The Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, a king lesser known than Bahadur Shah Zafar of Delhi, in the hands of Kalpish Ratna is pushed further into anonymity through a copious retelling of history. Any history enthusiast who has ever read William Dalrymple, Ira Mukhoty, or Amartya Sen would know exactly what is wrong with Ratna’s work: it is the nothing and too much!
Divided into five parts, the book begins in a conversational manner, designed like an ancient, oral tale that in the very beginning does not promise a linear narrative. While readers will brace themselves for a potentially labyrinthine narrative, they will be taken aback by the abrupt shifts. In fact, it’s not until well into the book that Bahadur Shah, the future Sultan is introduced, and even when he is eventually mentioned, the entire chapter deprives the reader of his organized presence. For instance, just when Kalpish Ratna seems to kindle some interest in a tentatively ambitious nature of Shah, especially around his father, the King Muzaffar Shah, the book takes a segue into the history of Diu and takes the reader far from the earlier narrative thought. The chapter further meanders into extraneous details about geographical features of the ports which makes the plot a tedious read.