The blurb in the inner cover of this book describes it as a rich and lively first-hand account of life in the royal court of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal Emperor, in the Red Fort. The author Munshi Faizuddin lived in the Red Fort in his capacity of being a long-time servant of Prince Mirza Ilahi Baksh…
Does profoundness stem from simplicity? Do the unending complexities and deeper truths that elude religion, psychology and politics, become viewable in verses made up of simple words charged with captivating verbal richness? Does elegant and sophisticated simplicity stamp…
Among one of the notable modern fiction writers in Urdu, Tariq Chhatari’s The Nameplate is a collection of eleven short stories selected from his first anthology Bagh Ka Darwaza (2001). Translated by A Naseeb Khan, this book has a spirited Introduction, in which he attempts to place Tariq Chhatari’s…
The remarkable story of the Indianization of South-East Asia is an instance of historical spontaneity. Hinduism and Buddhism travelled there with indomitable traders, adventurers and priests carrying along their religion and culture which the local population accepted enthusiastically…
In these troubled times, when even leisure reading requires motivation, a translation whisked me off to a fantasy land…a land of unparalleled beauty and unmatched courage, a land of love and romance. My own reluctance to be led away is just one part of the story, the growing discomfort…
Amaru Shatakam, translation of some hundred love lyrics is one of the best specimens of the genre in classical Sanskrit. Nothing is known about the author but it is ascribed to a king of Kashmir. There is also the fantastic legend identifying him with the soul of Adi Sankaracharya transferred into the body…