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All right, time for some industry secrets. (Well maybe not secrets, but certainly not widely known). For context, I work in the industry, have several clients in publishing, including one of the Big Five, and have been involved in campaigns for a few bestselling books.The first thing I should say is that most authors who aspire to the title of Bestselling Writer focus heavily on the ‘writer’ part and not nearly enough on the selling. For the purposes of this question, I will assume you have already mastered your craft, and have a product that is bestseller-worthy.Second, it is important to understand that in publishing, bestselling doesn’t necessarily equate to biggest selling. For example, a fiction book that doesn’t make the bestseller list may still greatly outsell a nonfiction bestseller.Third, there are several major bestseller lists and some are harder than others to get onto. The New York Times list remains the gold standard when it comes to prestige, but don’t knock the ones maintained by USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, the LA Times, Publishers Weekly, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble, among others.Finally, as you’ve probably already guessed, there are no guarantees that your book will become a bestseller. (There is one sneaky way that almost guarantees success, but we’ll come to that later).Here then are 10 tips that will significantly improve your chances of becoming a bestselling author:1. Pick your niche.I include this only because the question is about how to become a bestselling writer. The category you publish in has a major impact on whether or not your book has a shot at becoming a bestseller. The New York Times, for example, maintains more than 40 different lists, and you may need to sell tens of thousands of copies more to make Top 10 in, say, Hardcover Fiction than you would require in Humor.To further increase your chances of becoming a bestselling author, shoot for making the Amazon list instead. The online retailer maintains hundreds of niche categories, so look for the ones that most closely match your interest while requiring a lower sales threshold than other popular genres to be labelled a bestseller.2. Start planning well ahead of the release.I am currently (November 2015) working on a catalog that goes out to the trade, and it features books scheduled for release as late as July 2016. Prior to this, there would have been galley proofs sent out to high-profile people who might supply quotes worth using on the cover, as well as to potential reviewers, cover designers, possibly even pitched to studios who might be interested in optioning it for film. All that adds up to nearly a year of prior planning.3. Build out your website.Launch your own dedicated author website if you don’t already have one. Learn the basics of keeping your site updated—free CMSs like WordPress and Joomla and the availability of good, inexpensive templates have made it reasonably affordable for most writers to manage their own sites. Don’t think of this as a cost, but as an investment that will more than pay back for itself.Use your site to post information about your upcoming books. Get people to sign up for updates. Post teasers. Have cover reveals and contests. Allow comments. Add a bio and downloadable images that media outlets can use. Your website is Publicity Central, treat it like the valuable resource it is.4. Get social.Don’t rely on traditional media to generate buzz. Use Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites to keep you and your book in the news. Build a relationship with active bloggers and ask if you can guest-post on their blogs. Connect with those who show interest in your book; having a core of supporters (Team You) is valuable in spreading the word.5. Seek out early reviews.Once your manuscript is done, reach out to better-known authors you might have connected with or—if it is a nonfiction book—to experts in the field. Request short reviews, and if you receive something that’s especially good, consider using a blurb on the cover. Praise quotes help sell books.But what if you don’t know anyone you can approach for a quote? Some industry publications like Kirkus offer paid reviews. (Kirkus charges $425 for the service). There’s no guarantee that the book will get a good review, but if it does, there’s certain to be something you can pull and use as a praise quote in your marketing.6. Front-load your sales.Pre-selling on Amazon is a powerful strategy. The e-tailer allows you to list your book ahead of time and take pre-orders. If you can get enough of your fans, family and friends to order ahead of time, the sales will register as having taken place the day of release. If these numbers are fairly high, it might be enough to propel your book onto the Amazon bestseller list. Use this in conjunction with Tip #1 to increase your chances of success.7. Time your release.Unless you’re already a popular author, releasing your book between Thanksgiving and Christmas might not be the smartest idea. It’s the time that book sales peak, and you have to sell a heck of a lot more than you otherwise would to have a shot a making the bestseller list. Research the low sales period for your category and release your book at that time. The lesser the competition, the better your shot.8. Go for the big push.If you’ve built a relationship with bloggers (see Tip #4), request posts about the book just before and on the day of launch. Ditto for any media interviews that you might be able to schedule. If you’ve set aside some dollars for marketing, this is the time you want to spend it. Go for as much bang for your buck as you can possibly achieve rather than dilute the effort. With a little bit of luck, it might all come together for you.9. Pray for luck.Seriously. No matter how well you write, how enticing your cover is, how well you’ve planned, how good