Shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize 2023

The story we have been told is this: Buddhism disappeared from the land of its origin by the fourteenth century; British colonial scholars rediscovered it in the early 1800s; its revival occurred in 1956 when Babasaheb Ambedkar converted to Buddhism with half a million followers. All wrong.

Dust on the Throne sheds new light on what has long been called India s modern Buddhist revival.Examining sources in archives and temples across South Asia,

Douglas Ober explores Buddhist religious dynamics through the course of expanding colonial empires, intra-Asian connectivity, and the intellectual pursuits of nineteenth and twentieth century Indian thinkers. He recovers the role of lesser known anti-caste activists and Buddhist monastics in the making of modern global Buddhism. We learn of the powerful influence Buddhism exerted in shaping modern Indian history.

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