Watch The Story of India

Name: The Story of India
Genre: Documentary & Biography
Released: 2009-01-05
Cast: Michael Wood

TV-PG
2009
1 Season
8.5 (1,092)

The Story of India is a fascinating 6-episode documentary series that explores the rich history and cultural heritage of India. Hosted by British historian Michael Wood and produced by PBS, the show takes viewers on a journey through thousands of years of Indian history, from the country's earliest civilizations to modern-day India.

Through his travels across the length and breadth of India, Michael Wood not only unveils the fascinating stories of India's past but also uncovers the diverse cultures and traditions that have shaped this remarkable country. From the ruins of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization to the bustling metropolises of modern India, the show gives viewers a glimpse into the sights, sounds, and flavors of this incredible land.

Made up of 6 hour-long episodes, The Story of India is organized chronologically and thematically, covering topics such as religion, culture, politics, economy, and more. Each episode focuses on a different period in Indian history, exploring the major events, figures, and ideas that defined that era.

The first episode, "Beginnings," takes us back to prehistoric India and the rise of the Indus Valley Civilization, one of the world's earliest urban civilizations. Michael Wood explores the mysterious ruins of this ancient civilization and investigates its architecture, art, and culture.

In the second episode, "The Power of Ideas," Wood delves into the intellectual heritage of India, exploring the country's rich tradition of philosophy, science, and mathematics. He visits the great universities of ancient India, such as Nalanda and Takshashila, and meets with modern-day scholars and thinkers to understand the enduring legacy of Indian ideas.

The third episode, "Spice Routes and Silk Roads," takes us on a journey along the ancient trade routes that connected India with the rest of the world. Michael Wood explores the great empires that rose and fell along these routes, from the Mauryas to the Mughals, and discovers how India's trade, commerce, and culture flowed to other parts of the world.

In the fourth episode, "Ages of Gold," Wood explores India's medieval era, a time of great artistic and cultural achievements. He visits the exquisite temples of Khajuraho and Hampi, marvels at the magnificent architecture of the Mughals, and discovers the fine arts of painting, music, and dance that flourished during this period.

The fifth episode, "The Meeting of Two Oceans," examines the impact of European colonialism on India. Michael Wood looks at the arrival of the Portuguese, Dutch, and British in India and the profound changes they brought to Indian society, economy, and politics. He meets with modern-day Indians to discuss the legacy of colonialism and the challenges of building a post-colonial India.

In the final episode, "Freedom," Wood explores India's struggle for independence from British colonial rule. He follows the story of Mahatma Gandhi and other freedom fighters who led the country's nonviolent resistance movement, and looks at the birth of modern India as a democratic and secular nation.

Overall, The Story of India is an engrossing and enlightening exploration of one of the world's most complex and fascinating countries. With its stunning visuals, engaging storytelling, and deep insights into Indian history and culture, it is a must-watch for anyone interested in India's past, present, and future.

The Story of India is a series that is currently running and has 1 seasons (6 episodes). The series first aired on January 5, 2009.

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Seasons

6. Freedom

January 19, 2009

Michael Wood's "10,000-year epic" reaches the time of the British occupation of India -- the Raj -- and India's struggle for freedom. Wood begins in South India, where viewers learn how the forerunner of modern multinational corporations, the British East India Company, used private armies to control much of the Indian subcontinent. In Calcutta, he traces the beginnings of a world economy and describes an 18th-century British general who "went native" and adopted Hinduism. He samples the magical culture -- and food -- of the city of Lucknow and outlines its terrible fate in India's great rebellion against the British in 1857. He recounts the story of the enigmatic Briton, "the rebel in the Raj," who helped found the Indian freedom movement. After the First World War, the Amritsar massacre helped speed the rise of Gandhi and Nehru and the fateful events that led to the partition of India in 1947 -- an episode whose repercussions are felt to this day. The series ends as India rises again to be the global giant she has been for most of her amazing history.

