In ancient Greece, a periplus was a document that listed the ports and coastal landmarks, in order and with approximate intervening distances, that the captain of a vessel could expect to find along a shore. In a way, it was a record of a journey. At our Online Talk #PeriplusOfHindustan, writer Sunanda Bhosekar examines the travelogues of foreign travellers who visited India between the 2nd century BCE to the 17th century CE, starting with Megasthenes, the first known traveller, whose travelogue is available, albeit in fragments. During the two millennia, Chinese, English, Italian, Persian, French, and Dutch travellers travelling throughout India have documented ‘the wonder that was India.’ She recounts snippets from their travels documenting geography, history, political and economic conditions, Indian social system, trade, crops, water, flora and fauna which they found amazing and unusual.

About the speaker

Sunanda Bhosekar is a writer and columnist in Marathi who has written research articles on Indian history, published collections of poems, and translated works to Hindi, English and Marathi. Her most recent work is 'Periplus of Hindustan (हिंदुस्थानची प्रदक्षिणा): India through the Eyes of Foreign Travellers,’ a two-volume book in Marathi, published by Granthali Publication in 2025.She recently retired as Assistant General Manager from the Reserve Bank of India.