Germs of Life and Death

"So Very Small

By Thomas Levenson

Random House, 448 pages, $35

On Nov. 4, 1856, Monsieur Bigo of Lille, France, awaited a visit from the local chemistry instructor. Bigo wasn't used to hosting academics. He owned a factory in town that produced great vats of beet juice, which he fermented into alcohol for use in local industries. At least, that was the idea. But for months the batches were turning sour, transforming into a foul-smelling liquid of no use to anyone. With his livelihood at stake, Bigo invited a 33-year-old chemist to take a look. The chemist's name was Louis Pasteur.

Pasteur, who was also a pharmacist and microbiologist, would eventually gain worldwide renown for his contributions to germ theory, the discovery of vaccines and the process that bears his name, pasteurization. But the road to transforming public health would begin in a fermentation vat filled with fetid beet grist and colonies of helpful (and hurtful) microbes. Bigo's invitation wouldn't merely change the manufacturer's fortunes [1]; it would change the world.

In fact, microbes are the world, responsible for much of what goes on in it. As anyone who has attempted a sourdough starter will know, flour mixed with water, when left in the air, will begin to bubble and swell on its own without the need to add yeast. As Thomas Levenson tells us in "So Very Small," fermentation is "one of the first natural processes" that "human societies turned to their own ends." It's the reason why "bread, beer, and wine are as old as civilization."

Under the microscope, Pasteur discovered yeast in the "good" beet alcohol. In the "bad" batches, however, he found a different kind of microbe. Instead of fat yeast globules, there were longer, rod-shaped ones. If Pasteur isolated the yeast and added it to beet juice, he always got an alcohol reaction; if he isolated the other microbe and introduced it into beet juice, the result was a lactic-acid reaction [2]. The other microbes were alive, he concluded, and were eating the sugars and excreting acids and gases. In 1860 Pasteur published a paper, "On the Origin of Ferments," explaining that the tiny organisms were "not a dead substance" but a "germ" of life. And if all germs are life, then life itself is a germ. "Usually," Mr. Levenson writes, "there is no single moment when everything changes." Yet this one paper would put us on a path toward understanding diseases and how to eradicate them.

For too long, humans had believed in something called spontaneous generation, the idea that something could come from nothing -- that eels were born of mud, that maggots were born of rotting meat and that disease was a product of "filth" and even bad smells. We couldn't see the bacteria that produced the stench of rot, nor the tiny fly eggs that had been deposited in food left to lie -- and so, the author reminds us, medical remedies were forever chasing symptoms and not their causes. But the most intriguing point of "So Very Small" isn't that scientific discovery led the way to better treatments. It's that it took so very long to do so.

Mr. Levenson takes the reader on a remarkable journey through history, from the Black Death of the 14th century to the development of germ theory in the 19th and 20th centuries to the continuing battle with Covid-19 in the 21st century. With extraordinary detail and authoritative prose (and not a few very graphic descriptions), the author describes the suffering brought about by ignorance and prejudice.

Lives innumerable were lost to infection as surgeons refused to disinfect their tools.

In the lying-in hospitals of Europe beginning in the 18th century, women died in the thousands from childbed fever because it was easier to believe the fault was in their bodies and not in the doctor's practice. It's chilling to read of physicians claiming that their blood-caked fingernails, spoiled from performing anatomy on rotting corpses, couldn't be to blame for the death of pregnant women -- after all, as one mid-19th-century doctor from Philadelphia insisted, "a gentleman's hands are clean."

Today, Mr. Levenson reminds us, it is no longer common for children to die of measles, diphtheria or whooping cough -- diseases that once killed off a third of children before they reached the age of 5.

We have vaccines that can protect the young and the old alike. We have hospitals free of childbed fever and a host of other plagues that were responsible for mass mortality. But what Mr. Levenson's book makes clear is that the battle against germs never ends. "Almost as soon as it became possible to cure major infectious disease," he tells us, the power to cure "began to erode."

Partly this is due to the evolutionary arms race between humans and bacteria. Antibiotics lose their efficacy as microbes develop new resistance.

More significantly, vaccine-preventable diseases can only be eradicated when the majority, if not the entirety, of a population is innoculated.