5. The Meeting of Two Oceans

January 19, 2009

This episode tells the epic story of possibly the greatest of all clashes of civilization -- the coming of Islam to the Indian subcontinent. The story culminates in one of the most glamorous ages of world civilization -- the Moghul Empire. Michael Wood visits the shrines of wandering Muslim Sufi saints in Old Delhi, where people of all religions come to worship; viewers see desert fortresses in Rajasthan and the fabulous cities of Lahore and Agra, where Wood offers a new theory on the design of arguably the most famous building in the world, the Taj Mahal. He tells the story of Akbar, a Muslim emperor who decreed that no single religion could hold the ultimate truth and that humans should try to find the common basis of all creeds ("an idea that would be unthinkable today," says Wood). At its height in 1600, Moghul India had the world's highest GDP, but Akbar's dream of unity ended in a savage civil war. And waiting in the wings to pick up the spoils was a new invader -- the British.

4. Ages of Gold

January 12, 2009

Reaching the time of the Fall of Rome in the West, Michael Wood seeks out the amazing achievements of India's golden age from 300 to 1000 AD. Viewers learn how India discovered zero, calculated the circumference of the earth and wrote the world's first sex guide, the Kama Sutra. In the south, he visits the giant temple of Tanjore, meets the current "Senior Prince" and watches traditional bronze casters, working as their ancestors did 1,000 years ago. After sampling southern vegetarian food with a Tamil family, Wood goes on pilgrimage to a sacred mountain, where the annual fire festival was already famous in 700 AD. With unprecedented access to amazing festivals, age-old crafts and intimate family rituals, Wood shows how the Middle Ages laid the social and imaginative foundations of today's India.

3. Spice Routes and Silk Roads

January 12, 2009

Michael Wood takes viewers to India in the days of the Roman Empire. In India's tropical deep south in Kerala, the spice trade opened India to the world -- and gave the world a recipe for dormouse stuffed with pepper! Wood takes one of the great old sailing boats that still cross the Indian Ocean carrying pepper and cloves. He discovers the lost site of Rome's greatest trading port in India and visits the fabulous ancient city of Madurai, with its giant temple and its gold and silk bazaars that were a delight for visiting Greek traders -- and still are today. Moving north, Wood takes the Silk Road from the deserts of Turkmenistan through the Khyber Pass into Pakistan to unveil the forgotten Indian empire of the Kushans, who opened up the Silk Road and built a lost Wonder of the World in the caravan city of Peshawar. "In today's world, with the Asian powers rising again," says Wood, "this time looks like the precursor -- the first globalization."

2. The Power of Ideas

January 5, 2009

Michael Wood's epic series moves into the revolutionary years after 500 BC -- the Age of the Buddha. Traveling by road and rail between the ancient cities of the Ganges plain, he tells the tale of the young prince who gave up the good life and became the Buddha: "India's first and greatest protester." Then, moving by army convoy through Northern Iraq and down the Khyber Pass into Pakistan, Wood shows how Alexander the Great's invasion changed the course of India's history and inspired her first empire. He visits India's earliest capital, Patna, and using archaeology, legend and "India's Rosetta stone," explains how the ideas of the Buddha were turned into political reality by the great Indian emperor Ashoka -- "one of the most remarkable figures in history" -- who sowed the seeds of "history's most dangerous idea."

1. Beginnings

January 5, 2009

Michael Wood's fascinating journey through the history of the Indian subcontinent chronicles the incredible richness and diversity of its peoples, cultures and landscapes; outlines the originality and continuing relevance of its ideas; and relates some of the most momentous and moving events in world history. Beginning with the first human migrations out of Africa, using DNA and climate science, ancient manuscripts and oral tales, Wood takes viewers from the tropical backwaters of South India to lost ancient cities in Pakistan -- the scene of India's first civilization. He travels on to Turkmenistan in Central Asia, where dramatic new archaeological discoveries cast fresh light on India's deep past. Finally, Wood travels to the vibrant cities of the Ganges plain, where India's ancient myths and histories still intertwine.

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Where to Watch The Story of India

The Story of India is available for streaming on the PBS website, both individual episodes and full seasons. You can also watch The Story of India on demand at Amazon Prime and Amazon.