The Ocean of Churn Quotes

“We know about the remarkable tale of how a foreign prince was invited to rule over a kingdom in southern India because Nandi Varman II himself tells us the story in inscriptions and bas-relief panels on the walls of the Vaikuntha Perumal temple in Kanchipuram.”
― Sanjeev Sanyal, The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History

“(a preliminary study hints that Varanasi may be as old as the Harappan cities).24”
― Sanjeev Sanyal, The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History

“Thus, an Indian father’s determination to protect his beloved daughter led to the demise of the Portuguese in Oman. In”
― Sanjeev Sanyal, The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History

“In reality, the network of large and small temples had a close relationship with merchant and artisan communities as well as the village/town councils; this is quite clear from an examination of various donations and contracts. Moreover, the reason that the temples accumulated so much wealth is that they acted as bankers”
― Sanjeev Sanyal, The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History

“Mark Twain is said to have remarked, ‘History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.”
― Sanjeev Sanyal, The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History

“A particularly intriguing case is that of an eleven-year-old girl, Meera, who was kidnapped from India’s west coast and then sold to the Spanish in Manila. She was then taken to Mexico where she is remembered as Catarina de San Juan.”
― Sanjeev Sanyal, The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History

“In contrast, Indian Hindus imposed on themselves caste rules that discouraged the crossing of the seas. Why did a people with such a strong maritime tradition impose these restrictions on themselves? Was it a loss of civilizational self-confidence? I have long looked for a satisfactory answer but have not yet found one. Nonetheless,”
― Sanjeev Sanyal, The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History

“Varman. There the envoys put forward their proposal. It so happened that Hiranya Varman had four sons and each of them was asked in turn if he was interested in taking the crown. The first three refused, daunted perhaps by the idea of a perilous journey and an uncertain”
― Sanjeev Sanyal, The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History

“Unfortunately for the mutineers, they received no support from the Indian political leadership of the time. Both the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League asked them to surrender”
― Sanjeev Sanyal, The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History

“The Dutch today take great pride in their liberal traditions but the history of their occupation of Indonesia tells a different story.”
― Sanjeev Sanyal, The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History

“The opium was then sold to the Chinese in exchange for goods that were sold back in Europe. It solved the EIC’s silver problem but destroyed the Indian economy. Cheap textiles made on an industrial scale by British mills devastated the old artisan-made textile industry.”
― Sanjeev Sanyal, The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History

“Western countries today often accuse Asian economies of violating intellectual property rights but it is worth remembering that their own economic rise was based on stealing ideas from others.”
― Sanjeev Sanyal, The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History

“the Turks did not conquer India during a period of glorious Muslim expansion but at a time when Islam itself was under severe stress in the Middle East and Central Asia.”
― Sanjeev Sanyal, The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History

“His best-known work is Colloquies on the Simples and Drugs of India, first published in Goa in 1561. The treatise would turn him into a national hero in Portugal. This is ironical as Garcia was living quietly in this remote outpost because he wanted to stay away from the authorities in Lisbon! In”
― Sanjeev Sanyal, The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History

“According to this version Jadi Rana asked the Parsis to explain their religion and rituals to him. He must have been struck by the obvious similarities between Zoroastrian and ancient Vedic rituals. The newcomers also composed sixteen Sanskrit slokas to explain their beliefs (these have been preserved).”
― Sanjeev Sanyal, The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History