Descriptions of India are often woefully cliched. Foreigners may preserve old ideas of the exotic East, or reflect the preoccupations of Western media, or view India as a country of violence and disaster. Yet many Indians see their homeland as a modern industrial power, the world's largest democracy, and the country where an ancient civilization thrives alongside state-of-the-art computer technology. This accessible narrative account follows the entire path of Indian history from the Harrapans to today.Readers will encounter the foundation of Buddhism, Hinduism, the Gupta dynasty, Muslim encounters in India, British rule, Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, and much more. A biographical section and an annotated bibliography add reference value to this up-to-date resource on the history of India.