A profound and ground-breaking new history of one of the most important encounters in the history of colonialism: the British arrival in India in the early seventeenth century.

'A triumph of writing and scholarship. It is hard to imagine anyone ever bettering Das's account of this part of the story' - William Dalrymple, Financial Times

'A fascinating glimpse of the origins of the British Empire . . . drawn in dazzling technicolour' - Spectator

'Beautifully written and masterfully researched,...