An intelligent popular history of the magically enchanting early English civilisation on which Tolkien based his world of Lord of the Rings.

    But Professor Eliade is too good a scholar, and it too wise in his judgment, to fall into syncretist fallacies. He has no argument to offer other than that which is implicit in a penetrating and sympathetic scrutiny of the mythologies that vivify ancient communities and tell us so much of the perennial meaning and destiny of man...

    Seekers and sages travelled north and south, east and west, across mountains and along rivers, ignoring artificial boundaries, seeking and finding gods. Renowned mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik takes us on an insightful journey to thirty-two holy sites where ancient and modern deities unravel the complex and layered history, geography, and imagination of the land once known as ‘land of the Indian blackberry’ (Jambudvipa), ‘land of rivers’ (Sindhusthala in Sanskrit, or Hindustan in Persian), ‘expanse of King Bharata’ (Bharatvarsha, or Bharatkhanda), and even ‘abode of joy’ (Sukhavati to the Chinese).