"Unputdownable," according to noted contemporary Pakistani writer Kamila Shamsie, this is a well-written, engaging story that switches back and forth between a modern excavation of Mohenjodaro and a storyline set in 3700 BCE, connected through a bloodstone with supernatural powers that, in the right hands, transcends time.

This volume, dedicated to the archaeologist Dr. Gregory Possehl, has been edited by his former students, and presents a series of case studies that develop and investigate the broad range of ideas and research that "Dr. P" fostered through his research and teaching.

An extraordinary book illuminating the rich imagistic life in the subcontinent tens of thousands of years before ancient Indus times by an Austrian pioneer in the field.

It spreads over an area of more than a million sq km, an area much bigger than the Mesopotamian and the Egyptian Civilizations which are famous for their sepulchral splendor. Though technologically innovative, the Indus Civilization in marked by a modesty and the functionality of its architecture and artifacts.

"The most controversial and sought after animal in Indian archaeology has been the horse," writes the author. "At

A BOOK REVIEW of Asko Parpola's investigation of twin roots of Hinduism, the religion brought to South Asia in the second millennium BCE by speakers of Aryan or Indo-Iranian languages, and the more enigmatic Indus civilization of the third millennium BCE.

With a note by Iravatham Mahadevan.

How the Indus Civilization Was Discovered

Events leading to the IVC's public recognition as a major episode in Indian history in 1924. Told in an accessible way and based on new research into original ASI documents by a well-respected scholar.

This volume is a study exploring multiple perceptions of Indian history and related scholarship produced through archaeological fieldwork during the colonial period.