Podcast Episodes
Back to Search131. Buddhism Goes to China
Season 7 Episode 4
Buddhism reached China in the 1st century AD, yet it remained a minor, foreign religion for the next 100 years. It was not until the fall of the Han …
1 year, 10 months ago
130. India meets Rome: Making the Image of the Buddha
Season 7 Episode 3
In the 1st century AD, the nomadic Kushans settled in what is now Afghanistan and established settlements and trade. From here, they moved down over …
1 year, 10 months ago
129. Ashoka: The Great Buddhist Emperor of India
Season 7 Episode 2
Ruling in the 3rd century BC, Ashoka was one of India’s greatest ever rulers. Under his rule, the Mauryan Empire grew into the largest empire India h…
1 year, 10 months ago
128. The Life of the Buddha
Season 7 Episode 1
India was the forgotten heart of the ancient world. For a millennium and a half, from about 250 BC to 1200 AD, India was a confident exporter of its …
1 year, 10 months ago
127. Inventing Curry: The British Taste for India
Season 1 Episode 23
From the beginning of the Raj, British tastes began to turn away from Indian cuisine towards a European palate. The colonial classes sneered at India…
1 year, 10 months ago
126. Punch & Chilli: The East India Company at the Table
Season 1 Episode 22
When the East India Company first arrived on the shores of India, the food they ate in their first factories was not so different from that of Britai…
1 year, 10 months ago
125. The Origin of the Houthis
Season 5 Episode 25
Since November 2023, the Houthis have been attacking international shipping lanes in the Red Sea. They set off from the Yemeni coastline on speedboat…
1 year, 10 months ago
124. Saddam Hussein vs The Ayatollah
Season 5 Episode 24
In September 1980, Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces invaded neighbouring Iran and so began the longest conventional war in modern history. After initial…
1 year, 11 months ago
123. Hezbollah: The Party of God
Season 5 Episode 23
In June 1982, Israeli tanks rolled over the Lebanese border. Soon after, Iran sent 1,500 Revolutionary Guards into Lebanon to help fight them. Therea…
1 year, 11 months ago
122. Iran & Saudi Arabia: The Rivalry that Split the Islamic World
Season 5 Episode 22
1979 was the year that set the Islamic world on the path to today. In Iran, the revolution established the nation as a theocracy that sought to defen…
1 year, 11 months ago