What do you think?
Rate this book
Empire of the Soul: Some Journeys in India
Paul William Roberts's journeys through India span twenty years, and in Empire of the Soul, he creates a remarkably sweeping portrait of the political, cultural, and spiritual life of the subcontinent. He shows us the crumbling palaces where maharajas live much as they did five centuries ago; the ashrams, temples, and caves, where the holy men are often as terrifying as they are tender; the remote villages reached by torturous journeys on ramshackle buses; and a millionaire drug dealer's heavily guarded fortress on India's border with China.
Roberts brings historical perspective to his observations of modern India. The decadence of a settlement of hippies stranded in the paradise of Goa is juxtaposed with an account of the brutality of the Inquisition in India. The plummeting fortunes of a family of Calcutta aristocrats serve to illustrate the fate of the entire city over the last few decades.
Roberts brings historical perspective to his observations of modern India. The decadence of a settlement of hippies stranded in the paradise of Goa is juxtaposed with an account of the brutality of the Inquisition in India. The plummeting fortunes of a family of Calcutta aristocrats serve to illustrate the fate of the entire city over the last few decades.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published October 29, 1996
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
March 24, 2008
This book is thick with history and visuals of India -- my cheap substitute for traveling there. You can smell the Chicken Masala when you open this book.
August 22, 2015
Many wonderful moments in this book that make it worth the read. Part way through the book, I thought it was going to be the best book I'd ever read. By the end, I was happy I'd read it, but also happy I'd finished it. I think it was just a bit too long, and the wonder he carried into the writing could not be extended over that many pages.
If you like India, you'll definitely enjoy parts of this book.
If you like India, you'll definitely enjoy parts of this book.
January 16, 2019
Read this book in preparation for our trip to India.
February 5, 2018
I never got the chance to hang with international drug smugglers in 1970s Goa, but that chapter was by far the best one. And then he follows the Western opium czar all the way to Peshawar and the Khyber Pass to check out the opium manufacturing facilities before the goods were shipped off the Europe and North America, back when this particular czar was supposedly the leading dude in the world doing this. Again, this was the 1970s, before the Russians invaded Afghanistan, before Indira Gandhi's Emergency in India, back when Goa was apparently still a wild frontier of leftover-1960s Western hippies, endless supplies of hash, deranged beach bums, and the people who loved it all. Thankfully, he includes all the grotesque history of what the Portuguese originally did there, in terms of trying to force-cram their equivalent of the Spanish Inquisition on the natives. Loathsome stuff. And this is only a few chapters. In other chapters, he meets Sai Baba and even Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (this is long before the Oregon disaster with the Rolls Royces). In that sense, the author was clearly in the right place at the right time. Some brilliant travel writing. Some of the religious material toward the end starts to run out of steam, but I did love this quote near the conclusion:
"Somehow I'd come to the end of a long and convoluted road, only to find I'd returned to the place where the journey started. But for the first time I understood it. Across the span of twenty years, my two selves felt reconciled -- so much that I no longer saw any contradiction between them. Even the smoke from the funeral pyres smelled fragrant, beguiling."
I can relate. He employs the process of travel and the process of writing as vehicles for reconciling opposing forces. I have at least attempted to do similar things.
"Somehow I'd come to the end of a long and convoluted road, only to find I'd returned to the place where the journey started. But for the first time I understood it. Across the span of twenty years, my two selves felt reconciled -- so much that I no longer saw any contradiction between them. Even the smoke from the funeral pyres smelled fragrant, beguiling."
I can relate. He employs the process of travel and the process of writing as vehicles for reconciling opposing forces. I have at least attempted to do similar things.
February 9, 2013
This is the book that stared my long term long distance love affair with India. I have read it several times and have owned two copies. I really like the author's writing style, use of humor and ability to see both the good and the bad - and boy are there both in this book. After the first time I skip the parts dealing with his drug dealer acquaintance - it's very seamy and upsetting to me. I love how he uses history to enhance the story, and the array of different people he meets and deals with during several different trips to the subcontinent. I especially like his exploration of the burning ghats of Benares and his meetings with Yogi Ramsuratkumar way before he had and ashram and devotees. Also interesting is is his various meetings with the late Sai Baba. Roberts is a good writer and several times made me laugh out loud with lines like "American Express, don't renounce the world without it"
July 13, 2017
Authors growing understanding of India, or like five to eight cities in India. At first it was comedic, women cooking on the bus and the author was so freaked out and how he had diarrhea blabla.
Then gradually he realized India is like super prosperous than Europe in medieval times.
He talked how Portuguese slaughtered people in Goa......horror stories......
Then he talked like Aladdin or similar idea.......
Then Hindi mythology as a potential source for bible.....
Like Brahma Abraham
Sara. Saraswati
Etc
the end was like philosophical cultural reflections
Vedas and his analysis of some quotes
Packed with information
Many terms don't understand
Will add to reading notes if I got more time
What's sure is the author definitely speaks Great Arabic, he is obviously familiar with Arabic culture and its mutation in north India
Bombay
Bangalore
Jayahsalmer
Vijaysagar
Calcutta
Etc
Then gradually he realized India is like super prosperous than Europe in medieval times.
