Author: Zahir Dehlvi
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Pvt.Limited
ISBN: 9780143435877
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 352
Book Description
Dastan-E-Ghadar
Author: Zahir Dehlvi
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Pvt.Limited
ISBN: 9780143435877
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 352
Book Description
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Pvt.Limited
ISBN: 9780143435877
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 352
Book Description
Dastan-e-Ghadar
Author: Zahir Dehliv
Publisher: Penguin Random House India
ISBN: 9386495503
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 325
Book Description
Zahir Dehlvi, an accomplished poet and young official in the court of Bahadur Shah Zafar, lived through the cataclysmic 1857 Revolt that changed the course of history, markingthe end of Mughal dominion and the instatement of the British Raj. Dehlvi's memoir, written on his deathbed, not only chronicles the fading glory of the Mughal court and his entry into a vanishing way of life, but also, most importantly, pivots on the horrifying spectacle of the Revolt and its aftermath-from the violent siege of Shahjahanabad to the bloody reprisals that followed. We learn about the brutal murder of the British Resident and the ensuing deaths of the European men, women and children who were sheltering inside the Qila. We also glimpse the emperor's pleas to the rebels and his helplessness as they took over the Qila. Moreover, Dehlvi crucially elaborates on the plight of those who managed to escape the slaughter and carnage. Translated into English for the first time, Dehlvi's memoir is intensely vivid and moving, filled with incident and rich in insight. An immensely significant historical record of the Revolt as it unfolded, Dastan-e-Ghadar is also a compelling personal account that conjures the dramatically changing world Dehlvi lived in.
Publisher: Penguin Random House India
ISBN: 9386495503
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 325
Book Description
Zahir Dehlvi, an accomplished poet and young official in the court of Bahadur Shah Zafar, lived through the cataclysmic 1857 Revolt that changed the course of history, markingthe end of Mughal dominion and the instatement of the British Raj. Dehlvi's memoir, written on his deathbed, not only chronicles the fading glory of the Mughal court and his entry into a vanishing way of life, but also, most importantly, pivots on the horrifying spectacle of the Revolt and its aftermath-from the violent siege of Shahjahanabad to the bloody reprisals that followed. We learn about the brutal murder of the British Resident and the ensuing deaths of the European men, women and children who were sheltering inside the Qila. We also glimpse the emperor's pleas to the rebels and his helplessness as they took over the Qila. Moreover, Dehlvi crucially elaborates on the plight of those who managed to escape the slaughter and carnage. Translated into English for the first time, Dehlvi's memoir is intensely vivid and moving, filled with incident and rich in insight. An immensely significant historical record of the Revolt as it unfolded, Dastan-e-Ghadar is also a compelling personal account that conjures the dramatically changing world Dehlvi lived in.
Besieged
Author:
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 8184759169
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 662
Book Description
Translated by Mahmood Farooqui, with notes on the Mutiny Papers and governance in Delhi 1857 by the translator When Delhi lay under siege for five harrowing months in the summer of 1857, the people of the city described the events as ghadar: a time of turbulence. Resources within the besieged city fell dangerously low and locals found the rebelling sepoys presence and the increased levies insufferable. Nonetheless, an extraordinary effort was launched by the government of Bahadur Shah Zafar to fight the British. Thousands of labourers and tonnes of materials were mobilized, funds were gathered, the police monitored food prices and a functioning bureaucracy was vigilantly maintained right until the walled city s fall. Then, as Delhi was transformed by the victorious British, these everyday sacrifices and the efforts of thousands of people to save their country were lost forever. In this groundbreaking work, Mahmood Farooqui presents the first extensive translations into English of the Mutiny Papers documents dating from Delhi s 1857 siege, originally written in Persian and Shikastah Urdu. The translations include such fascinating pieces as the constitution of the Court of Mutineers, letters from soldiers threatening to leave Delhi if they were not paid their salaries, complaints to the police about unruly soldiers, and reports of troublesome courtesans, spies, faqirs, doctors, volunteers and harassed policemen. Shifting focus away from the conventional understanding of the events of 1857, these translations return ordinary and anonymous men and women back into the history of 1857. Besieged offers a view of how the rebel government of Delhi organized the essential requirements of war food and labour, soldiers salaries, arms and ammunition but more than that, this deeply evocative book reveals the hopes, beliefs and failures of a people who lived through the tragic end of an era.
