Pasolini travels to India to make notes about a future film he planned on making. He examines differences between the modern India and the historical one found in its mythologies and vedic texts by posing a particular question based on a didactic anecdote that no longer seems to apply in a twentieth century world. This 'prehistory' forms most of the first part of the film. The second part covers a modern India marred by social divisions, overpopulation and poverty.