There are many missing pieces in the jigsaw puzzle that is ancient India, but those we have yield a rich tapestry. The oldest surviving love graffiti on a cave wall immortalizing an intimate bond in the third century BCE; charred seeds and chewed animal bones that provide evidence of a peoples food obsessions; architectural minutiae that point to the alarming regression of a civilization s potty habits; intriguing sculptures that reveal myriad facets of the human animal relationship In Time Pieces, award-winning historian Nayanjot Lahiri whimsically sifts through intricate clues left behind by the early inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent in plaques and inscriptions, fragments of jewellery, bones and tools, poetry, art and pottery to reveal to us our ancient land in all its variety, splendour, complexity and contradictions. Sparkling with wit and reflective of a scholar s keen and curious energy, this delightful volume seamlessly connects the past to the present and a civilization to the world beyond.
