the conclusion that Aktha is the modern face of the ancient Rishipattana. However, she has attempted to squeeze scientific test data into the straightjacket of established historical theories. Carbon 14 tests on the earliest remains at Aktha showed habitation from 1800-1450 BCE. This is in conflict with the much controversial Aryan Invasion theory which proposes that people should have settled in Varanasi a good five centuries later. Still, the author makes a compromise to settle the site’s ancestry in the Later Vedic period (1400-1000 BCE). This is in stark contrast to Carbon 14 data in a vain bid to salvage the Aryan Invasion theory. Considering that the research was funded by American/British agencies such as the Ford Foundation, this is expected. But the undisguised truth is that the middle Ganga plain was inhabited much before the dates which are postulated by this colonial-era theory.

A rather unique feature of Sarnath is that we have eye-witness accounts of how that place looked like in the remote past. This is from the descriptions of Fa Hien in fourth century CE and Xuanzang in the seventh century CE. Both these scholars had come from China with the intention of collecting the greatest number of documents related to Buddhism and to hold extensive discussions with its teachers. Sarnath being one of the cardinal places of Buddhism, both the Chinese travellers paid a visit to the place. Xuanzang says that the Ashokan column was standing at a majestic height of seventy feet which ‘glittered in the light’. Archaeologists have discovered the remains of the mentioned buildings and structures. On the other hand, the destruction and pilferage that happened in British times should force the colonial administrators to hang their heads in shame. Jagat Singh, the dewan of the local zamindar Raja Cheta Sign, scavenged the Sarnath stupas in 1794 for material to build a market nearby. He pulled down the Dharmarajika stupa and the vacant circular pit is now called the Jagat Singh stupa! In 1835, a British army engineer named Alexander Cunningham recovered a circular sandstone box from a stupa which contained pearls, silver, gold and three pieces of human arm bones. He also threw 48 statues and many other sculpted stones into the Varana river to erect a bridge over it (p.61). In the medieval period, vandalism of these sacred structures was carried out even by kings. Akbar built an octagonal tower on top of the Chaukhandi stupa in 1588 to commemorate an earlier visit of his father Humayun to the place. The fortunate part is that even though a Mughal, he didn’t bring it down.

In a fine example of archaeological detective work, Jayaswal pieces together the chronological sequence of construction of various structures in Sarnath which she categorizes into five time periods titled Maurya, Sunga, Kushan, Gupta and post-Gupta/early-medieval periods. There is a tendency among Left historians to claim that kings who favoured Brahminical practices did not contribute to build new Buddhist monuments. This fallacious notion arises from the anachronistic projection of the mores of a future era into the distant past. Since the distinctions between Hinduism and Buddhism are clear-cut now, they mistakenly assume that it was always so. This is wrong and the author writes about contributions made by Sunga kings who were thought to be anti-Buddhist. Some additions and constructions of railings had taken place at Sarnath in this era. It is also established that the stupa at Bharhut and the railings and gateways of Sanchi stupa were built in the Sunga period. This demolishes the myth of Sungas’ persecution of the Buddhists. The book also points out a hint to the development of Varanasi, which is outside the pail of Sarnath, as a place of brahminical worship. The growth of Shaivism during the reign of Vasudeva of the Kushan dynasty might have resulted in the decline of Sarnath and growth of Varanasi as a major centre of Shiva worship in the second century CE.

The author ingeniously attempts to link her research in archaeology to the very fundamental plane of Varanasi’s establishment as a major religious place. In this regard, she tethers her findings to places mentioned in some Jataka fables such as the fish that refused to move to the river when draught desiccated the muddy patch in which the fish ordinarily stayed. Readers get an impression that she has found that muddy patch! Even the presumption that tales involving mice and tortoises can be linked to archaeological discoveries is highly awkward. Jayaswal investigates into the origin and development of artisanal sculpture work at Varanasi. Demand for donation of icons from large beneficiaries like merchants created a flourishing of sculptural art in Sarnath in the Gupta period. Earlier, idols carved in Mathura were brought to Sarnath for installation. However, with the development of local industry supported by rich sandstone quarries at nearby Chunar, we see idols made locally. Lowering or almost closed eyes, divine smile and wet transparent drapery are some of the typical features of the Sarnath style. The book surprisingly does not bother much on the reasons why the Sarnath establishment collapsed in medieval period. In around thirteenth century CE, the flourishing Buddhist infrastructure here appears to have lost its glory (p.200). But what were the causes of it? The author makes a feeble guess that ‘whether the power of the Brahminical followers was the cause of the uprooting of the Buddhist establishment is difficult to ascertain’. This hypothesis is plainly ridiculous. There is evidence that even in the twelfth century CE, Brahminical followers contributed generously to it, such as the installation of the Kumaradevi stupa. Why should they rescind their patronage all of a sudden? Seeing her great reticence even to discuss the causes of Sarnath’s downfall, it is likely that Muslim invasions might have had a role in it. I am not suggesting it has, but the author’s squeamish efforts to slide this issue under the carpet make one suspicious. In an earlier chapter, she says that Akbar had made some modifications in the stupas without commenting on it.