your marketing is…there is no magic formula that will guarantee your book will wind up a bestseller. Anyone who possessed that formula would be very, very rich. You can do a lot to improve your prospects, but converting bestseller potential to a chart listing comes down to the stars aligning for you that week.But if you absolutely, totally HAVE to get onto a bestseller list, you might want to…10. Buy your way.Unfortunate, but true. There is one US firm (which I will not name because I strongly disagree with their methods) that guarantees your book a spot on various bestseller lists…if you’re willing to pay a price. And that price isn’t cheap—I’ve seen figures of $200,000 and up bandied about for a NYT listing; less than $100,000 to rank on other lists. The firm apparently does so by making hundreds of small individual book purchases at stores whose sales figures are used to compile lists. The Times naturally won’t talk about what it does to safeguard itself from such manipulation, but the firm in question remains in business.So there you have it. Hopefully these tips help your book enjoy great success, whether or not it makes it to a bestseller list!Also see: Archie D'Cruz's answer to How do you become a New York Times bestselling author?

Bad idea. I feel Heinlein didn’t think through this and assumed that serving is a good differentiator between those who are serious about their citizenship and those who aren’t. It is not. In fact, I think what will happen in the best case scenario is you will end up as a more democratic Soviet Union. At worst, it will enable a junta. In any case, I doubt that the power structure would be stable enough to last until we invent FTL drives and interstellar spaceships.EDIT: 06/30/2020. I’ve been getting a lot of comments, which I appreciate, and I expanded my answers a little. It’s getting to a point that it starts to be a game of whack-a-mole given the volume and the fact that some people are asking the same thing in different threads. So I decided to move some of those answers, add a few clarifications, and expanded on a few points.Before I get to the answer, it’s important to note that you don’t have to serve in the military to be eligible to vote and also you can still voice your opinions and peacefully assemble as you wish, even if you’re not a voting citizen.So what happens in Heinlein’s society? You have three classes (or castes), starting from top to bottom and take note of the naming convention I used:Full Citizens (to make it easier, I’ll call them ‘Veterans’ even if their service weren’t in the military): These people are the only ‘true’ citizens because they are the only ones who can vote.Servicemembers (I’ll refer to them as ‘Servers’, for brevity): People who are in the process of being a citizen through service. If they complete their term honorably, they retire from duty and get upgraded to Veterans. They serve in the Service.Everyone else (‘Commoners’): Effectively second-class citizens because of their inability to vote. They form the pool of those who are going to be Servers and, eventually, Veterans.EDIT: Mobility between these groups DOES NOT mean that classes CAN’T exist. If that is true, then classes don’t exist in any modern country that calls itself a democracy because in theory you can be elected as leader as long as you’re a citizen. In practice, that’s just not true. If you’re born into a rich or influential family, you have a greater chance of “making it there” than if you’re born dirt poor. I’m going to be dealing with what I think will happen in practice here rather than what it theoretically will be, because that part had been done by Heinlein.Why do I call them a class? Because it’s very easy to differentiate between those “in” and those outside. In fact, it’s just one question: “Do you have a legitimate certificate that says you served?” You have it, then you’re a Veteran. You don’t have it, then you’re either a Server or a Commoner. In US military parlance, this is equivalent to having (or not having) a DD-214. Other countries have something similar.Edited section end, more belowWithin those classes, you obviously have sub-classes and you can move up (and down) between the classes. This, minus the class mobility and the option to serve outside of the military, has been tried before; it’s called ‘The Feudal System’ (Edit: This is a simplification of the feudal system, but the image helps get the idea across. The images shouldn’t be taken very literally like I’m trying to suggest that this is exactly what will happen in the Federation).It’s not going to look pyramidal. It will look like an hourglass. Imagine if the Bhramin class above covers the same area as Vaishya. In this case, the Bhramin would be our Veterans. AGAIN, IN THE FEDERATION YOU CAN MOVE BETWEEN THESE CLASSES, BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN THE DIVISIONS DON’T EXIST.The Veterans will be the ruling class; no doubt about that. They’re the only ones who can vote, and who would they vote for? People from their group of course! After all, even if they could, why would they give power to those (in the logic of the book) don’t fully comprehend it and have not shown their commitment to the betterment of the society?So you now have a Veteran President and ruling class. They have a considerable amount of power to do things. Who are they most beholden to? Who are they going to prioritize? The Veterans of course! These people voted them in and they can vote them out. The Commoners can yell all they want since they have Freedom of Speech, but they’re not as important to the rulers in helping them to hold on to power because they can’t directly vote.From the onset, the system is designed to be an oligarchy (rule of the few, namely Veterans). It only takes one bad ruler, one whose heart isn’t in the right place, to turn it into an aristocracy or some other un-free society. They can do so by manipulating who can who cannot be the Server. Think about the Service as a screening tool; you can select who can become citizens through it. If you want to maintain your power, you should make it such that only people who tend to agree with your views can serve and therefore become citizen.But surely the Constitution would stop that?If the ruling class have both the army, police (Law Enforcers), and judiciary (Lawmakers), who’s going to stop them from changing the Constitution? Or just ignore it altogether? Again, the Commoners can scream all they want, but they’re pretty powerless. Even if the Federation started out with well-intentioned idealists, it’s reasonable to say that eventually it will decay into this, because remember, Power Corrupts. People in power want to stay in power, and they have more leeway in doing so in Heinlein’s society.She’ll be in a power armor (or Fleet uniform), lost her blindfold, and the scales will be tilted towards Veterans.Once that happens, the ruling class can do anything. It’s up to Good Veterans to say enough is enough and bring balance to the power structure by divesting it to the Commoners.But when you do that, you’re surrendering your own power. Once your reform/revolution succeeds, you immediately realize that you’re now liable to be kicked out of power and potentially stripped of them in revenge. You risk descending your status from rulers to pariahs. It certainly doesn’t help that back in high school, your Moral and Philosophy teacher made sure you understand that direct democracy failed because it’s a mob rule. Given that you actually went to Service, it’s safe to assume that you honestly believe that.Then you become hesitant and changed your plan from ‘Voting rights for all’ to ‘You Commoners can have your say, but since you’re not very enlightened (because you haven’t served), we’ll moderate your influence’. So it will be an Electoral College-like scheme run by veterans who promised to vote on behalf of the Commoners (hey, why does this sound familiar?), ostensibly to prevent another mob rule that collapsed Western Democracies in the 80s, according to Heinlein’s timeline.Now, let’s go back and assume that the eventual government is relatively benign; it doesn’t aim to strip Commoners their rights or entrench the privilege of the Veterans/Servers—at least not actively doing so. And they’re also true to the Constitution by letting anyone who are willing to join to be able to enlist. It’s explicitly told that you’re always welcome to join the Service and there will be a place according to your abilities (hmm… where else have I heard something very similar?)Oh yeah…EDIT: I need to emphasize this again: YOU CAN BE BLIND AND IN A WHEELCHAIR, BUT THE SERVICE CAN’T TURN YOU DOWN. This is what the book said. They’ll find something for you to do.So now you have a Service and a populace who are all-too-willing to join (see the added section at the end on participation rate), for their own reasons. I doubt there ever will be a shortage of volunteers, especially when things are going badly. Even under normal, peaceful circumstances, more than enough people would join in order for them to gain power through voting rights. This, according to Heinlein, is what it should be.But now you have a greater supply than demand. The military can only be so big, especially in peacetime. The police and other public services are also limited. You don’t need 100 firefighters or paramedics in a town of 1,000 people. So the only way you can absorb the huge flux of people is to put them in the bureaucracy. Give them meaningless jobs so that they have some form of employment, maybe in the Department of Deparmenting Things, the Supervisory Board of Managerial Managers, the Office of Underwater Basket-weaving Standardization and Certification Board.Except this is now a taxpayer-funded, government-organized ‘labor’ with its own managing regional directors, 20 levels of managers, and a 100-page long code of conduct and standardization scheme written by as many Service writers instead of silly shenanigans.One thing that will take a big hit is innovation, especially automation. Since you have large numbers of people who you have to guarantee some form of employment, you’re not inclined to automate things or make it more efficient because that will take away your precious work slots.You know which real-world country had this exact problem? The Soviet Union. And look how it worked out for them in the end.This is what bloated bureaucracy + stagnant productivity looks like eventually, even though the Soviet Union was founded on idealistic principles and many people there really believed in it. This is what Federation would look like too, after several decades.Alternatively, you can put those people in the military. But remember, militaries are expensive to maintain and its members aren’t directly contributing to productivity. This was why it took so long for states to have standing armies; it was much cheaper to disband them and reform them again than keeping them ready in peacetime, eating the state budget for no discernible reasons. Again, you’ll end up with the Soviet system where the soldiers are used to perform secondary work unrelated to soldiering, like farming or working in the factories. Today, this is still the case in North Korea.Doesn’t look like soldiering to me. They’d probably be better soldiers by training in the shooting ranges rather than digging potatoes.And this will be the fate of those who joined the MI. If the war with the Arachnids never happened, Rico would be toiling away in a government-run farm or factory somewhere so his energy is put into good use for the economy. But that’s going to make the novel really boring, so there he was out there fighting bugs.Also, if you have a really large army, you better have a purpose for it. The army can’t just sit around doing nothing; it’d be bad for morale. So what would a sensible leader do? Poke those nasty aliens around to goad them