We know how to prevent disease, "but the choices individuals and societies have made," Mr. Levenson writes, make it much harder to do so. We may shudder at the Victorian doctor who refuses to take responsibility for a hundred dead mothers, but we should feel the same concern over decisions to cut vital programs that help us track and fight disease. "Wielding our distinct form of technological smarts," Mr. Levenson writes, "without being aware of what the invisible world of life can do makes us more vulnerable, not less." If we want to preserve the victories accumulated over two centuries against the worst killers of the microbe world, we must rebuild public-health systems, monitor disease, protect and fund science, and recognize that we are not the only "actors." We are also acted upon by the tiny creatures all around us.

---

Ms. Schillace, the editor in chief of the journal Medical Humanities, is the host of the online "Peculiar Book Club" podcast and the author of "The Intermediaries," out this month.” [3]

 

[1] To inhibit lactic acid fermentation during alcohol production, several strategies can be employed. These include lowering the temperature, utilizing specific inhibitors, or manipulating the fermentation process itself.

 

Detailed Methods to Inhibit Lactic Acid Fermentation:

 

    1. Lowering Temperature:

    Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are generally more active at lower temperatures compared to yeasts, which are typically more efficient at higher temperatures. By maintaining a higher temperature during the initial stages of fermentation, you can favor yeast activity and inhibit the growth of LAB.

 

2. Using Inhibitors:

 

    Sulfur Dioxide (SO2): SO2 is a common preservative in winemaking and can effectively inhibit the growth of LAB, especially in acidic environments.

 

Virginiamycin: This antibiotic has been shown to effectively control LAB growth in alcohol fermentation.

Other Chemicals: Chlorine dioxide, 3,4,4'-trichlorocarbanilide (TCC), and potassium sorbate can also be used to inhibit bacterial growth, though they may have potential side effects or be detrimental to yeasts.

 

3. Manipulating the Fermentation Process:

 

    Optimizing Substrate: Ensuring a sufficient concentration of sugar or other readily fermentable carbohydrates can help favor yeast activity and prevent LAB from competing for resources.

 

Fermentation Timing: Allowing yeasts to fully consume sugars before they begin their fermentation cycle can help prevent unwanted side products like lactic acid from being formed.

Extractive Fermentation: This technique can help remove lactic acid as it is produced, thus reducing its inhibitory effects on the fermentation process.

 

4. Temperature Management:

Fermentation can be stopped or slowed by lowering the temperature to below 5°C (41°F), which can deactivate yeasts.

[2] Lactic acid fermentation and alcohol fermentation are two types of anaerobic respiration where pyruvate is processed to regenerate NAD+ from NADH, enabling glycolysis to continue. While both processes start with glycolysis, lactic acid fermentation reduces pyruvate to lactate (lactic acid), while alcohol fermentation converts pyruvate to acetaldehyde, then to ethanol and releases carbon dioxide.

Lactic Acid Fermentation:

 

    Process:

    Lactic acid fermentation occurs in microorganisms like bacteria and in muscle cells during strenuous activity.

 

Product:

The primary product is lactic acid.

Pyruvate Reduction:

In this process, NADH donates electrons to pyruvate, resulting in the formation of lactate and regeneration of NAD+.

Examples:

Lactic acid fermentation is involved in the production of yogurt, sauerkraut, and other fermented foods. It also occurs in muscles during oxygen deficiency, leading to muscle fatigue and soreness.

 

Alcoholic Fermentation:

 

    Process:

    This type of fermentation is primarily carried out by yeast and some bacteria.

 

Product:

The main product is ethanol (a type of alcohol) and carbon dioxide.

Pyruvate Conversion:

 

Pyruvate is first converted to acetaldehyde by removing carbon dioxide. Then, acetaldehyde is reduced to ethanol by NADH, regenerating NAD+.

Examples:

Alcoholic fermentation is crucial for the production of alcoholic beverages and bread.

 

Key Differences:

The primary difference between lactic acid fermentation and alcohol fermentation lies in the final product. Lactic acid fermentation produces lactic acid, while alcohol fermentation produces ethanol and carbon dioxide.

In summary, while both processes are crucial for cellular respiration in anaerobic conditions, they differ in their final products, with lactic acid fermentation producing lactic acid and alcohol fermentation producing ethanol and carbon dioxide.

 

[3] REVIEW --- Books: Germs of Life and Death. Schillace, Brandy.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 03 May 2025: C9.

 

Indija – tikroji Vidurio Karalystė

“„Auksinis kelias“

William Dalrymple

„Bloomsbury“, 432 puslapiai, 32,99 doleriai

 

Hinduistų nacionalistai pirmą kartą nuo XII amžiaus neginčijamai kontroliuoja politinę valdžią Indijoje ir jie maksimaliai išnaudoja šią galimybę triumfuoti. Dažno iš jų – nuo ​​ministro pirmininko Narendros Modi iki kukliausio propagandisto – teiginys yra tas, kad Indija yra višvos guru, arba pasaulio mokytoja, visos pasaulinės išminties šaltinis.

