The Last Mughal

Book :  The Last Mughal
Author : William Dalrymple
Awards : Duff Cooper Memorial Prize and Vodafone Crossword Book Award
Other Books by Author :
01. In Xanadu : A Quest
02. City of Djinns
03. The Age of Kali
04. From the Holy Mountain
05. Intrepid Arabia
06. White Mughals (Review available)
07. Edge of Faith
08. Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India
09. Tacticks: Scholars Choice Edition
10. World Monuments

About the Book: As title suggests,  this book is about the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar II. Till date Zafar was depicted as failure among the great Mughal emperors of India. But after reading the account of the 1857 mutiny by the Author, we are forced to change our perspective.

Award-winning historian and travel writer William Dalrymple researched this book for over 4 years and accessed sources, which were until now, never used to narrate the history of those times. The chits, papers, pleas, complaints, orders, receipts, notes from spies, letters of lovers, the newspaper of that time etc. formed the "The Mutiny Papers", which were found on the shelves of National Archives of India. Letters of British soldiers, accounts of British Governors etc. tell a different story then what we are used to hear till now.

We learn that Zafar was a mystic, an accomplished poet and a skilled calligrapher. But while his Mughal ancestors had controlled most of India, the aged Zafar was king in name only. Deprived of real political power by the East India Company, he nevertheless succeeded in creating a court of great brilliance, and presided over one of the great cultural renaissances of Indian history.

Then, in 1857, Zafar gave his blessing to the rebellion, thereby transforming an army mutiny into the largest uprising any empire had to face in the entire course of the nineteenth century. Though British were able to siege Delhi, it was reduced to a battered, empty ruin, and Zafar was sentenced to exile in Burma. 

My Take: Here the author has been able to give a fair account of the events, but he creates our sympathy for the king. The account of Mutiny makes us to believe as if we are wandering in the then city of Delhi. 

What we are taught from the beginning and what the research reveals. For history lovers this book is a must read.

White Mughals

Book : White Mughals
Author : William Dalrymple
Other Books by Author : 
01. In Xanadu : A Quest
02. City of Djinns
03. The Age of Kali
04. From the Holy Mountain
05. Intrepid Arabia
06. The Last Mughal (Review available)
07. Edge of Faith
08. Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India
09. Tacticks: Scholars Choice Edition
10. World Monuments

About the Book: This is the romantic and ultimately tragic tale of a passionate love affair of James Achilles Kirkpatrick and Khair-un-Nissa. He was the British Resident at the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad and she was the great-niece of the Nizam's Prime Minister and a descendant of the Prophet. Kirkpatrick, while on Indian duty, fell in love with Khair and overcame many obstacles to marry her—but she was locked away in purdah and engaged to a local nobleman. Eventually, while remaining Resident, Kirkpatrick converted to Islam. A true and captivating story.

Here we discover a world almost entirely unexplored by history, where Britishers acquired Mughal religion, culture and preferred to settle amongst Indians. 

This book is the product of five years' writing and extensive research. It involves secret assignments, court drama, harem politics, religious and family disputes, then society. On another level, the story is about trade, military and political dealings. Author has researched through letters, diaries, reports, and dispatches to England. Out of these sources he draws a fascinating picture. He talks about the racist attitude of the British ruling class towards mixed race off springs. The 'white Mughals' who wore local dress and adopted Indian ways were a source of embarrassments to successive colonial administrations. 

My Take: In the background of an unusual love story, we find a new perspective to the British Raj. How young boys were sent in the British Army and how the Mughal grandeur attracted them. For me a book to cherish.