Book excerpt: The author, a historian of repute, confronts important issues of Indian history in this classic work. He raises such questions as “Was there an Aryan Invasion of India in the past?”, “Is the caste system a bane or a boon?”, “Did Indian women enjoy equal rights in ancient times?”, “Was Democracy an alien concept to Vedic Indians?”, “Why Buddhism became extinct in the country of its origin?”, “What is India’s lasting contribution to the field of Science, Mathematics, Astronomy, Medicine, Chemistry, Metallurgy, etc.?”, “Was Indian Culture greatly impacted by foreign religions?”, “How did India influence its neighbouring Eastern and Western countries?”, “Is Sanskrit only an off-shoot of the Indo-European Languages Group?”, “What was the scale of the social, economic and political implosion detonated by two centuries of British Colonial Rule?”. The author has answered the above vexing questions based on an intensive study of Archaeology, Epigraphy, Numismatics, original records in different languages and the travelogues of foreign visitors.(Translator’s Note).