The book incorporates several panoramic pictures of the archaeological work in Varanasi, Sarnath and their neighbourhoods. The level of competence of the people engaged in excavation and analysis are commendable in comparison to the haphazard British efforts in the colonial era. Even though being an established professional in the field, Jayaswal has been very careful to omit technical jargon as far as possible. Several photos and diagrams are included to complement the arguments in the text. The effort is a very fine example of the revival of Indian archaeology after independence. It is also a stark reminder that some of the real treasure underground may now have been lost forever as human habitation is overwhelming the sites before a detailed study could be carried out. The author’s effort to estimate the magnitude and capacity of the sculptural workshops in the Gupta period based on the present conditions of similar shops is somewhat bold and optimistic, yet is quite logical as the level of mechanization is still low.

The book is strongly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

Unravelling the Silk Road

Title: Unravelling the Silk Road – Travels and Textiles in Central Asia
Author: Chris Aslan
Publisher: Icon Books, 2023 (First)
ISBN: 9781785789861
Pages: 334

In its strictest historical sense, globalization is not a new or even modern concept at all. Exchange of products and services coupled with transfer of wealth across administrative frontiers is what we call globalization now. It does not need ships, aircraft or the internet even though these would greatly aid the trade. In fact, man traded across his tribal borders most of the time and a nation is a somewhat larger tribe. Textiles, spices, tools and jewellery were some of the material interchanged. Central Asia was a major land route of caravan trade between India and China on the eastern side and the Roman Empire and medieval European kingdoms on the western part before maritime navigation had not developed. Out of the cargo, textiles comprised of wool, silk and cotton in the chronological order. The history of the discovery of these materials and how it transformed the societies through which it was carried through provides intriguing reading. Chris Aslan was born in Turkey and spent his childhood there. He lived in the deserts and mountains of Central Asia for fifteen years and still returns regularly to the region. He is a British national. The author has embroidered the wool, silk and cotton roads with his own experiences of living in the region. The book focusses on the crossing points of the roads in Central Asia rather than their termini.

Aslan was drawn to Central Asia as part of his doctoral research in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union. There was not much appeal for democracy in these republics and all of them became ensconced in the palms of former communist party officials who ruled them like dictators. The author first took up a job for promoting tourism in Khiva, Uzbekistan with tenure of two years which got extended to fifteen years. He was involved in work that touched the soul of these lands. He set up a project for de-hairing the fibre from the wool collected from yaks known as yak down. The down is one of the lightest, warmest fibres in the world, three times warmer than sheep wool. This was commercially harvested only from the 1970s and is still often passed off as cashmere. However, the raw fibre is scratchy because it contains the rugged outer hair. Separating this irritant thing is a very tedious process which the author established in the barren landscape of Uzbekistan. History records that Babur employed slaves to do this all day and usually ended up with half a kg a day. Aslan worked in Central Asia under the aegis of a Swedish organization called Operation Mercy which the author glosses over as a Christian organization. Probably, this was an evangelist outfit engaged in religious conversion and missionary work on the sly. This is all the more prescient as the author was expelled from all three countries in which he worked – Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan – for causing social unrest as claimed by the governments and in one case for translating the Bible to the local language.