Prieš dvejus metus į šalį G20 viršūnių susitikime atvykę pasaulio lyderiai važiavo pro milžiniškus reklaminius stendus, kurie taip gyrėsi. (Xi Jinpingo reakcija nebuvo užfiksuota.)

 

William Dalrymple knygoje „Auksinis kelias: kaip senovės Indija pakeitė pasaulį“ nenaudoja šios sanskrito frazės. Tačiau jo drąsios knygos tikslas – „pabrėžti dažnai pamirštamą Indijos, kaip esminio ekonominio atramos taško ir civilizacijos variklio, senovės ir viduramžių pasaulio širdyje, poziciją“. Kitaip tariant, Indija, kaip Višvos guru, „visiškai lygiavertė Kinijai“.

 

Ponas Dalrymple'as, mėlynakraujis škotas, 36 metus gyvenantis sodyboje netoli Delio, yra keliolikos knygų autorius, iš kurių geriausiai žinomos yra „Baltieji mogolai“ (2002 m.), kuria jis įtvirtino jo, kaip aukščiausio lygio pasakotojo, reputaciją, ir „Anarchija“ (2019 m.) apie nenugalimą Britų Rytų Indijos bendrovės iškilimą. Jis taip pat yra Džaipuro literatūros festivalio, vieno lankomiausių literatūros festivalių pasaulyje, bendraįkūrėjas. Kitaip tariant, niekas neturėtų abejoti jo įgaliojimais vertinti Indiją.

 

Ponas Dalrymple'as siekia ištaisyti tai, ką jis laiko naratyvo klaida – Indijos ir indų menkinimą Vakarų istorijos pasakojimuose. „Indijos subkontinento, kaip vieno iš dviejų senovinių Azijos ekonominių ir kultūrinių centrų, centriškumą“, – rašo jis, – „užgožė viliojančiai sinocentrinė „Šilko kelio“ koncepcija.“ Jis vartoja frazę „Auksinis kelias“, konkuruodamas su tuo legendiniu sausumos keliu, apibūdindamas jūrų kelius, kurie vedė iš Indijos tiek į vakarus, tiek į rytus.

 

Nuo 250 m. pr. Kr. iki 1200 m. po Kr. šie laivų keliai driekėsi nuo Raudonosios jūros iki Kinijos, kuriais iš Indijos keliavo „pionieriai pirkliai, astronomai ir astrologai, mokslininkai ir matematikai, gydytojai ir skulptoriai“, taip pat „šventieji vyrai, vienuoliai ir misionieriai, atstovaujantys kelioms skirtingoms indų religinės minties kryptims“. Buvo ne tik hinduizmo (įvairiomis sudėtingomis formomis), bet ir budizmo (theravados, mahajana ar tantros) ir net islamo religinių atstovų. Pastarąjį į Indiją atnešė musulmonų džihado karaliai iš Artimųjų Rytų ir Centrinės Azijos. Vėliau, pasak pono Dalrymple'o (su nedidele perdėta pagarba), jį į Javą eksportavo „gudžaratų musulmonų sufijų mistikai“. Žinoma, šiose tolimose Pietryčių Azijos vietose buvo ir daug kitų islamo platintojų, ypač patys arabai.

 

Kaip mus informuoja ponas Dalrymple'as, jo noras parašyti šią knygą kilo iš gyvų diskusijų serijos su Peteriu Frankopanu, Oksfordo istorijos profesoriumi, parašiusiu knygą „Šilko keliai: nauja pasaulio istorija“ (2015). Pono Dalrymple'o teigimu, jos aprašyme pernelyg pabrėžiamas Persijos, Centrinės Azijos ir Kinijos vaidmuo senovės ir viduramžių pasaulyje. „Didžiulei Indosferai“ – besidriekiančiai nuo Indijos prekybos postų Egipte, Etiopijoje ir Romos imperijoje iki didžiulės Pietryčių Azijos teritorijos, kurioje vėliau vyravo Indijos kultūra ir prekyba – reikėjo jos aistringo šalininko.

