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Biman Nath joins Allan Sealy, Salman Rushdie, Kiran Nagarkar and Amitav Ghosh in a growing list of readings for history students. It is a pity that a book careful on detail has made debatable assumptions: Xuanzang narrates a nightmare where he foresees the death of Harsha, followed by "a catastrophe [that] will destroy this holy land". It is assumed that Muslim rulers’ armies destroyed Nalanda—the note on Xuanzang says "The first Islamic invasion [sic] on Indian soil took place in 644 AD near Thane in Maharashtra", and suggests Xuanzang would have heard of it. Even if it were proved that Bakhtiyar Khilji destroyed the university, it was five centuries after Xuanzang, during which time Buddhism had lost its pre-eminence in India.
