The Buddha and the Sahibs: The Men Who Discovered India's Lost Religion [Paperback]

The activities of the British orientalists in India are insufficiently appreciated, and this book is an excellent corrective to the current facile demonisation of these remarkable men. There are some wonderful characters here, and some inspiring stories. Certainly anyone with an interest in Buddhism should read this to appreciate just how much we owe our current understanding to these almost-forgotten sahibs.

Ancient India was virtually unknown before the 18th Century. Even the Indians had no idea of their own history. The British Orientalists started the unravelling of a complex puzzle that revealed the buried secrets of ancient India, emperor Asoka and Buddhism. Allen's book reveals this stunning tale. Well documented and properly datable history in India begins with the Buddha. Not the Indus valley civilization which though more ancient remains undeciphered, and not the stuff of legend like the Ramanya that though it may ancient, takes the form of a legend. Buddhist chronicles and their details represent the best documented earliest history of India, not shrouded in myth and stated as fact. While the Taleban destroy what's left of Afghanistan's Buddhist heritage, and the Pakistani's similarly let their treasures rot, Allen begins from a sorry juncture of an abysmal record of archaeological research and maintenance since the British departed the subcontinent.

He pieces together one of the most important if not the most important colonial endeavour, similar in scope to how the history of Egypt was pieced together starting with Champolion.

This is very much an unfinished story with more leads than Allen explores but he has related how the keys to the history of India were discovered via Burma and Sri Lanka in deciphering the Brahmi script and making sense of mysterious pillars that dotted the Indian landscape.

This book is also of great interest from the archaelogical angle. Far more has been found in terms of buildings, ruins and places actually frequented by the Buddha than of Jesus though many scholars still ignore the physical evidence about the Buddha and pretend we only know him from oral traditions. In fact, undoubted relics of the Buddha after his cremation have also been found as detailed in this book. Allen indicates how recorded pilgrimages by Chinese monks lead to the rediscovery of lost monasteries, caves and the ancient city of Pataliputra.

Allen also details the history of Buddhist scholarship in the 19th century and how missionaries and their influences both dogged and abetted researches and a revival in Buddhism.

Allen's work will interest historians, archaeologists, linguists and those interested in Buddhism. There is a great deal more to be done in terms of archaeology, translation and reconstructing Indian history from the fifth century BCE and this book is an ideal launching pad. Not since Rhys David's Buddhist India has a similar tale seen the light. A major publication.

Very interesting book. Good insite into religion and how buddhism is an old and respected religion with plenty of wonderful artifacts from a time not spoke about.