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 8184759169
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 662
Book Description
Translated by Mahmood Farooqui, with notes on the Mutiny Papers and governance in Delhi 1857 by the translator When Delhi lay under siege for five harrowing months in the summer of 1857, the people of the city described the events as ghadar: a time of turbulence. Resources within the besieged city fell dangerously low and locals found the rebelling sepoys presence and the increased levies insufferable. Nonetheless, an extraordinary effort was launched by the government of Bahadur Shah Zafar to fight the British. Thousands of labourers and tonnes of materials were mobilized, funds were gathered, the police monitored food prices and a functioning bureaucracy was vigilantly maintained right until the walled city s fall. Then, as Delhi was transformed by the victorious British, these everyday sacrifices and the efforts of thousands of people to save their country were lost forever. In this groundbreaking work, Mahmood Farooqui presents the first extensive translations into English of the Mutiny Papers documents dating from Delhi s 1857 siege, originally written in Persian and Shikastah Urdu. The translations include such fascinating pieces as the constitution of the Court of Mutineers, letters from soldiers threatening to leave Delhi if they were not paid their salaries, complaints to the police about unruly soldiers, and reports of troublesome courtesans, spies, faqirs, doctors, volunteers and harassed policemen. Shifting focus away from the conventional understanding of the events of 1857, these translations return ordinary and anonymous men and women back into the history of 1857. Besieged offers a view of how the rebel government of Delhi organized the essential requirements of war food and labour, soldiers salaries, arms and ammunition but more than that, this deeply evocative book reveals the hopes, beliefs and failures of a people who lived through the tragic end of an era.
The Emperor Who Never Was
Author: Supriya Gandhi
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674243919
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353
Book Description
The definitive biography of the eldest son of Emperor Shah Jahan, whose death at the hands of his younger brother Aurangzeb changed the course of South Asian history. Dara Shukoh was the eldest son of Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor, best known for commissioning the Taj Mahal as a mausoleum for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. Although the Mughals did not practice primogeniture, Dara, a Sufi who studied Hindu thought, was the presumed heir to the throne and prepared himself to be India’s next ruler. In this exquisite narrative biography, the most comprehensive ever written, Supriya Gandhi draws on archival sources to tell the story of the four brothers—Dara, Shuja, Murad, and Aurangzeb—who with their older sister Jahanara Begum clashed during a war of succession. Emerging victorious, Aurangzeb executed his brothers, jailed his father, and became the sixth and last great Mughal. After Aurangzeb’s reign, the Mughal Empire began to disintegrate. Endless battles with rival rulers depleted the royal coffers, until by the end of the seventeenth century Europeans would start gaining a foothold along the edges of the subcontinent. Historians have long wondered whether the Mughal Empire would have crumbled when it did, allowing European traders to seize control of India, if Dara Shukoh had ascended the throne. To many in South Asia, Aurangzeb is the scholastic bigot who imposed a strict form of Islam and alienated his non-Muslim subjects. Dara, by contrast, is mythologized as a poet and mystic. Gandhi’s nuanced biography gives us a more complex and revealing portrait of this Mughal prince than we have ever had.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674243919
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353
Book Description
The definitive biography of the eldest son of Emperor Shah Jahan, whose death at the hands of his younger brother Aurangzeb changed the course of South Asian history. Dara Shukoh was the eldest son of Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor, best known for commissioning the Taj Mahal as a mausoleum for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. Although the Mughals did not practice primogeniture, Dara, a Sufi who studied Hindu thought, was the presumed heir to the throne and prepared himself to be India’s next ruler. In this exquisite narrative biography, the most comprehensive ever written, Supriya Gandhi draws on archival sources to tell the story of the four brothers—Dara, Shuja, Murad, and Aurangzeb—who with their older sister Jahanara Begum clashed during a war of succession. Emerging victorious, Aurangzeb executed his brothers, jailed his father, and became the sixth and last great Mughal. After Aurangzeb’s reign, the Mughal Empire began to disintegrate. Endless battles with rival rulers depleted the royal coffers, until by the end of the seventeenth century Europeans would start gaining a foothold along the edges of the subcontinent. Historians have long wondered whether the Mughal Empire would have crumbled when it did, allowing European traders to seize control of India, if Dara Shukoh had ascended the throne. To many in South Asia, Aurangzeb is the scholastic bigot who imposed a strict form of Islam and alienated his non-Muslim subjects. Dara, by contrast, is mythologized as a poet and mystic. Gandhi’s nuanced biography gives us a more complex and revealing portrait of this Mughal prince than we have ever had.
Maid in India
Author: Tripti Lahiri
Publisher: Rupa Publications
ISBN: 9789384067335
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 328
Book Description
We eat first, they later, often out of food portioned out for them; we live in the front, they in the back; we sit on chairs and they on the floor; we drink from glasses and ceramic plates and they from ones made of steel set aside for them; we call them by their names, and they address us by titles: sir/ma'am, sahib/memsahib... Every year, thousands of poor, illiterate, unskilled women flock to Delhi from villages across the country to work as domestic help. This is how Fullin from Athgama in rural Jharkhand, Lovely from a tiny settlement in Malda, Golbanu bibi from Doparia, Mae from Kokrajhar and a Santhali girl from Annabiri, in the heart of Maoist country-find themselves in the nation's most powerful city, working for its richest people. This is how tycoons and refugees, politicians and orphans-India's one per cent and her 99 per cent-rub shoulders every day, under the same roof. In the not so distant past, everyone's place- whether maid, ayah or cook, sahib or memsahib- was well understood. There were clear rules for negotiating (and maintaining) the vast chasm between the two sides. Today, it's a little different. There are housekeepers who are part of the middle class who ensure their children join white-collar India. There are teenage girls brought to the city by 'aunts' and 'uncles' to serve as '24-hour' help, who find themselves virtually, and sometimes literally, caged. There are employers who wrestle with the guilt of spending more on an Italian meal in a fancy hotel than on those who clean their homes- and other employers who insist 'these people' are all thieves. With in-depth reporting in the villages from where women make their way to upper-class homes in Delhi and Gurgaon, courtrooms where the worst allegations of abuse get an airing, and homes up and down the class ladder, Maid in India is an illuminating and sobering account of the complex and troubling relations between the help and those they serve.
Publisher: Rupa Publications
ISBN: 9789384067335
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 328
Book Description
We eat first, they later, often out of food portioned out for them; we live in the front, they in the back; we sit on chairs and they on the floor; we drink from glasses and ceramic plates and they from ones made of steel set aside for them; we call them by their names, and they address us by titles: sir/ma'am, sahib/memsahib... Every year, thousands of poor, illiterate, unskilled women flock to Delhi from villages across the country to work as domestic help. This is how Fullin from Athgama in rural Jharkhand, Lovely from a tiny settlement in Malda, Golbanu bibi from Doparia, Mae from Kokrajhar and a Santhali girl from Annabiri, in the heart of Maoist country-find themselves in the nation's most powerful city, working for its richest people. This is how tycoons and refugees, politicians and orphans-India's one per cent and her 99 per cent-rub shoulders every day, under the same roof. In the not so distant past, everyone's place- whether maid, ayah or cook, sahib or memsahib- was well understood. There were clear rules for negotiating (and maintaining) the vast chasm between the two sides. Today, it's a little different. There are housekeepers who are part of the middle class who ensure their children join white-collar India. There are teenage girls brought to the city by 'aunts' and 'uncles' to serve as '24-hour' help, who find themselves virtually, and sometimes literally, caged. There are employers who wrestle with the guilt of spending more on an Italian meal in a fancy hotel than on those who clean their homes- and other employers who insist 'these people' are all thieves. With in-depth reporting in the villages from where women make their way to upper-class homes in Delhi and Gurgaon, courtrooms where the worst allegations of abuse get an airing, and homes up and down the class ladder, Maid in India is an illuminating and sobering account of the complex and troubling relations between the help and those they serve.
Pakistan Under Siege
Author: Madiha Afzal
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815729464
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 174
Book Description
Over the last fifteen years, Pakistan has come to be defined exclusively in terms of its struggle with terror. But are ordinary Pakistanis extremists? And what explains how Pakistanis think? Much of the current work on extremism in Pakistan tends to study extremist trends in the country from a detached position—a top-down security perspective, that renders a one-dimensional picture of what is at its heart a complex, richly textured country of 200 million people. In this book, using rigorous analysis of survey data, in-depth interviews in schools and universities in Pakistan, historical narrative reporting, and her own intuitive understanding of the country, Madiha Afzal gives the full picture of Pakistan’s relationship with extremism. The author lays out Pakistanis’ own views on terrorist groups, on jihad, on religious minorities and non-Muslims, on America, and on their place in the world. The views are not radical at first glance, but are riddled with conspiracy theories. Afzal explains how the two pillars that define the Pakistani state—Islam and a paranoia about India—have led to a regressive form of Islamization in Pakistan’s narratives, laws, and curricula. These, in turn, have shaped its citizens’ attitudes. Afzal traces this outlook to Pakistan’s unique and tortured birth. She examines the rhetoric and the strategic actions of three actors in Pakistani politics—the military, the civilian governments, and the Islamist parties—and their relationships with militant groups. She shows how regressive Pakistani laws instituted in the 1980s worsened citizen attitudes and led to vigilante and mob violence. The author also explains that the educational regime has become a vital element in shaping citizens’ thinking. How many years one attends school, whether the school is public, private, or a madrassa, and what curricula is followed all affect Pakistanis’ attitudes about terrorism and the rest of the world. In the end, Afzal suggests how this beleaguered nation—one with seemingly insurmountable problems in governance and education—can change course.
