Book Reviews

Another great strength is the book’s ecumenism: Hussain respects Sufism in its pluralistic and rich varieties, transcending sectarian divisions to celebrate the universal spirit of love, tolerance, and adoration.

The book was written, as Mirza Akhtar states in his preface, to make his sons aware of the events and trends in brief. The first chapter gives a history of Dehli. The author refers to Hindu hagiography like “Dilli Mahatam”, and reminds the readers that the old fort was earlier called Inderpat, reminiscent of Indraprastha of the hoary past. And from Pandavas he jumps to Anangpal Tomar and Prithviraj Chauhan. Interestingly Mirza Akhtar notes that many historians believed Prithviraj had built the first story of Qutub (Qutb) Minar.

This book is a good start for those who wish to venture into the history of Assam and North- east India but don’t know where to begin. Happy Reading!

Prof Romila Thapar provides the reader with glimpses into her own experiences as she narrates anecdotes behind her work. The tribulations she and others faced while writing the NCERT textbooks in the 70s and how it has been revised over the decades.

Peter Hardy was a historian of Medieval India and an important scholar of Indo-Persian Historiography. He wrote extensively on the need for new interventions in the styles of history writing that move away from the imperialist lens that puts the West in the centre.

This book written over two decades ago is one of the pioneer works on history of the medieval and early modern India. Published in 1999, it has some knowledge gaps which has been worked on by later historians.

Book Review: Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals (1206-1526) by Satish Chandra

This book was first published with a well-defined theme, as a continuation of India’s Struggle For Freedom in beginning of the new millennium as the first edition of this book titled India After Independence: 1947-2000.

The Original work of George Sale was published in 1734, which is in two volumes. The translation of the Quran by Sale has his own commentary along with notes in with an extra 200 pages; not particularly on the Quran but rather upon the history of Islam. Perhaps, this could be argued that this may encourage the reader to understand the Qur’an’s historical context.

However, the most interesting part related to this book is that this was one of the few books Tolstoy had been reading during the last period of his life. It has been verified by one of his youngest daughters, Alexandra Tolstoy; who was his secretary as well. Alexandra Tolstoy verified this to Hasan Shahid Suhrawardy, nephew of Abdullah Al Mamun Surhawardy. Hasan Shahid Surhawardy was an Oxford graduate.

Manabendra Nath Roy (M N Roy) wrote a book, The Historical Role of Islam. The book was published in 1937 shortly after Roy came out of jail after six years’ imprisonment for his role in the Indian revolutionary movement. Roy is considered to be one of the tallest revolutionary figures of the Indian Freedom Struggle. He also played an important role in the formation of the Communist Party of India before parting his ways with the communist movement.