He talked how Portuguese slaughtered people in Goa......horror stories......
Then he talked like Aladdin or similar idea.......
Then Hindi mythology as a potential source for bible.....
Like Brahma Abraham
Sara. Saraswati
Etc
the end was like philosophical cultural reflections
Vedas and his analysis of some quotes
Packed with information
Many terms don't understand
Will add to reading notes if I got more time
What's sure is the author definitely speaks Great Arabic, he is obviously familiar with Arabic culture and its mutation in north India
Bombay
Bangalore
Jayahsalmer
Vijaysagar
Calcutta
Etc
April 2, 2024
Preparing for a trip to India, I read this book on the recommendation of family. I understand better the seeking of truth on trips to India for folks in the 70's. This man returns in the 90's still seeking truth. On a path to clear the soul. I did reflect on the journey. The revelations of the present.
October 20, 2020
This is such a timeless book. Set in the 70s and the 90s , it is a riveting insight into my country's culture, around the time I was born but was too young to truly comprehend. It's also quite funny at times and has certainly inspired me to take a deeper interest in my own culture
December 19, 2023
I enjoyed this more than I expected! It was interesting to see India through his eyes at such different stages of his life (and the nation’s progression).
March 30, 2024
Funny! Sympathetic to the Sanatan.
December 29, 2021
Very narrow and stereotypical description of western travel in India.
September 8, 2011
To me, going to India to find "truth" or "meaning" has always kind of seemed like something shallow people did in the 1970s. A kind of false awakening in a land where it's easy to shop around for a belief system that allows one to justify his/her preexisting views and opinions while claiming to have changed. Perhaps this is unchanged today (Eat, Pray, Love?)... Paul William Roberts confirms that this is indeed the case for many Western visitors to India. Especially in the 1970s, during which about half of this memoir/travelogue/alternative history takes place.
The 1970s portion, when Roberts conducts his own spiritual journey while traveling and learning Sanskrit, is probably more interesting. Even if it suffers from the fact that his recollections seem a little disjointed (like the notes he ended up relying on were never intended to be used to write a book). The second half, during the 1990s, is better woven, but the India of this period seems more familiar and less exotic. Throughout, Roberts' profound respect for India and its various peoples and beliefs shines. His dedication to learning and understanding India and its diversity provides hope that not all those in search of meaning in India are doing so via predictable adventures. Effectively, Empire of the Soul helped me begin understand India's pull.
In the end, one has to respect Roberts for doing what he does best: presenting an authentic, captivating depiction of the society he's describing. His dedication to cultural immersion and clear efforts to attempt to think like an Indian, Egyptian, Iraqi, or whoever he's encountering always results in a rewarding read. This is no exception.
The 1970s portion, when Roberts conducts his own spiritual journey while traveling and learning Sanskrit, is probably more interesting. Even if it suffers from the fact that his recollections seem a little disjointed (like the notes he ended up relying on were never intended to be used to write a book). The second half, during the 1990s, is better woven, but the India of this period seems more familiar and less exotic. Throughout, Roberts' profound respect for India and its various peoples and beliefs shines. His dedication to learning and understanding India and its diversity provides hope that not all those in search of meaning in India are doing so via predictable adventures. Effectively, Empire of the Soul helped me begin understand India's pull.
In the end, one has to respect Roberts for doing what he does best: presenting an authentic, captivating depiction of the society he's describing. His dedication to cultural immersion and clear efforts to attempt to think like an Indian, Egyptian, Iraqi, or whoever he's encountering always results in a rewarding read. This is no exception.
August 14, 2020
Just Wow!!
June 29, 2014
The book is an account of the visits that the author had to India during the seventies and nineties. He came to India in search of truth and explored various methods and visited many places to find it. He adds the historical details of the places he visits to add more life to them. My favorite chapters from the book were Goa and Baneras. The Goa chapter contains a brilliant summary of its history which generally gets ignored in the modern times.
The concluding chapter of the book is on Baneras and is the best of the 14 chapters in the book. Its initial parts that deal with the Vedas give a completely different way of looking at them. The chapter on Taj seemed a bit out of place from the rest of the book. Overall, it is a very good read high on both funny anecdotes and the serious aspects of the history.
The concluding chapter of the book is on Baneras and is the best of the 14 chapters in the book. Its initial parts that deal with the Vedas give a completely different way of looking at them. The chapter on Taj seemed a bit out of place from the rest of the book. Overall, it is a very good read high on both funny anecdotes and the serious aspects of the history.
January 7, 2008
He is from Cambridge and traveled to India in his late 20s and then 20 years later (in the 1990s). First trip was hippie times - drug but also searching out religious answers. In the later trip he goes back to the ashrams and has a change to analyze India and how it has changed in 20 years and how both trips affected him. Interesting book IF you are interested in India.
November 21, 2008
Wonderfully written. Very entertaining and inspiring.
April 9, 2012
Recommended and lent by Russ. The adventure through India that I wish I experienced.
September 16, 2012
By far my favorite book on India. (Read this after I'd been there a couple times.) But then I love Roberts' satirical perspective on almost anything.
March 6, 2013
Love books on travel - this is one of the best I have ever read on travels in India.
February 5, 2008
I'm reading this to remind me of India.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews