The Buddha and the Sahibs

The Buddha and the Sahibs tells how European scholars working in British India gradually reconstructed the history of Buddhism on the subcontinent. Beginning with William Jones and the study of Sanskrit, Charles Allen follows the decipherment of inscriptions, the identification of ancient sites and the recognition that ruins, pillars and texts scattered across South Asia belonged to a religious tradition that had largely disappeared from India itself.

The story brings together Orientalists, soldiers, surveyors and archaeologists including James Prinsep and Alexander Cunningham, whose work helped recover the reign of Ashoka and map major Buddhist centres. Allen treats the process as historical detective work while also showing how colonial institutions made scholarship, collecting and excavation possible. The discoveries reshaped modern understanding of ancient India and contributed to Buddhism's later revival and global spread.