num_pages: 368
description: Paul William Roberts's journeys through India span twenty years, and in Empire of the Soul, he creates a remarkably sweeping portrait of the political, cultural, and spiritual life of the subcontinent. He shows us the crumbling palaces where maharajas live much as they did five centuries ago; the ashrams, temples, and caves, where the holy men are often as terrifying as they are tender; the remote villages reached by torturous journeys on ramshackle buses; and a millionaire drug dealer's heavily guarded fortress on India's border with China.Roberts brings historical perspective to his observations of modern India. The decadence of a settlement of hippies stranded in the paradise of Goa is juxtaposed with an account of the brutality of the Inquisition in India. The plummeting fortunes of a family of Calcutta aristocrats serve to illustrate the fate of the entire city over the last few decades.
language: English
title: Empire of the Soul: Some Journeys in India
titlecomplete: Empire of the Soul: Some Journeys in India
genres: Travelogue, Religion, Nonfiction, India, Travel
ratings_count: 136
publisher: Riverhead Hardcover