William Dalrymple, who wrote so magically about India in 'City of Djinns', returns to the country in a series of remarkable essays.

According to the ancient Hindu scriptures, history is divided into four epochs. As William Dalrymple was told again and again on his travels around the Indian subcontinent, the region is now in the throes of the 'Kali Yug', the Age of Kali, an epoch of darkness and disintegration. In such an age normal conventions fall apart: anything is possible.

'The Age of Kali' is the distillation of ten years' relentless travelling around the length and breadth of the subcontinent, from the fortresses of the drug barons of the North-West Frontier to the jungle lairs of the Tamil Tigers, from the decaying palaces of Hyderabad to the Keralan exorcist temple of the bloodthirsty goddess Parashakti - She Who is Seated on a Throne of Five Corpses. Everywhere Dalrymple finds an ancient landscape overwhelmed by change, where the old certainties have been swept away, but where a new order has yet to fully establish itself. In some places the disintegration typical of the Age of Kali has reached almost apocalyptic proportions. In Lucknow Dalrymple finds a war being fought between rival wings of the student union, each side being armed with grenades and assault rifles; in neighbouring Bihar he finds the state has totally succumbed to a tidal wave of violence, corruption and endemic caste warfare.

Courageous, compassionat, erudite and beautifully written, laced with a thread of William Dalrymple's characteristic black humour, 'The Age of Kali' is a 'tour de force' of intellectual curiosity, direct observation and unprejudiced enquiry. Essential reading for anyone who wants to come to terms with India, it will further enhance Dalrymple's reputation as the most formidable travel writer of his generation.