Swift Horses Sharp Swords: Medieval battles which shook India

This book takes an entirely different approach from what the leftist historians tried to brainfeed Indian generations since independence. It takes a reality check on why India the most affluent nation repeatedly fell to islamic invasions/attacks/genocide and yet remained unislamic preserving its Sanatan identity till date. It enlists all the valiant Indian Kings who strongly resisted islamic onslaught but yet how their complacency and not modernizing their military technology was the Achilles heel in economically draining Indian subcontinent. This is a book which every global citizen should read to understand what worked and what didn't work in the last 1000 yrs for the most prosperous and happening civilization of the world in that era. It is a guidebook to modern problems as well. Militarily well equipped is a bedrock to any economically affluent Nation's survival. Also there is a strong undercurrent message as to what socio economic evolutions are necessary in modern times for pan humanity survival. India is the lighthouse for the world and this book shows how it can still keep shining and showing way forward to the world if only we dont repeat the same colossal errors of the medieval era.

We have often been told that that ours is the only civilisation which survived the onslaught of Islam in medieval centuries. However, the story of how it is managed to survive had not been enlightened so far. At last this story has come out in the form of this book and the author deserves our full admiration.Initial part of the book provides a glimpse to the rich social, economic and cultural life prevailed in India during ancient period and covers topics such as silk route trading, booming business and art during the Gupta period, Hinduism and their caste system, emergence of Buddhism and its spread in the region. The starting chapter is why everyone should read history which is elaborately spelt out. He succinctly stated that the future lies in history. The author has further listed out Dharamyuddha as one of the main reasons for our defeat. This part builds a sort of social, cultural and historical background leading to a more tumultuous medieval period. Afterwards the book graduates to the medieval period and numerous battles are beautifully picturised. In between, the glorious struggle of the Indian warriors have been given due recognition.The book has references from authentic authors which gives credence to the underlying struggle. The author has also integrated the history with modern scientific facts like game theory, use of geometric mean in counting of the dead.In nutshell, it is recommended for everyone who is unaware of history so far.

Swift Horses Sharp Swords presents the grand sweep of Indian history of antiquity in a compact and readable survey. The author provides a panaromic view about the cities of Harappa and Mohenjodaro of the Indus Valley civilizations all the way to the modern India.This book addresses the history, literature and material culture of peoples of Turkish origins in India over the eleventh to eighteenth centuries. Although many ruling dynasties and members of the elite in this period claimed Turkish descent, this aspect of their identity has seldom received much scholarly attention. The discussion is enriched by a focus on connections and comparisons with other parts of the broader world.The authors examine the major wars, political, economic, social and culturalforces which have shaped the history of the Indian subcontinent. This text is an authoritative and detailed account which emphasises and analyses the structural pattern of Indian history.Overall, this would be a perfect textbook for any who wants to study India.

The author deserves credit for many things: in depth research, referencing, fast paced narrative and easy to grasp language. But most of all he deserves credit for the guts that he has shown to tell the real, gory and repulsive history of the Islamic invasion of India. And for calling a spade a spade.This is the history that we should teach our kids in school. Sadly, the young Indians of today know nothing and believe everything that the separatist leftists feed them in their hurtful propaganda.Kudos to Amit Agarwal for writing a brilliant book.

I was never interested in history but this book was so engaging that it made me ponder over the harsh realities of our past. It provided the amazing facts which I was not even aware of.Although there are many books on the subject, this one stands out for its wide and detailed coverage of the topics of economy, geography, polity and social structures. The book is obviously written from a different perspective combined with a lot of passion.Author combined the fundamentals of game theory, Maslow's hierarchy and bell curve to emphasize the reason for survival of Hindus despite the brutal onslaught which was an eye-opener for me. Author also threw ample light on the Hindu warriors who successfully defended their motherland against the invaders. I was also amazed at the enormity of Indian wealth during the ancient and medieval period which constituted 25% of the world's GDP in those times. There are some unique chapters like how Geometric mean is used while counting the dead and why all the battlefields were in Haryana.I also loved the fact that once Indians ruled all over Asia without even lifting a sword. I was glad to know that Cholas built their empire all over south east Asia and their emphasis on building intricate Hindu temples which survive even to this date.I vehemently recommend all Indians to read it cover to cover to understand the niceties of the Indian history.

I loved the book!! Book is thorough and very well written and based upon exhaustive research work. Author has done a great job to derive conclusion going back 5000 BCE to present time. This books fills the void for history lovers who have scarcity of time and want to read historical book based on facts. Cannot wait to read another book by Amit Agarwal!!

Drop the text books and pick this one up if you wish to know the real history of India. A great reminder of the past

Such an amazing book, every Indian should read this book! Tremendous knowledge and will learn a lot about out history and past mistakes!

What an utter disappointment! Amit Agarwal starts with a preamble which serves to draw in the those discerning readers that prefer evidenced, unbiased, apolitical accounts of Indian history by declaring his passion for the subject. But very quickly it becomes clear that Agarwal book and intentions follow that well-trodden path that countless post-independence, JNU-educated, marxist, Congress party affiliated historian have taken before him.Agarwal's clap trap about arayan migration/invasion and his crude/lued symbolism of lingam amongst his other falsehoods are a complete betrayal of every Indian, infact every person who's sense of curiosity is rooted in the desire for historical truth and justice.In any case his nonsensical claims just simply do not hold up to any scrutiny in the 21st century when we have an abundance of corroborative scientific evidence from the fields of archeology, geology, astronomy, linguistics, oseonography, scriptural evidence amongst others, that there was no arayan migration; on the contrary indegenous Indians moved out from India westwards and eastwards; that sanskrit is the mother of all modern languages; that ancient indus Valley civilisations were present 6000 BC and demonstrated advanced systems in trade, town planning, iron-mongery, agriculture amongst other things. These ancient Indians were not as Agarwal claims "hunter gatherers".I would strongly urge you not to waste your time and money purchasing this book which appears to have the sole aim of misleading and misinformation.

It seems like the author has just copied stuff from biased historians and just aggregated it, some facts have been just "assumed"....example is aryan invasion theory, without even a single line about evidence found in rakhigarhi...