The Grand Trunk Road - A Passage through India

For centuries traders, religious seers, nomads, migrants, and conquerors have travelled the Grand Trunk Road - the axis of the Indian sub-continent's heavily populated and politically dominant north. This ancient road, the country's primary commercial route, is the channel by which changes have historically coursed through Indian society. Raghubir Singh's vibrant color photographs evoke the energies and contrasts of a modern journey along the road Singh terms "a living panorama of north India's people."
An essay by Jean Deloche, of the Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient, in Pondicherry, India, provides a compelling history of the Grand Trunk Road since its emergence as ancient India's first route for traders and invaders. The French historian and geographer interweaves literary references and excerpts from early travellers' accounts into his essay. Singh's photographs and gripping firsthand account of his remarkable travels draw the reader into an unforgettable journey down the lifeline of northern India, where, as Singh writes, "the past and the present breathe side by side."

The Grand Trunk Road: A Passage Through India is a photographic journey in vivid color through the lifeline of India's past and present. The Grand Trunk Road is the axis of the Indian subcontinent's heavily populated and politically dominant North. Raghubir Singh's vibrant color photographs evoke the energies and contrasts of a modern journey along the road Singh terms "a living panorama of North India's people". No other road carries such a baggage of history; from the Taj Mahal and the Golden Temple to the ancient battle sites of the Mahabharata; from the Buddhists' sacred Bodh Gaya to the magnificent cities of Mogul and British India. In his frank and documentary style, Singh gives an unsentimental and rigorous picture of the subcontinent, a testimonial and a diary-in-progress for all Indian classes, religions, times, ages, and cultures. -- Midwest Book Review