Spying for the Raj: The Pundits and the Mapping of the Himalayas by Jules Stewart

One of the greatest projects of 19th century geography was the Great Trigonometric Survey of India. The British also wanted geographical information on the lands further north. However, in some regions these surveys seemed impossible. Some of the Indian border countries, in particular Tibet, would not allow westerners to enter their country, let alone a British surveying team.

In the 1860s, Captain Thomas Montgomerie trained natives to be surveyors, and had them explore the region covertly. These men, known as pundits, were disguised as lamas (holy men). 

This book talks about these servants of the Raj who managed to map the Himalayas and Tibet, helping the British to consolidate their rule in the Indian sub-continent.

see also: Trespassers on the Roof of the World: The Secret Exploration of Tibet by Peter Hopkirk

The Vanishing: India’s Wildlife Crisis by Prerna Singh Bindra

While reading Prerna Bindra’s journey into the forests and some of the institutions that govern them, I felt I was on a train rattling across India seeing the beauty but also the ugliness. The author is inspired by the incredible beauty of wildlife but defeated by her encounters with the government. As a reader I am left feeling confused. The journey is disjointed and the train is traversing on too many tracks. Sadly, this is the reality of wildlife governance in India.

read Valmik Thapar's review here @ The Hindu

Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth

If history must be rewritten, the task is best left to a professional historian. In her little monograph on Aurangzeb, Audrey Truschke tries to rescue the most poorly-understood Mughal monarch from the soap opera scriptwriters of contemporary politics, who cast him as the greatest bigot in Indian history. Hindu-Muslim polarisation, she reminds the reader, is a modern game, with modern trophies and payouts which medieval India did not anticipate.

In Truschke’s words, Aurangzeb was man of his time. To single him out as a despot label him a bigot is a gross misrepresentation. We can only do justice to his life if things are viewed in context.

Truschke attributes the caricature of the bigoted Aurangzeb to later colonial history, which constructed the “eastern potentate” as a malevolent clown, with the political objective of showing British rule as enlightened by contrast. It follows, quite ironically, that the currently popular nativist readings of Muslim rule are effectively reviving a long-dead colonial project.

read more here @ Indian Express and @ Hindustan Times

The Battle for Rama: Case of the Temple at Ayodhya

The sanctity of Ayodhya as the birthplace of Lord Rama, which has been questioned repeatedly by leftist historians, has been vouched for by not just "Hindu religious scriptures" but observers of diverse stripes across time.

From Persian works of the Medieval era to sanads issued by Mughals in the eighteenth century, ‘Muslim’ sources that acknowledge the disputed territory as Ram Janmabhoomi, for instance, have seldom been cited in mainstream discourse.

Meenakshi Jain’s ‘The Battle for Rama’ includes an account of various such sources in history, shining a new light on the city, and also counters popular arguments.

read more here @ Swarajya

Heroines : Powerful Indian Women of Myth and History

The book makes a case for revising notions of courage and heroism through the portraits of eight powerful women from mythology and history.With the purpose of keeping patriarchy intact; mythologies and histories are popularized and retold via state controlled media at the mass entertainment level and reflections of women characters are generally more negative than positive. 

Women of history and mythology are depicted as weak, emotive, obedient, submissive while qualities like courage, endurance, wisdom and physical strength has been associated with masculinity. The book challenges these stereotypes and makes a case for women heroism through the narratives of Draupadi, Radha, Ambapali, Raziya Sultan, Meerabai, Jahanara, Laxmibai and Hazrat Mahal.

The book is an inspiring read for anyone interested in women histories. It not only details the lives of the legendary women, but also describes its relevance in contemporary context through an analysis of its reception and circulation in cultural and political narratives today. 

Read review by Biraj Mehta Rathi here @ The Free Press Journal

The last Hindu ruler of Kashmir inspires new novel

The last Hindu ruler of Kashmir inspires new novel

The brave Kota Rani played a critical role at a historic inflection point in Kashmir's turbulent history and the tale of this last Hindu ruler of medieval Kashmir inspires a new novel.

"The Last Queen of Kashmir", set in 14th-century Kashmir, by Rakesh K Kaul is a sweeping saga of a civilisation in peril and also the story of one of the greatest queens of the land.

The beautiful and regal Kota had once known love and dreamt of happiness but that was before the murder of her father and before she became Rani.

As invaders and immigrants disturb the tranquility of her land, Kota looks for a way to protect her people but at some personal cost. She weathers the political intrigues and power-play of the court and succeeds in preserving the splendour and diversity of her society.

See Also: Deccan Chronicle Review

Hollow Crown

As I own three books of pretty much the same title (Hutchison, Hollick & Rubin), I wondered just how many other "Hollow Crowns" there were.

The Hollow Crown: A Life of Richard II by Harold E Hutchison (1961).

"In this portrait Richard himself emerges as neither a tyrant nor a weakling, but an able mediaeval king."

"The brilliant abilities which Richard share with the rest of the Plantagenets were marred by a fitful inconsistancy, an insane pride, and a craving for absolute power."

The Hollow Crown: An entertainment by and about the kings and queens of england by John Barton (1962 & 2005) which was also published as: The Hollow Crown: The follies, foibles and faces of the kings and queens of England (1971)

The Hollow Crown: an ethnohistory of an Indian Kingdom by Nicholas Dirks (1993) - The only one on the list that does not concern England.

The Hollow Crown: Story of Saint Edmund by M. Champion (1997)

A Hollow Crown: the story of Emman, Queen of Saxon England  by Helen Hollick (2004) - A tale of Emma of Normandy, wife and queen to both Aethelred II, Saxon King of England, and Canute, King of Denmark, Sweden & Norway and of England.

The Hollow Crown by Miri Rubin (2005 & 2006) - A history of 14th Century England.

The Hollow Crown: Shakespeare, Hobbs & the Changing Nature of Kingship from 1600 to 1650 by Timothy Zajac (2006)

Within the Hollow Crown by Margaret Campbell Barnes (2010) - A tale of King Richard II of England.