into war so you can finally flex that military muscle you’ve been building. And war rarely ends well, even if you win it.ADDED SECTIONSHow many people will sign up? And how that leads to a bloated welfare systemSome people are under the impression that because US voters are becoming apathetic, therefore everyone else in the world can’t be bothered to vote. This is not true.First of all, the Federation is a post-racial and a post-nation-state society; this was explicitly stated in the book. Meaning, the Federation is more than just the US. You can’t extrapolate trends that apply to 5% of the world’s population to the other 95%. Voter participation is pretty high elsewhereIn case that’s not convincing enough, there are people around the world that really, really wanted to vote and have a say in the running of their countries:It has mixed results, admittedly, but the fact remains: People are enthusiastic about being able to vote.How is this relevant?This shows that people would be enlisting in droves for the chance to vote.Since the Service can’t turn anyone down unless they don’t understand the terms of service (i.e. mentally handicapped) and since the Service isn’t strictly military, a significant percentage of the population will be enlisted at any given time. And it’s not like the Service can cap the age either; Rico’s dad, who’s well in his 40s, joined the Mobile Infantry alongside his son. So basically anyone who’s technically an adult can join.Let’s look at how many people that is:Looking at the chart, there’s roughly about 3 billion people under age and who are probably practically too old to join. So that means 7.7–3 = 4.7 billion = 61% of the population are eligible to serve. Out of the 61%, let’s say “only” 70% are interested in voting at all (I’d argue the number would be much higher, given how fervent the Arab Spring revolutions were). So you’re left with 42.7% of the population eligible and willing to serve.Before I go further, it’s important to say that I assume you can enlist multiple times, given the “Can’t Turn You Down For Any Reason” clause. I don’t think this part was ever mentioned in the book. This is very important because if you’re a Veteran and you become unemployed or broke, you can always go back to the Service for guaranteed job security for a few years. It’s probably some BS job, but at least you’re being paid and you’re living somewhere decent. I know I would do that if I have no choice. Point is, Serving is very attractive economically. Why go through all the job hunting and interviews if you can just show up to the recruiters’ office?Also keep in mind that when you’re enlisted, you’re probably going to fill in the lower-end positions. Higher offices are for those who went Career, like Rico. In a military, you’re talking about privates, corporals, maybe certain levels of sergeants, but not officers.Let’s say out of that 42.7%, a third of them would be in-Service. The number would fluctuate up and down, and during a recession where many people got laid off, the enlistment is bound to spike up. And let’s face it, recession is always going to be a thing as long as we have an economic system.So now you have a whopping 14.3% of the population living on government paycheck. For comparison, the average in the US is less than 10% and this had been criticized for being too big and bloated.How are you going to fund that many people? This is why I think they’ll end up with a Department of Redundancy Department, because the Federation can then say that they’ve kept their laws.Gaming the systemOne of the reasons why I think the Veteran would be an entrenched and semi-hereditary class is because how rich and powerful people in real-life can get away without serving or being somewhere safe.In real-life, if there were ever a call-up for conscription, I’m willing to bet that in most cases rich parents would try to bail their children out, if they can. This is natural; wanting the best for your children is hard-wired into the brain. Wanting to stay out of danger is also natural. This is why some people go so far to get doctors to write that they (or their children) have bone spurs, university deferments, or whatever. Alternatively, they can curry favor with important people in the military or government to at least make sure that their children is somewhere relatively safe.What would happen in the Federation is the reverse. Veterans are likely to want their children to be able to vote too. But they also don’t want their children to be in danger, ideally. So the more unscrupulous ones would try to pay off people to register their children without actually sending their children to serve. Alternatively, they could band together to make some “safe” postings, probably adding nothing of value to the Federation.If you think this won’t be a problem or “Real Veterans won’t do that!” I think you seriously overestimated how much of an impact Service would do to a person. I know a bunch of veterans, worked under one before, and I don’t really see them any more elevated than normal people overall. The ones I worked with are great, but I know there are terrible people who happened to be veterans too. It depends on your mentality and what you put in; if your heart is in the right place, you’re probably going to be a better person afterwards. Likewise, if you’re there just to tick some boxes like people who game the system would, you’re probably not gonna change that much. You’ll probably be a lot more obnoxious given that you now have something tangible you can differentiate yourself from the Commoners.People like these would be beyond insufferable in the Federation.Greta Thurnberg, Why She’s Relevant To This Discussion, and how it leads to “Rico’s Friend’s Problem”A recurring theme in the books is the idea that you need to prove your seriousness in participating before you’re allowed to vote. And the way that Heinlein proposed can be boiled down to “if you’re so