Rome paid barbarian king Alaric 3,000 pounds of Indian pepper in 410 CE. Not as food but as psychological warfare currency. This is India's forgotten trade empire that drained Rome of millions, funded temples, and created the first NRI diaspora. The story they never taught you.

In this episode, discover how Kerala's pepper monopoly lasted 3,000 years, why Indian sailors carved their names into Egyptian walls, and how Tamil women with "pepper-stained fingers" ran the world's first global supply chain. From Pharaoh Ramesses II's nose to Roman toilets at Hadrian's Wall, black peppercorns tell the story of India's first golden age.

Modern Lessons: Why Columbus died chasing India How Indians detected Roman currency debasement instantly. Why trust-based systems beat state guarantees. The semiconductor parallel to pepper monopolies. Why strong cultures absorb while weak ones build walls.

How was zero invented? Discover how ancient India's Brahmagupta formalized zero and negative numbers in 628 CE: the mathematical foundation behind every computer, smartphone, and algorithm today.

In this episode of India's Golden Age Podcast, we explore the untold story of how a 7th-century astronomer in Ujjain revolutionized mathematics, why Europe banned "infidel math" for centuries, and how philosophical traditions of śūnyatā (emptiness) enabled the greatest technological breakthrough in human history.

Learn how ancient India's mathematical innovations shaped modern technology, why controlling your narrative matters, and how humanities enable technical breakthroughs.