The Grand Trunk Road: A Passage Through India

by Raghubir Singh

For centuries traders, religious seers, nomads, migrants, and conquerors have travelled the Grand Trunk Road - the axis of the Indian sub-continent's heavily populated and politically dominant north. This ancient road, the country's primary commercial route, is the channel by which changes have historically coursed through Indian society. Raghubir Singh's vibrant color photographs evoke the energies and contrasts of a modern journey along the road Singh terms "a living panorama of north India's people."
An essay by Jean Deloche, of the Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient, in Pondicherry, India, provides a compelling history of the Grand Trunk Road since its emergence as ancient India's first route for traders and invaders. The French historian and geographer interweaves literary references and excerpts from early travellers' accounts into his essay. Singh's photographs and gripping firsthand account of his remarkable travels draw the reader into an unforgettable journey down the lifeline of northern India, where, as Singh writes, "the past and the present breathe side by side."

Genres: Photography, Travel

127 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1995

Reviews

[Prachi]

gt road my beloved... i read this fully hoping there would be stretches of the pakistan side included here but there was only a postscript telling us how the authorities didn't let him photograph there

[Akila · Rating 4 out of 5]

The photographs are very close to real life - especially the ones where he juxtaposes the different political and philosophical ideologies of west bengal.