serious, why don’t you join up and serve? Show it to everyone.”This is patently false. There are other ways to demonstrate your seriousness. This is where Greta Thurnberg comes in.If she had been living in the Federation, she’d be too young to serve. But whether or not you agree with her views, it’s undeniable that she cares and is interested in participating in the political discourse and changing the world to make it a better place. Meaning, she’s one of those who are going to be seriously voting.But in the logic of the book, all her publicity stunt and the UN speech won’t count for much; she still have to serve in order to vote.To put it in another way: She already demonstrated the spirit of wanting to be an active participant. Why do we have to force her to follow the letter of the law? From a purely economic standpoint, this is inefficient; instead of doing years in the Service where she could be assigned just about anywhere if the situation demands it, wouldn’t it make more sense to give her the vote and let her continue her education or work as she sees fit? Ethically, this is the same problem as conscription. Is it moral to force someone to join, especially since that person already fulfilled the purpose?Extending this problem, we can ask, “Is Serving the only way to prove you care enough about your society?”Why can’t someone who only post facebook political memes vote? Why is that not a good enough proof that you want to join the discourse? Where do we draw the line? Is the Service a fair line for that purpose?I personally know people with no inclination to join the military and only post on social media who are very passionate defenders of their views; you can count on them to come to the polls.Which brings me to the “Rico’s Friend’s Problem”:Let’s say Rico had a high school friend. Let’s call her Brenda (I don’t know, that’s the first name that came up to me and I’m sure there were no Brendas in both the book and the movie).Brenda belongs to a pacifist/anarchist religious sect who don’t believe in serving the state. They simply don’t join the Service out of religious conviction. Brenda wholeheartedly agrees with this principle. But she also thinks that the Federation is heading in the wrong direction with respect to an issue because her religious beliefs and so she must have a say in it. She wants to vote. She believes that as a resident of the Federation, she’s entitled to have her say.But the Federation won’t let her unless she joined.Now she’s in a dilemma where she had to choose between breaking a strict religious taboo, potentially making her an outcast in the community, or keeping her faith but tainting her conscience.This is, of course, a recontextualized story of countless conscription-evaders, conscientious objectors, and draft dodgers. What should the Federation do?If you think “well, that’s just her silly beliefs!” The Federation won’t have the luxury of saying that; they’re stuck in a conundrum where they give Brenda the right to vote and violate their own laws, or force Brenda to serve and violate the principle of Freedom of Belief, meaning that the Federation will actively discriminate against particular group of people.Why can’t Brenda just vote if she feels strongly about something? Should the government have the right to force her to make some “public display” in order for her to prove her intent? If so, how far can they make her do that? According to Heinlein: Serve (even if it’s not in the military). No substitute. This, I think, is immoral.This is where our current inclusive democracy is superior. Brenda won’t have this problem. She won’t have to do all that. She’ll never be forced to. And so far, it seems that works alright.

The lost eon 6th Century B.C to 1174 A.D"This is India’s history from an average Indian 10th grader's point of viewHarappans were the first people in India, and they had a fetish for building abnormally large bath-tubs.Their asses were then kicked by the some unknown invading Aryans.Somewhere down the line, Alexander and his badass gang of Greeks came calling.Chandragupta Maurya with his adviser Chanakya, did some awesome 420giri to take over from the Greeks.They were then succeeded by the Guptas who brought the ‘Golden Age’ with them.Mahmud of Ghazni, however, looted all that gold. He needed a sum total of 17 visits to complete his gold quest.Mohammad Ghauri followed him with similar intentions, but decided to avoid the trouble and simply stay back. And then he died.He left his slave Qutub-ud-din Aibak to do all the ruling. His most significant achievement was to build one pointless tower.Then came a Muslim queen, underlining our credentials in female liberation.It was then the turn of Tughlaq and his gang of idiots. They moved national capitals around because they hated the weather.From somewhere, Babar, a descendant of a lame, one eyed king from Central Asia landed in India.He and his sons, calling themselves Mughals, ruled India for the next 350 years.Their party came to an end when Englishmen arrived, redcoats and all, and took a strong fancy to our country.I am not making the above stuff up. Of course, I might have taken liberties with some of the descriptions, but then this was more-or-less what a tenth grader summarized about pre-British Indian history. I would have appreciated this individuals grasp of Indian history if not for the fact that this version is completely and utterly bullshit.Peruse that list again, in case you did not read it carefully. Till the advent of the British, how many Indian emperors, kings have been mentioned in the above list? How many of them have been highlighted and glorified in our history despite some seriously awesome stuff they did? Has our History been modified to such an extent that our own ancestors have been left out of out of it?The one word answer to the last question: YESIf you see, India is one of the very few countries to have a civilization which goes back to about 