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815729464
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 174
Book Description
Over the last fifteen years, Pakistan has come to be defined exclusively in terms of its struggle with terror. But are ordinary Pakistanis extremists? And what explains how Pakistanis think? Much of the current work on extremism in Pakistan tends to study extremist trends in the country from a detached position—a top-down security perspective, that renders a one-dimensional picture of what is at its heart a complex, richly textured country of 200 million people. In this book, using rigorous analysis of survey data, in-depth interviews in schools and universities in Pakistan, historical narrative reporting, and her own intuitive understanding of the country, Madiha Afzal gives the full picture of Pakistan’s relationship with extremism. The author lays out Pakistanis’ own views on terrorist groups, on jihad, on religious minorities and non-Muslims, on America, and on their place in the world. The views are not radical at first glance, but are riddled with conspiracy theories. Afzal explains how the two pillars that define the Pakistani state—Islam and a paranoia about India—have led to a regressive form of Islamization in Pakistan’s narratives, laws, and curricula. These, in turn, have shaped its citizens’ attitudes. Afzal traces this outlook to Pakistan’s unique and tortured birth. She examines the rhetoric and the strategic actions of three actors in Pakistani politics—the military, the civilian governments, and the Islamist parties—and their relationships with militant groups. She shows how regressive Pakistani laws instituted in the 1980s worsened citizen attitudes and led to vigilante and mob violence. The author also explains that the educational regime has become a vital element in shaping citizens’ thinking. How many years one attends school, whether the school is public, private, or a madrassa, and what curricula is followed all affect Pakistanis’ attitudes about terrorism and the rest of the world. In the end, Afzal suggests how this beleaguered nation—one with seemingly insurmountable problems in governance and education—can change course.
Shahjahanabad
Author: Rana Safvi
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 9353573483
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 482
Book Description
What is today the overcrowded, neglected city of Old Delhi was once the magnificent capital of the Mughal Empire. At its heart was the spectacular Qila-e-Mubarak, now known as the Red Fort. Commissioned by Emperor Shah Jahan in 1639, the beautiful city of Shahjahanabad was built around the spectacular Qila-e-Mubarak (Red Fort), on the banks of the Yamuna. Almost a decade later, in 1648, Shah Jahan entered through the river gate and celebrated the completion of this 'paradise on earth' filled with gardens, palaces, water bodies, mosques and temples. About two hundred years later, the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, left the fort by the same gate after the failed Mutiny against the British in 1857. Subsequently, both the fort and the city fared badly, as they faced the wrath of the British.The final instalment in Rana Safvi's informative, illustrated series of books on Delhi, Shahjahanabad: The Living City of Old Delhi describes the magnificence of the fort and the city through its buildings that are a living monument to the grandeur and strife of the past.
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 9353573483
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 482
Book Description
What is today the overcrowded, neglected city of Old Delhi was once the magnificent capital of the Mughal Empire. At its heart was the spectacular Qila-e-Mubarak, now known as the Red Fort. Commissioned by Emperor Shah Jahan in 1639, the beautiful city of Shahjahanabad was built around the spectacular Qila-e-Mubarak (Red Fort), on the banks of the Yamuna. Almost a decade later, in 1648, Shah Jahan entered through the river gate and celebrated the completion of this 'paradise on earth' filled with gardens, palaces, water bodies, mosques and temples. About two hundred years later, the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, left the fort by the same gate after the failed Mutiny against the British in 1857. Subsequently, both the fort and the city fared badly, as they faced the wrath of the British.The final instalment in Rana Safvi's informative, illustrated series of books on Delhi, Shahjahanabad: The Living City of Old Delhi describes the magnificence of the fort and the city through its buildings that are a living monument to the grandeur and strife of the past.