 

Keista, bet ponas Dalrymple'as teigia, kad ši sritis „iki šiol niekada neturėjo pavadinimo“. Vis dėlto knygos padėkos žodžiuose paslėptas padėkos žodis autoriui ir istorikui Simonui Sebagui Montefiore'ui, „už tai, kad leido man pasiskolinti jo nuostabiai naudingą ir išradingą kūrinį „Indosfera“.“ Iš tiesų, šį žodį pirmą kartą 1990 m. pavartojo Jamesas Matisoffas, amerikiečių lingvistas iš Berklio, apibūdindamas tas sritis, į kurias sklido indų kalbų įtaka. Tačiau nesigilinkime į tėvystės detales: kas sugalvojo šį žodį, mums davė labai naudingą įrankį. (Beje, ponas Matisoffas taip pat sugalvojo žodį „Sinosfera“.)

 

Tūkstantį metų, pasak pono Dalrymple'o, Indija buvo išminties lopšys, „užtikrinta savo įvairios civilizacijos eksportuotoja“, o likusi Azijos dalis buvo „norinti ir netgi entuziastingai siekianti stebėtinai visapusiško masinio indėnų švelniosios galios perdavimo“ tokiose įvairiose srityse kaip menas, matematika, medicina, mitologija ir kalba.

 

Autorius šį teigiamos energijos iš Indijos išsiliejimą sugretina su šalies būkle vėlyvaisiais viduramžiais ir moderniąja istorija, kai Indija, užvaldyta užpuolikų iš Vakarų, buvo „užsienio kultūrinės įtakos gavėja“, jos sanskrito kalba ir kultūra pirmiausia užleido vietą persų dominavimui, o vėliau – anglosferos papročiams.

 

Ponas Dalrymple'as atsekė indų prekybos kontaktų su Romos pasauliu istoriją ir rašė, kaip romėnai ieškojo Indijos eksporto prekių – pipirų, prieskonių, dramblio kaulo, medvilnės, brangakmenių, tikmedžio ir santalmedžio – mainais į auksą. Indijos vaidmuo šiuose mainuose buvo toks dominuojantis, kad „puritoniškasis“ Plinijus Vyresnysis paskelbė beveik trumpišką pasipiktinimo šūksnį, sakydamas apie prekybą su Indija, kad „nėra metų, kurie neištuštintų mūsų imperijos bent penkiasdešimt penkiais milijonais sestercijų“. Indijos muziejuose, rašo ponas Dalrymple, „tikriausiai, yra daugiau romėniškų monetų, nei bet kurios kitos šalies, esančios už Romos imperijos ribų“.

 

Vakarų Romos imperijos žlugimas lėmė šios Indijos prekybos nuosmukį, todėl subkontinento karaliai ir pirkliai – daugiausia tamilai iš Indijos pietryčių – buvo priversti keliauti į rytus, į geografinį regioną, kurį jie vadino Suvarnabhumi – Aukso žemėmis šiuolaikinėje Birmoje, Malaizijoje, Tailande, Laose, Vietname ir, svarbiausia, Kambodžoje, taip pat Javoje ir kitur dabartinėje Indonezijoje. Tai buvo „rytinis Eldoradas“, – rašo p. Dalrymple, – „kur turtai buvo skirti surinkti“.

 

Budizmas ir hinduizmas, į šias vietas atnešti tiek vienuolių, tiek pirklių, pakeitė ne tik Pietryčių Aziją – nuostabaus hinduistų šventyklų komplekso Angkor Vate ir budistų šventyklos Borobudūre gimtinę, – bet ir Kiniją. P. Dalrymple turi dovaną prikelti praeities žmones. Jo istorija apie nuolat besiplečiančią Indosferą niekada nebūna abstraktus pasakojimas. Sužinome apie svarbius vyrus, išminčius ir evangelistus, kurie išplatino Indiją po pasaulį, tokius, kaip Kumarajiva (344–413 m. po Kr.), kuris iš sanskrito į kinų kalbą išvertė Lotoso sūtrą (budistinį tekstą). Taip pat yra tokių, kaip kinų mokslininkas Xuanzangas (602–664 m. po Kr.), kuris 17 metų trukusioje, 6000 mylių ilgio piligriminėje kelionėje į Indiją grįžo į Kiniją su karavanu, pilnu mokslinių tekstų, kuriuos ranka perrašė Nalandos universitete centrinėje Indijoje, ši biblioteka buvo „indiškas didžiosios Aleksandrijos bibliotekos atitikmuo“.

 

Kiti ryškūs veikėjai – žiauri ir nesutramdoma Wu Zetian (624–705 m. po Kr.), vienintelė Kinijos imperatorė moteris, kuri budizmą paskelbė valstybine religija ir apsupo save indų patarėjais. Indijos įtaka Kinijoje pasiekė aukščiausią tašką jos valdymo metu. Po jos mirties kilo konfucianistinė reakcija, sunaikinusi daug indiško.

 

Paskutinėje „Auksinio kelio“ dalyje daugiausia dėmesio skiriama Indijos įtakos sugrįžimui į Vakarus – per arabus. Naujųjų musulmonų kalifatų Bagdade ir Al-Andalūze (maurų Ispanijoje) mokslininkai ieškojo ir įvaldė indų matematinius, astronominius ir mokslinius tekstus. Didžiausią įtaką padarė indiška nulio sąvoka, kurią perėmė pirmiausia arabai, o vėliau ir europiečiai. Ji pakeitė matematiką, apskaitą ir daug ką kita. Skaičiai, kuriuos naudojame šiandien, primena mums ponas Dalrymple'as, yra indiškos kilmės ir, „galbūt, universaliai kalbai artimiausias dalykas, kurį žmonija turi“.

 

Šiuo atžvilgiu pagaliau Indijos teiginys, kad jis yra Višvos guru, nėra perdėtas. Ponui Dalrymple'ui reikia nusipelnyti pagyrų už tai, kad jis iškėlė šalies, kuriai pasisekė tapti jo manija, vėliavą.

---

Ponas Varadarajanas, žurnalo bendradarbis, yra Amerikos įmonių instituto ir Niujorko universiteto Teisės mokyklos Klasikinio liberalizmo instituto narys.” [1]

 

1.   REVIEW --- Books: The Real Middle Kingdom. Varadarajan, Tunku.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 03 May 2025: C7.

India - The Real Middle Kingdom

"The Golden Road

By William Dalrymple

Bloomsbury, 432 pages, $32.99

Hindu nationalists are in undisputed control of political power in India for the first time since the 12th century, and they're making the most of this opportunity for triumphalist messaging. A common refrain among them -- from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the humblest hack-propagandist -- is that India is a vishwa guru, or teacher of the world, the font of all global wisdom. World leaders visiting the country for the G-20 summit two years ago drove past giant billboards making just such a boast. (Xi Jinping's reaction was not recorded.)

William Dalrymple does not deploy that Sanskrit phrase in "The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World." But his audacious book's aim is to "highlight India's often forgotten position as a crucial economic fulcrum, and civilizational engine, at the heart of the ancient and medieval worlds." In other words, India as vishwa guru, "fully on a par with and equal to China."

Mr. Dalrymple, a blue-blooded Scotsman who's lived in a farmhouse outside Delhi for 36 years, is the author of a dozen books, the best-known of which are "White Mughals" (2002) -- with which he established his reputation as a first-rate storyteller -- and "The Anarchy" (2019), on the irresistible rise of the British East India Co. He's also a co-founder of the Jaipur Literary Festival, among the best-attended lit-fests in the world. In other words, no one should question his credentials to pass judgment on India.

Mr. Dalrymple sets out to correct what he believes is a narrative wrong -- the playing down of India and Indians in Western accounts of history. "The centrality of the Indian subcontinent as one of the two ancient economic and cultural hubs of Asia" has been, he writes, "obscured by the seductively Sinocentric concept of the 'Silk Road.'" He uses the phrase "Golden Road" in conceptual competition with that fabled overland route to describe the maritime passageways that went both westward and eastward out of India.

From 250 B.C. to A.D. 1200, these ship routes stretched from the Red Sea to China, along which "pioneering merchants, astronomers and astrologers, scientists and mathematicians, doctors and sculptors" as well as "the holy men, monks and missionaries of several distinct strands of Indic religious thought" set forth from India. There were religious representatives not only of Hinduism (in its many complex forms) but also Buddhism (whether Theravada, Mahayana or Tantric) and even Islam. This last was brought to India by Muslim jihadi-kings from the Middle East and Central Asia. It was then exported to Java, Mr. Dalrymple tells us (with more than a touch of oversimplification), by "Gujarati Muslim Sufi mystics." There were, of course, many other vectors of Islam in these far reaches of Southeast Asia, not least the Arabs themselves.