3000 BC. No other country has this big a history. To put it in perspective, India’s last golden age was in the 6th century BC. Wonder what were the others in the world doing at that time……….The AngrezNo comments!!AmericansAmerica...What the hell is that?We are a civilization that was so advanced, that we were actually celebrating our golden age when Brits still hadn’t figured out what ”Being Clothed’ meant and the Americans could have been the name of an opium brand. So isn’t it kinda surprising that only two Indian emperors were considered to be worth remembering by a tenth grader in an eon or so? Would have been humorous, if it wasn’t our civilization. And because it is, it becomes deeply distressing and disturbing.The Gupta dynasty as a dynasty, ended in about 6th century AD. However, the last meaningful king that our History textbooks bother to mention is Chandragupta II, whose reign ended in 4th Century AD. And then, the scene is fast forwarded to the point where Mohammad Ghauri invaded India in 1191, to start the Delhi Sultanate which would then metamorphose into the Islamic Empire. What does the above line tell you?It tells you that an average tenth grader actually knows nothing about what happened in India in the intervening period between the Guptas and the Delhi Sultanate (A time period of about 800 years). At least they do not think it was worth remembering. To be fair they are not to blame, especially when you consider our academicians have dedicated ONE single Chapter in the Seventh standard History textbook, to cover the period when it was Indians who ruled the land..Yes… ONE CHAPTER, COVERING A PERIOD OF A THOUSAND YEARS ENCOMPASSING THE WHOLE OF THE INDIAN CIVILAZTION. One Chapter from history lessons stretching across the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and the tenth grades of CBSE. One insignificant chapter in over five years of schooling dealing with a period of more than one thousand years.http://ncertbooks.prashanthellina.com/class_7.SocialScience.OurPastsII/Chapter%202.pdfThis is that chapter.. Click on the link if you have the time and patience to revisit your seventh standard History textbookNow why only one chapter, is known only to the enlightened souls who designed those textbooks. And as a result of either their deliberate oversight or perhaps pure ineptitude, most of the school children do not know have any idea aboutThe Harsha EmpireThis empire was founded by King Harshavardhana. This guy ascended the throne immediately after the Gupta dynasty, at an age when we aren’t allowed to have a driving license or have a drink. He became an emperor at the age of sixteen in about 606 AD. He went on to capture what is today called North India (Including Kashmir) and Pakistan, His empire at its greatest extent looked something like thisHe actually united all these states, something that we struggle to do even today!!!He fought almost 300 battles in the 41 years he ruled with a win loss ratio that even Novak Djokovic would envy; 299-1. Uniting all these states, I guess was trouble even then.Not only was he adept as a fighting machine, but actually authored three full length Sanskrit plays Ratnavali, Priyadarsika and Nagananda, while he was busy conquering. Nagananda especially is considered one of the greatest plays ever written in Sanskrit literature. It is thought to be the first play ever to have five acts where the tone changes midway from Romance to horror and ends with the villain turning into the hero. This guy introduced plot twists and ‘cut to the chase‘ in the 6th century AD. And all of that was probably thought in the middle of a battle.Amongst Harsha’s other achievements, was that he was the first to abolish Sati as a rule in his kingdom, some 800 years before Raja Ram Mohan Roy was even born. He was a major patron of the Nalanda University, and was the title sponsor of the ramparts around it, for protection from invaders and other pricks. No wonder Nalanda expanded singularly because of this guys patronage.Harsha was the first King to have ever established a diplomatic relationship with China, with ambassadors and gifts being exchanged in 630 AD. And last but not the least the guy in the pic below lived in the kingdom of Harsha, and was patronized by this emperor so that he could work on his field of expertise.This was the guy who went on to INVENT THE ZERO!!!!Surely Emperor Harsha deserves more than the 10 lines that he currently gets in our history textbook.ORThe Pala dynastyThis dynasty was founded by Gopala in Bengal in the year 705 AD. This guy was not your run-of-the-mill type of tyrant that were prevalent those days.Gopala was DEMOCRATICALLY elected by the people of his kingdom. He was the FIRST EVERdemocratically elected ruler in South Asia, perhaps even Asia and even the world. Giving people right to elect the ruler wasn’t the most fashionable thing those days you know!!!!Legend goes that people of Bengal at that time were sick of repeated invasions, pillaging and general anarchy. So they got Gopala, the most powerful military dude in their kingdom, anointed him as their king. And boy did he rule! He and his successors ruled for the next 400 years. Yes… 4 centuries in all!This was their empire at the peak of their power. Purely in terms of square kilometers, it exceeds even the Mughal Empire at its peak. Go figure….Pala’s other achievements again had something to do with the Nalanda university. In those days, what would a king do if he captured a territory? His intentions would most probably be to rape, loot, pillage, plunder, destroy and disfigure, not necessarily in that order. And what did King Dhanapal do when he captured Nalanda? He adopted it and took it to even greater heights. And then figured one university was probably not enough. So he established the Vikaramashila University as well. These two universities are even today universally acknowledged to be the greatest universities ever in Indian History. One flourished under the Palas, and the other was established by them. And as a footnote, the entire region of Tibet adopted Buddhism because of this guy’s efforts. So the Dalai Lama, in some way, has to thank the Palas for his influence today.So ruling almost the entire Indian Sub-continent (From Afghanistan to Myanmar), establishing not one but two of the greatest Universities of those times guarantees you a place in the annals of history as a magnificent king. But then the Palas did not stop at that. They then went on to build the biggest ever Buddhist Vihara or monastery, ever. The Somapura Mahavira consisted of 177 cells for the monks to live with a magnificent stupa in the middle. The entire campus occupied about 30 acres and rivaled the Pyramids for its opulence, but with a fundamental difference. The Somapura Mahavira was actually useful. In those times you couldn’t have been a great Buddhist monk if you hadn’t been to Somapura.Kicks ass...doesn't itApparently, an archeologist named J.C.French wanted to excavate the site of Somapura, but was refused citing lack of funds. Pretty much the story of the shortchanging of this great empire by our history. They deserve more than the 7 lines they get in our history textbook.ORThe ChalukyasRemember the King Harsha you met two paragraphs ago where I told you that he had a battlefield win loss ratio of 299-1? Well, The Chalukyas were responsible for that ‘one’ in his loss column.And amongst many other things like inspiring the architecture that you have seen in Hampi, establishing and propagating the Kannada language, they also were the first ones in the world to legalize prostitution.Poor souls don’t even get a mention in the text book.SimilarlyThe PallavasYou all know Chalukyas defeated the undefeated king Harsha right. But then shortly afterward, Pallavas gave a bloody nose to the same empire which had defeated the then undefeated king. Pallavas ruled over the Chalukyas and most of India south of the Narmada for about 150 years.They single-handedly built the rock-cut temple complex in Mahabalipuram. It is rumoured that half the temples are actually under the sea, so the Mahabalipuram complex is actually way more impressive than what is visible.And it is in the Pallava kingdom, you have the genesis of the south-asian script or ‘Pallava Grantha’. Whenever and wherever you read Tamil or see it’s alphabets, remember that it had its origins in the Pallava Grantha. Here is a list of all the languages that owe its existence to the Pallava kingdom as their scripts have their root in this granthaTamilTeluguMalayalamTuluSinhaleseMalayBahasa IndonesiaThaiAnd how many pages does the great Pallava dynasty get in our textbook… u guessed it… ZERO.and FinallyThe CholasIn a speaking convention, the best speaker is always reserved for the last. In a farewell party for your seniors, the most popular guy is always honoured last. So I am mentioning the most important empire in Pre-Islamic Indian history, which also happens to be the most shortchanged, The Cholas, Last.Just to give you an idea, the Chola empire, if it existed today would have spannedIndiaSri LankaBangladeshMyanmarThailandMalaysiaIndonesiaVietnamSingaporeMaldivesStill not able to visualize the expanse of the Chola Empire, Let me help youClearly, Cholas did not know what the word small meant.Cholas were one of the earliest empires in Indian history, with some estimates dating them back to almost 300 B.C. They are even mentioned by Emperor Ashoka in his pillars, as a friendly empire in the south. Their recorded downfall is in the 1250′s. In pre-medieval India’s highly fluid power equations, the Chola empire was the one and perhaps the only constant.The good stuff about the Cholas first. I am sure all of you must have heard of the beautiful and the grand temples all over Tamil Nadu. It was the Cholas who added the adjective grand before the temples. The kind of made it a fashion statement to build big temples, covered with intricate carvings, a trend which was essentially followed by his successors transcending empires.Ever heard of the Brihadeeshwara Temple in Tanjore. It was built by Raja Raja Chola in the 11th century. Let me tell you some quick facts about this place of worshipThe Shivling in this temple is the largest of its kind, in the world.The Nandi outside, is, again, the largest in the world.The base of the temple is supposed to be so big, that the shadow of its massive ‘gopuram’ actually does not fall on the ground.The top of the ‘gopuram’ consists of a single granite stone weighing approximately 82 tonnes (82,000 Kgs for those weak in metrics). Now, this being 11th century AD, it was a problem getting that big piece of rock to a height of 63 Metres. So what did the Cholas do?Unsurprisingly they built the world’s largest transport ramp, using some kick-ass trigonometry, which stretched all the way to about 20 Kms, all the way inclining towards the top, which basically allowed the elephants to push the rock all the way up.Once on top, they sent masons to do some intricate carvings on that stone, as if somebody would notice at that height.No wonder it is called 'Big' TempleAny emperor or empire will consider this piece of art to be the peak of their artistic prowess which will be talked about for generations to come. But Cholas being the Cholas, weren’t satisfied. Raja Raja’s son Rajendra went on to build an exact replica of this temple at a place called Gangai Konda Cholapuram, near the modern town of Chidambaram.Two big temples, takes quite a beating doesn’t it. Sadly the second temple is not even mentioned in the history books, anywhere. None outside Tamil Nadu even know about its existence, even today.And also did I tell you, the Cholas were the first in the world to build a fully functional water diversion/water regulation system in the world. Chola king Karikalan built this 329 feet stone dam over the river Kaveri and a network of canals, in 1st century