'On Alexander's Track to the Indus', first published in 1929, is Aurel Stein's account of the expeditions he mounted following in the footsteps of Alexander the Great during the triumphant invasion that, interestingly, left not a trace in Indian literature or tradition. Stein's account has justifiably achieved cult status for the dangers and hardships encountered during his own expeditions; for the light it sheds on Alexander's invasions, and the wonders of Stein's discoveries (such as Alexander's Aornos); the illumination it offers on all fields of interest from archaeology to Indian literary culture, Graeco-Buddhist art and the spread of Buddhism right across Asia.

 

From the preface: 'A kindly fate and sympathetic comprehension on the part of those who officially dispense it, has enabled me, during intervals of my forty-one years' Indian service, to carry out explorations over the greater part of Innermost Asia, and along the whole of those north-western borderlands of India which by their historical past have powerfully attracted me since my early youth.'

 

From the website of Wikipedia:

 

Sir Marc Aurel Stein (26 November 1862-26 October 1943), born in Budapest, was a Hungarian Jewish archaeologist who became a British citizen. He was also a professor at various Indian universities. Stein was inspired by Sven Hedin's work, Through Asia. Stein took part in three successful expeditions and one failed expedition in Central Asia. The British Library's Stein collection of Chinese, Tibetan and Tangut manuscripts, Prakrit wooden tablets, and documents in Khotanese, Uighur, Sogdian and Eastern Turkic is the result of his travels through central Asia during the 1920s and 1930s.

 

Stein discovered manuscripts in the previously lost Tocharian languages and recorded numerous archaeological sites especially in Iran and Baluchistan. Stein's greatest discovery was made at the 'Caves of the Thousand Buddhas,' near Dunhuang (Tun Huang). It was there that he discovered the Diamond Sutra, the world's oldest dated printed text, along with 40,000 other scrolls (all removed, with shameless cynicism, by gradually winning the confidence of the humble Buddhist caretaker).

 

In 1901 Stein was responsible for exposing forgeries of Islam Akhun. During his expedition of 1906-1908 while surveying in the Kunlun mountain range in western China, Stein suffered frostbite and lost several toes on his right foot. When he was resting from his extended journeys into Central Asia, he spent most of his time living in a tent in the spectacularly beautiful alpine meadow called Gulmarg (or 'Meadow of Roses').

 

Except for his latest dog (which was always called 'Dash'), he lived alone here. He died and is buried in Kabul. The art objects he collected are divided between the British Museum, the British Library, the Srinagar Museum, and the National Museum, New Delhi. His collection is important in the study of the history of Central Asia and the art and literature of Buddhism.