The Central Asian republics still show scars of Russian colonialism first under the Tsars and then Communists. The Tsars annexed these lands in a bid to extend their borders to the Arabian Sea. This put them on a collision course with British colonial regime in India who was trying to nibble its way towards the north, in opposition to the Russian move. This hide and seek match which was the Cold War of the times is called the Great Game. The Bolsheviks employed great effort to settle the nomads and turn them into agriculturists. What began as incentives later transformed into coercion since the nomads were not eager to change their traditional ways. Anyone who owned more than 400 cattle were termed ‘class enemy’ and forcibly dislocated to gulags in Siberia. In an assault on the family unit, wives could be spared exile and destitution only by divorcing their husbands. Stalin launched his notorious five-year plans in 1929 with forced collectivization at its core. All nomads in Turkestan were expected to settle in collective farms. Under-resourced, badly planned and without adequate housing, these farms failed. Livestock died, crops failed and everyone starved. This entirely avoidable, manmade famine killed 1.5 million people but Stalin achieved his objective of largely wiping out nomadism. Family businesses in handicrafts like silk weaving were banned by the Communists as part of an attempt to break down pre-Soviet society and force them into factories instead. Centuries of artistic skill and talent was destroyed along with the complex guilds and training mechanisms that passed down these skills (p.182).

Even though the book’s title flaunts silk prominently, it is not the sole point of concentration in the text. Even then, it describes the various stages of silk production right from the hatching of eggs. The voracious appetite of silkworms is legendary and Aslan narrates some first-hand experiences of dealing with these useful insects. Ancient China was the birthplace of silk and they jealously guarded its production a secret from the outside world. The book includes some stories that look more like legends about how silk eventually transgressed the Great Wall. The Roman Empire was a huge consumer of Chinese silk. One bolt of silk was worth then around 60 kg of rice. Several bolts made up a bale and large camels could carry 250 kg on a long journey. The immense profit accrued on these hazardous journeys across the deserts of Central Asia was worth the risk in attempting the trade. The risk was enormous – an unexpected dry well in an oasis could end up in the death and destruction of the whole caravan. By Justinian’s time, silkworm eggs reached Constantinople and silk-weaving industry flourished in the metropolis. They found the maritime route quicker and more economical. Silk Road then fell into decline. This was not a single long road; it was a network of trading routes. The name was coined only in the nineteenth century.

The book gives equal emphasis to cotton in the narrative. It also brings out the ecological damage this fibre is causing to desiccated Central Asia. Cotton requires ten times as much water as wheat. Scarce water resources were diverted to cotton fields through canals to irrigate them. The Aral Sea, which is a land-locked water body that is roughly the size of Sri Lanka, dried up as a result of this water diversion. The book describes the author’s visits to former harbour towns where the rusting boats are stranded now in the middle of the desert. It we look at the history of cotton, it is seen that exploitation was woven into its fabric from the colonial times. Colonialism exploited India for getting raw cotton, African slaves were captured and transported to the New World to grow cotton and British children were exploited in appalling conditions in the textile mills of Manchester. Cotton manufactured in mechanized looms in the British Northwest undercut Indian produce and India was deindustrialized. Workers went back to fields for cultivation again which ushered in a doomed period of misery and abject poverty. Aslan finds a piece of Dhaka Muslin cloth which is a rare specimen of cotton that is extremely densely woven but exceedingly light and almost transparent. It was worth sixteen times the price of silk. Amir Khusrau noted that a hundred yards of it could pass through the eye of a needle and is described as ‘webs of woven wind’. Only one type of cotton plant found in the hot and humid banks of Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers could create a thread fine enough to make Dhaka Muslin. Production of just one bolt of it could take five months of labour. The type of plant that produced Dhaka Muslin fibres cross-pollinated with hybrid American upland cotton and became extinct. The last of the muslins was woven in the 1860s. Now, a search is on for rediscovering the plant. The book includes a photograph of Dhaka Muslin in a London antique shop. It is so translucent that the glint of the gold ring on an attendant’s finger behind the fabric is clearly seen on the other side.

The book provides a pleasant reading experience and almost a tactile feel of the dressing material described in exclusive detail. Many years of stay and intermingling with local people enable Aslan to dwell authoritatively upon the cultural practices as well as handicrafts. The magical charms used by the Central Asian people to ward off the evil eye makes for a nostalgic touch as we encounter many similarities to those in India. The author had a very adventurous life in living with nature. He was once gored by a yak which mistook his approach to her kid as with malicious intent; had scorpion stings on his chest; swam across the Panj river into Afghanistan which was frequented by narcotics smugglers and had crossed an ice-cold rivulet on a yak while clinging to the herder who was driving it. The author has made a very thorough research for this book and has given many remarks made by early European explorers in nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries to leave an impression that these societies were by and large static and not much has changed. Several good books of this genre are listed in the bibliography. On the negative side, the nitty-gritty of weaving a cloth or carpet may be boring for the ordinary reader when it is repeated many times as they will be having no clue of the technical names of the weaving process or machinery.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star