As Mr. Dalrymple informs us, his desire to write this book arose out of a series of spirited discussions with Peter Frankopan, an Oxford history don who wrote "The Silk Roads: A New History of the World" (2015). Its account, Mr. Dalrymple suggests, overemphasized the centrality of Persia, Central Asia and China in the ancient and medieval world. The "vast Indosphere" -- stretching from Indian trading outposts in Egypt, Ethiopia and the Roman Empire to a massive swath of Southeast Asia that came to be suffused with Indian culture and commerce -- needed its own passionate proponent.

Mr. Dalrymple, oddly, says that this area "up to now has never been given a name." Yet buried in his book's acknowledgments is a word of thanks to Simon Sebag Montefiore, the author and historian, "for allowing me to borrow his wonderfully useful and ingenious coinage 'the Indosphere.'" In fact, the word was first used in 1990 by James Matisoff, an American linguist at Berkeley, to describe those areas into which the influence of Indian languages radiated outward. But let's not get bogged down in details of paternity: Whoever came up with the word gave us a very useful tool. (Mr. Matisoff, incidentally, also coined the word "Sinosphere.")

For a thousand years, Mr. Dalrymple tells us, India was a cradle of wisdom, "a confident exporter of its own diverse civilization," while the rest of Asia was "the willing and even eager recipient of a startlingly comprehensive mass transfer of Indian soft power" in fields as diverse as art, mathematics, medicine, mythology and language. The author contrasts this outpouring of positive energy from India with the country's condition in late medieval and modern history, when India -- overrun by invaders from the West -- was "on the receiving end" of foreign cultural influence, its Sanskritic language and culture giving way, first, to Persianate dominance, and later to the ways of the Anglosphere.

Mr. Dalrymple traces the history of Indic mercantile contact with the Roman world, writing how Romans sought Indian exports -- pepper, spices, ivory, cotton, gems, teak and sandalwood -- in exchange for gold. So dominant was India's hand in this exchange that the "puritanical" Pliny the Elder issued an almost Trumpian cry of indignation, saying of trade with India that "there is no year which does not drain our empire of at least fifty-five million sesterces." The museums of India, Mr. Dalrymple writes, "probably contain more Roman coins than those of any other country outside the boundaries of the Roman empire."

The fall of the Western Roman Empire led to a decline in Indian trade, pushing the kings and merchants of the subcontinent -- in the main, Tamils from India's southeast -- to venture eastward to the geographical region they called Suvarnabhumi -- the Lands of Gold in modern-day Burma, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and, above all, Cambodia, as well as Java and elsewhere in present-day Indonesia. This was "an eastern El Dorado," Mr. Dalrymple writes, "where fortunes were there for the picking."

Buddhism and Hinduism, taken to these places by monks and merchants alike, transformed not only Southeast Asia -- home to the wondrous Hindu temple complex of Angkor Wat and the Buddhist temple at Borobudur -- but also China. Mr. Dalrymple has a gift for bringing to life people from the past. His story of an ever-expanding Indosphere is never an abstract narrative. We learn about the men who matter, the sages and evangelists who carried India abroad, such as Kumarajiva (A.D. 344-413), who translated the Lotus Sutra (a Buddhist text) from Sanskrit into Chinese. And there are also those, like the Chinese scholar Xuanzang (A.D. 602-664), who made a 17-year, 6,000-mile overland pilgrimage to India, returning to China with a caravan-load of scholastic texts that he'd copied by hand at the university at Nalanda in central India, whose library was "the Indian equivalent of the great Library of Alexandria."

Other salient characters include the cruel and irrepressible Wu Zetian (A.D. 624-705), the only female emperor of China, who made Buddhism the state religion and surrounded herself with Indian advisors. India's influence in China peaked during her reign. After her death came a Confucian backlash, sweeping away much that was Indic.

The last part of "The Golden Road" focuses on the return of Indian influence in the West -- via the Arabs. Scholars from the new Muslim caliphates in Baghdad and Al-Andalus (Moorish Spain) sought out and mastered Indian mathematical, astronomical and scientific texts. The most profound impact was the adoption, first by the Arabs and later by the Europeans, of the Indian concept of zero, which transformed mathematics, accounting and much else. The numbers we use today, Mr. Dalrymple reminds us, are Indian in origin and "arguably the nearest thing the human race has to a universal language."

In this respect, at last, India's claim to be a vishwa guru is not overblown. Mr. Dalrymple must get credit for flying the flag of the land that has been lucky enough to become his obsession.

---

Mr. Varadarajan, a Journal contributor, is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and at NYU Law School's Classical Liberal Institute." [1]

1.   REVIEW --- Books: The Real Middle Kingdom. Varadarajan, Tunku.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 03 May 2025: C7.