In the Season 3 Finale, we explore South Asia at the time of its most famous ancient figure: Ashoka Maurya, ruler of the largest empire seen in the subcontinent to that point. Anirudh meets a rude South Indian visiting one of Ashoka's inscriptions and hears the words of the emperor himself to uncover the nature, structure, and sobering truths about the Mauryan empire and its impact on the history of South Asia. Season 4 of Echoes of India will be out in November/December 2021! Anirudh is...

The forgotten religion of the Ajivikas can tell us a great deal about the religions and empires of the early Gangetic Plains. Anirudh visits the medieval Jain site of Shravanabelagola near Bangalore, recounts the story of the mysterious Ajivika teacher Makkhali Goshala, and explains how the rise of the mighty empire of the Mauryas is connected to this vanished religious tradition. Anirudh is trying to bring the history of South Asia alive though hard research and great storytelling. Please...

The invasion of Alexander III of Macedon is a landmark event in South Asian history. Join Anirudh as he explores the conqueror's camp, meets an Indian mercenary who served in Alexander's campaigns, and uncovers the mystery of the fall of the Nanda dynasty and the rise of the mighty Gangetic empire of the Mauryas that succeeded them. Anirudh is trying to bring the history of South Asia alive though hard research and great storytelling. Please help him out on this labour of love at ...

How did the kingdom of Magadha lay the foundations for India's first empire? And how did the successors of Siddhartha Gautama establish the tradition now known as Buddhism? Episode 7 brings us to the early city of Rajagaha, where we explore its marketplaces and caves in search of answers. Anirudh is trying to bring the history of South Asia alive though hard research and great storytelling. Please help him out on this labour of love at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/akanisetti Notes and...

Death inevitably comes to us all. But how do memories of the dead shape our world? Witness the last months and hours of Siddhartha Gautama as he travels across the Gangetic Plains desperately trying to protect his legacy - and see what our struggles against death teach us about the nature of history and history telling. Anirudh is trying to bring the history of South Asia alive though hard research and great storytelling. Please help him out on this labour of love at ...

What might Siddhartha Gotama, the Buddha, have actually thought of himself? Did he genuinely believe in what he preached? How do we, sitting in the 21st century, grapple with his complexities and flaws? Anirudh travels back through time to talk to the man himself, one quiet night on Vulture Peak near the great city of Rajagaha in Magadha. Anirudh is trying to bring the history of South Asia alive though hard research and great storytelling. Please him out on this labour of love...

Episode 4 of Echoes of India brings us to witness the burgeoning power of the Buddhist Sangha in the early Gangetic Plains. How did Siddhartha Gotama, the Buddha, deal with the struggle of becoming a leader of thousands? How did he navigate the tides of public opinion and ensure that his rules were followed across this sprawling organisation? And what kind of role did women play in early Sangha? Anirudh is trying to bring the history of South Asia alive though hard research and great...

In Episode 3 of Echoes of India, we'll begin to follow the extraordinary career of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha. How did one person, emerging from the forests in the 5th century BCE, become a prophet, leading thousands of people in one of the most important religious movements in human history? How was he perceived in his time? And as one of the many preachers and renunciants wandering around the Gangetic Plains, what did the average person really think of Siddhartha Gautama and his ilk?...

The Episode 2 of Echoes of India brings us to the 8th century BCE, where we will see the origins of many of the ideas that shape India today. How did some of the oldest systematic ideas about the universe and reality, the concepts of karma, atman, and rebirth originate? Who were the people who came up with them, and why? Join us as we meet the ancient Indian theologians Gargi Vachaknavi and Yajnavalkya - and a rather grumpy author of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, who has a bone to pick with...

The Season 3 premiere for Echoes of India returns us to the vibrant world of ancient India. We'll meet the strange mix of peoples who together made the early cities of the Gangetic Plains, and set the stage for the extraordinary life which we'll follow this season: that of Siddhartha Gautama, also known as the Buddha, one of the most important figures in the history of South Asia. Notes and sources will be available at https://www.anirudhkanisetti.com - sign up for updates! Follow Anirudh...

What happened in India after the fall of the Gupta Empire? Some of the most incredible states and people in the subcontinent's history emerged. This is their story. Notes and sources are at https://www.anirudhkanisetti.com/home/episode-22 Or get in touch with Anirudh @AKanisetti on Twitter or @aniruddhadevaraya on Instagram! You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast...

This is the story of the Hun who tried to be an Indian emperor, and a story of the human costs of war: a story of grief, destruction, and of creation and inspiration against all odds. Notes and sources are at https://www.anirudhkanisetti.com/home/episode-21 Or get in touch with Anirudh @AKanisetti on Twitter or @aniruddhadevaraya on Instagram! You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or...

