Coromandel

Charles Allen travels through southern India to examine histories that are often overshadowed by narratives centred on the Indo-Gangetic north. Moving through Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and neighbouring regions, he explores archaeology, language, religion and trade, from early Dravidian cultures and Jain and Buddhist communities to the great temple-building kingdoms of the south.

The journey continues through encounters with Islam, European commerce, Mysore and British expansion, while also considering how competing interpretations of the past shape modern politics. Part travel narrative and part historical synthesis, Coromandel presents South India as a region with its own connected histories of maritime exchange, literary culture, sacred landscapes and political power.