The Fall of the Kingdom of Punjab
Author: Khushwant Singh
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 9351187969
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 172
Book Description
A forgotten classic from India’s favourite storyteller This riveting historical narrative is more full of drama than any fiction. With the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the great Punjab empire he had built was riven by intrigues, betrayals, assassinations and wars until the British finally annexed it, seizing the Kohinoor diamond and sending the young Maharaja Duleep Singh into exile in Britain. Khushwant Singh brings this turbulent period to vivid life in this page-turning account of the collapse of a once-mighty kingdom.
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 9351187969
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 172
Book Description
A forgotten classic from India’s favourite storyteller This riveting historical narrative is more full of drama than any fiction. With the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the great Punjab empire he had built was riven by intrigues, betrayals, assassinations and wars until the British finally annexed it, seizing the Kohinoor diamond and sending the young Maharaja Duleep Singh into exile in Britain. Khushwant Singh brings this turbulent period to vivid life in this page-turning account of the collapse of a once-mighty kingdom.
Where Stones Speak
Author: Rana Safvi
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 9351772551
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
Mehrauli is the oldest of Delhi's seven cities. Once the thriving capital of the Tomar and Chauhan dynasties and the Dar ul Khilafat of the slave dynasty, today it lies forgotten. Its congested lanes and crumbling ruins are lost in a mishmash of history and modernity, the living and the dead rubbing shoulders with each other. Blending stirring Urdu couplets with haunting visuals, author Rana Safvi walks us through the oldest of Delhis, describing the religious diversity of Mehrauli's monuments: from the rocky Qila Rai Pithaura to the dargah of Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, from Zafar Mahal, the last great monument built by the Mughals, to the holy waters of the Hauz e Shamsi; each structure a living memory of an era dissolved in history. Embellished with stories and legends of a bygone era, and soaked in the sights and sounds of Sufi dargahs, mosques, temples, churches, gurudwaras and Buddhist monasteries, Where Stones Speak effortlessly reveals a little known, bewitching Mehrauli.
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 9351772551
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
Mehrauli is the oldest of Delhi's seven cities. Once the thriving capital of the Tomar and Chauhan dynasties and the Dar ul Khilafat of the slave dynasty, today it lies forgotten. Its congested lanes and crumbling ruins are lost in a mishmash of history and modernity, the living and the dead rubbing shoulders with each other. Blending stirring Urdu couplets with haunting visuals, author Rana Safvi walks us through the oldest of Delhis, describing the religious diversity of Mehrauli's monuments: from the rocky Qila Rai Pithaura to the dargah of Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, from Zafar Mahal, the last great monument built by the Mughals, to the holy waters of the Hauz e Shamsi; each structure a living memory of an era dissolved in history. Embellished with stories and legends of a bygone era, and soaked in the sights and sounds of Sufi dargahs, mosques, temples, churches, gurudwaras and Buddhist monasteries, Where Stones Speak effortlessly reveals a little known, bewitching Mehrauli.
The Forgotten Cities of Delhi
Author: Rana Safvi
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 9352777522
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 340
Book Description
In The Forgotten Cities of Delhi, book two of the Where Stones Speak trilogy covers historical trails in Siri, Jahanpanah, Tughlaqabad, Firozabad, Din Panah, Shergarh and Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti.In her trademark style, Rana Safvi combines narrative history with Sufi couplets and takes you on a walk across the first city of Mehrauli and Firozabad. This period was a major step towards integration of two distinct cultures towards a culture called Indo-Islamic by many historians. In the latter half of this volume, she tells us stories from an area and an era that's perhaps the richest in Delhi's archaeological history - Shahjahanabad and Firozabad on one end, and Jahanpanah and Siri on the other - a stretch that's today dotted with tombs, dargahs and the ruins of the Purana Qila. This area also houses the famous Humayun's tomb and the center of Delhi's spiritual trail: the Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah.
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 9352777522
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 340
Book Description
In The Forgotten Cities of Delhi, book two of the Where Stones Speak trilogy covers historical trails in Siri, Jahanpanah, Tughlaqabad, Firozabad, Din Panah, Shergarh and Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti.In her trademark style, Rana Safvi combines narrative history with Sufi couplets and takes you on a walk across the first city of Mehrauli and Firozabad. This period was a major step towards integration of two distinct cultures towards a culture called Indo-Islamic by many historians. In the latter half of this volume, she tells us stories from an area and an era that's perhaps the richest in Delhi's archaeological history - Shahjahanabad and Firozabad on one end, and Jahanpanah and Siri on the other - a stretch that's today dotted with tombs, dargahs and the ruins of the Purana Qila. This area also houses the famous Humayun's tomb and the center of Delhi's spiritual trail: the Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah.