Gates of India

It is only within the last century that explorers and historians have rediscovered the landward gates of India which lie to the north and west of the peninsula through which have poured immigrants from Asia and conquerors from the west from time immemorial. It is only by an examination of the historical records which concern them, and the geographical conditions that surround them, that any clear appreciation of the value of this dangerous field of the Indian Trans-frontier can be attained. India was insulated and protected by geographical conformations which formed a natural barrier against outside influences. On the northeast a vast wilderness of forest covered mountain ranges and deep lateral valleys barred the way most effectually against irruption from the yellow races of Asia. On the north the curving serrated ramparts of the north-east gave place to the Himalayan barrier, the huge highlands of Tibet were equally impassable to the pushing hordes of the Mongols; and this extended to the hinterland of Kashmir, and beyond the Himalayan system.

Here in the Trans-Indus region of Kashmir, sterile, rugged, cold, and crowned with ice-clad peaks, there is a slippery track reaching northward into the depression of Chinese Turkistan, which for all times has been recognized route connecting India with High Asia. It is called the Karakoram route. From this point commences the true northwest barrier of India. a barrier which includes nearly the whole width of Afghanistan beyond the formidable wall of the Trans-Indus mountains. It is here that the gates of India are to be found, and it is with this outermost region of India, and what lies beyond it, that this book is chiefly concerned. THE GATES OF INDIA of Thomas Holdich remains as relevant today as when first published in 1910 for a thorough understanding of the formidable and dangerous frontier of India.