What was life in an ancient Indian city like? What were its sights and smells, and what kind of eccentric characters would it have been home to? Join us on a walk through Ujjain, one of South Asia's oldest cities, to find out. Notes and sources are at https://www.anirudhkanisetti.com/home/episode-20 Or get in touch with Anirudh @AKanisetti on Twitter or @aniruddhadevaraya on Instagram! You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on...

In the 5th century, two of the ancient world's superpowers - Rome and India - were threatened by massive migrations of nomadic peoples. But while the Western Roman Empire collapsed, the Gupta Empire managed to defeat them. How? The answer lies in the story of the shadowy figure known as Skanda-Gupta. Notes and sources are at https://www.anirudhkanisetti.com/home/episode-18 Or get in touch with Anirudh @AKanisetti on Twitter or @aniruddhadevaraya on Instagram! You can listen to this show...

The same century that saw the collapse of the Western Roman Empire also saw the rise of the great temple-building movements that transformed India's society and economy - but these played out in a deadly family drama that would lead to the end of the Guptas and Vakatakas. Notes and sources are at https://www.anirudhkanisetti.com/home/episode-18 Get in touch with Anirudh on Twitter @AKanisetti and on Instagram @aniruddhadevaraya. You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the...

How did South Asian Buddhism catch on in China? How did the interaction between South and East Asia shape the intellectual and economic evolution of Eurasia? Luckily for us, in the early 400s CE, the remarkable 60-year old Chinese monk Faxian actually walked all the way to India to collect scriptures from his holy land in an epic journey of nearly twenty years, helping us answer these difficult questions. This is his story, a tale of human resilience and grit that still resonates 1600 years...

The 5th century Queen Prabhavati-Gupta, daughter and granddaughter of kings, mother and grandmother of Queens, was one of the most remarkable women in Indian history. This is the story of her dramatic, extraordinary life. Notes and sources are at https://www.anirudhkanisetti.com/home/episode-16 Or get in touch with Anirudh @AKanisetti on Twitter or @aniruddhadevaraya on Instagram! You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on...

This is the story of the spectacular Gupta astro-religio-political node of Udayagiri, where, in the 5th century CE, a new idea of Indian kingship was born. Here, through a series of brilliant innovations, the God of Time was experienced and identified with one remarkable individual. Notes and sources are at https://www.anirudhkanisetti.com/home/episode-13 Or get in touch with Anirudh @AKanisetti on Twitter or @aniruddhadevaraya on Instagram! You can listen to this show and other awesome...

How did Sanskrit become a language of power and knowledge, patronized by everyone from kings to monks through half of Asia for a thousand years? This is the story of how the Guptas used its splendid syllables to turn language itself into masterful political messaging. Notes and sources are at https://www.anirudhkanisetti.com/home/episode-14 Or get in touch with Anirudh @AKanisetti on Twitter or @aniruddhadevaraya on Instagram! You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new...

The Season 2 premiere of Echoes of India begins with the rise of the Himalaya mountains and ends with the victorious campaigns of the mighty North Indian ruler Samudra-Gupta, as Sanskrit courtly culture flourishes and war breaks out across the subcontinent. Notes and sources are at https://www.anirudhkanisetti.com/home/episode-13 Or get in touch with Anirudh @AKanisetti on Twitter or @aniruddhadevaraya on Instagram! You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and...

The Season 1 Finale of Echoes of India is a rollercoaster ride through 600 years of Indian history, of the rise and fall of empires and ideas until the eve of the Gupta Empire in 300 CE. From art to religion to language, the finale sets the stage for the beginning of early medieval India with the Gupta and Vakataka empires in Season 2, starting March 27th. Notes and sources are at https://www.anirudhkanisetti.com/home/episode-12 Or get in touch with Anirudh @AKanisetti on Twitter...

At the same time that Christianity and other savior cults emerged in West Asia, ancient India had its own Buddhist savior. This was Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future. This is his story, a story of life in ancient India's most cosmopolitan region. Notes and sources are at https://www.anirudhkanisetti.com/home/episode-11 Or get in touch with Anirudh @AKanisetti on Twitter or @aniruddhadevaraya on Instagram! You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM...

A Central Asian king revered by Indians as the Second Ashoka? This is the story of the ruthless conqueror Kanishka, who led the Kushan Empire to its apogee, and ruled over most of North India - but also built the world's most splendid Buddhist stupa. Notes and sources are at https://www.anirudhkanisetti.com/home/episode-10 Or get in touch with Anirudh @AKanisetti on Twitter or @aniruddhadevaraya on Instagram!

This is the story of the rise of the Kushan Empire: the most powerful South Asian state since the fall of the Mauryan Empire. Episode 9 of Echoes of India brings to life the remarkable religious syncretism of one of the ancient world's most globalized regions, at a time when the Silk Roads had grown to encompass most of the Eastern hemisphere. Notes and sources are at https://www.anirudhkanisetti.com/episode-9 Or get in touch with Anirudh @AKanisetti on Twitter or @aniruddhadevaraya on...