The sounds and flavours of the land south of the Vindhyas-temple bells, coffee and jasmine,
coconut and tamarind, delicious dosais and appams-are familiar to many, but its history
is relatively unknown. In this monumental study, the first in over fifty years, historian and
biographer Rajmohan Gandhi brings us the South Indian story in modern times. At heart, the
story he tells is one of four powerful cultures-Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu; as
well as the cultures that have influenced them-Kodava, Konkani, Marathi, Oriya, Tulu and
indigenous.
When the narrative begins at the end of the sixteenth century, the Deccan sultanates of Bijapur,
Ahmadnagar, Golconda and Bidar have combined to defeat the kingdom of Vijayanagara, one
of the last great medieval empires of the South. After the fall of Vijayanagara, less powerful
nayakas or sultans ruled the region. Competition raged between these rulers and the many
European trading companies. By the seventeenth century, only the French and British
remained to fight it out, in association with Indian rulers and princely states.