AD, for water storage and irrigation. So when most of the western world was still eating raw animal flesh, Cholas were building dams, navigable canals and were irrigating 10,00,000 (1 Million) hectares of land in their kingdom.And before I forget, the system they built is in use even today!!!I don’t have to tell you whether our historians bothered to mention this thing in our textbook.In case you think Cholas were your peace loving, violence shying role model Emperors, let me move on to some of their badass stuffCholas pioneered in the 6th century what we today know as the Navy. Use of ships for fighting battles existed, Battle of Salamis was probably the first naval engagement ever recorded, but Cholas took Naval warfare to an entirely new level. They probably were the first ones to make their Navy a totally independent service with its own powers and not the extension of the army as was the norm then. They also were the first to pioneer the concept of building exclusive fighting ships and the first to implement the idea of fleets.Their ship building program was instituted and ships were designed and built for different purposes. Trap ships (They called themselves ‘Kannis’ which means a ‘virgin’ in Tamil. They even had a sense of humour) to lure the enemies into traps, destroyers to do what their name suggests, supply ships etc were the some of the different types of Chola Naval vessels. Cholas also were one of the first to evolve strategic naval doctrines, advanced ship formations and naval warfare tactics. They were the first ones to start operating ships in fleets. The smallest fleet in the Chola navy consisted of about 12 ships and the largest went up to 500 or more vessels.In three words, They kicked ass…And to match their tactical nous, they augmented their vessels with the then state of the art weaponry, both indigenous and imported from China. Their ships were equipped with catapults and probably the first ship-based flamethrowers. Chola navies were routinely known to annihilate enemies five times their number. The Chola navy, in one line, could be described asAwesome tactics+Brilliant Ships+Latest Weaponry= Bad news for the enemyThis combination enabled Cholas, to practice the first ever recorded instance of what is today called ‘Gunboat Diplomacy’. Sri Vijaya empire, ruling Cambodia, had the guts to actually sack a Chola Merchant convoy. Cholas responded by taking two fleets of about 500 ships each and obliterating the Sri Vijaya kingdom out of existence. The neighboring king of Kambujadesa, terrified of what happened to his colleague, basically folded his hands, bowed his head and sent an ornamental chariot to appease the Cholas and declared them as his rulers. And Cholas didn’t even have to fire a single shot.It is also believed by some sources, that Cholas because of a navigational error, landed in Sri Lanka by mistake. And just for fun, they went on to capture the entire country. There is no actual proof of this but knowing the Cholas, this is quite possible.At their peak Chola ships consisted of about 1000-1500 battle ships divided into 4 fleets placed in strategic locations like Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Kaveripoompatinam in Tamil Nadu also known as Poompuhar. They were so powerful that the Chinese actually requested Cholas to stop the rampant piracy in the straits of Malacca. They even merited mentions in dispatches in faraway Greece for their naval expertise.And they were no mugs on the land either. Recall the Gangai Konda Cholapuram temple built by Rajaendra Cholan? It literally means ‘Subduing of the river Ganges’. He built the city in honour of his march upto the Ganges river. A south Indian empire stretching from the River Kaveri in the south all the way up to the River Ganga in the North deserves much better treatment in our history books. As one of my friend’s said, if the Cholas had been born in America, DC or Marvel comics would have transformed them into super-heroes with a body of adamantium. Because they were born in India, they get about a quarter page in the text-book.There were in all a total of 16 Chola kings in the Chola Empire. For all of you who actually read that chapter, you will find only the names of two (Raja Raja Chola and Rajendra Chola) have been mentioned. And all the other kings and important details of their empire have been completely eliminated. This is the state of Raja raja cholas samadhi today:There were other empires too at that time who find next to no mention or even worse no mention at all in our History textbooks. The Rashtrakutas ruling what today will be Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra were singularly responsible for three of the top four tourist destinations in the state of Maharashtra today. I am talking about the Ajanta, Ellora and the Elephanta Caves. A Special mention to the Kailas temple in Ellora which is the world’s largest temple cut out of a single piece of rock.This whole thing was built out of one single piece of rock!!!Same was the case with the Yadavas, who built the fort of Devagiri or Daulatabad, made famous later by the idiot Mohammad Bin Tughlaq. You know why he specifically chose Devgiri to move his capital?It is the only fort in recorded history that hasn’t yet fallen in an open battle. It was captured by Alaudiin Khilji through deceit and bribery, but was not won in a fight. Who built it..The Yadavs? Are they mentioned in the History textbook? If you said ‘No’, You got the answer right.I am not against the lessons on the Islamic empire and their conquests, brutal as they may have been. They are a part of our history. But my question is, aren’t these emperors and their empires a part of our history too? Haven’t these empires contributed to our way of life, our values and principles more than the Islamic kings have ever done? And by eliminating these kingdoms from our history, aren’t you depriving our generation of this great knowledge?"