The Last Mughal
The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty: Delhi, 1857 (Hardcover) From Publishers Weekly
In time for the 150th anniversary of the Great Mutiny, the uprising that came close to toppling British rule in India, Dalrymple presents a brilliant, evocative exploration of a doomed world and its final emperor, Bahadur Shah II,..... known as Zafar, was a reluctant revolutionary: the mutinous sepoys who had murdered every Christian in Delhi proclaimed him their commander, an honor he hadn't sought. British besiegers took the capital in September 1857,....... Zafar died five years later in penury and exile. Dalrymple (White Mughals), however, is primarily concerned with compiling "a portrait of the Delhi he [Zafar] personified, a narrative of the last days of the Mughal capital and its final destruction." ..... Dalrymple vividly recreates, virtually at street level, the life and death of one of the most glorious and progressive empires ever seen. That the rebels fatefully raised the flag of jihad and dubbed themselves "mujahedin" only adds to the mutiny's contemporary relevance.
Tidbit: I forget if it's in Lucknow or Delhi but there are a series of portraits of the last of the nabobs, and they progressively go from lean, mean looking, square jawed and sunburnt to the last one to capitulate: effeminate, pudgy and pale....isn't that what's happening to American males, en masse?
As for the mutiny - Readers of this Blog should know which side I was rooting for....anyway, I have read part of his book "Age of Kali" I think he' was a bit too dark about India in general but from what I understand the essay about the south are a bit more optimistic. (I only read the northern ones in preparation to visiting there. Anyway, while not partial to the British he's refreshingly un-pc.
3 comments:
" effeminate, pudgy and pale....isn't that what's happening to American males, en masse?
And women loosing their femenine touch ,grace and elegance?
The more I talk with Americans, the more I hear "my father was never home"
So the effeminate male who was mainly with mom is just proyecting what he saw and the masculine female that didn't feel attracted to proyect mom's model is trying to find dadi somehow?
Interesting "emotional twisted" society.
"Interesting "emotional twisted" society."
don't forget nihilism....people who are 'stressed out' because starbucks didn't have low fat soy for their latte shouldn't go picking fights with people willing to blow themselves up.
If you want an reverse example, Spanish Christians vs. Effeminized, Secularlized Moors- the Moors had more advanced technology, far more wealth, and were far more 'sophisticated' nevertheless, they handed over the keys to Granada in 1492.
As the last Kaliph was leaving he turned and looked at the Alhambra and started to weep because he realized what he was losing. His mother turned to him and said 'don't cry like a woman over what you could not defend as a man'.
Thus the pass, to this day, is known as "the moors last sigh'.
people who are 'stressed out' because starbucks didn't have low fat soy for their latte and go picking fights with people willing to blow themselves up is people who has a more serious problem,specially a lot of frustration and much of that frustration is sexual.
So many of them go to porno seeking for some kind of relief,and problably they get the phisical kind of but still the heart gets nothing,is even more empty than before, and the emptyness creates pain, feelings of isolation and rejection,and then... the frustration and the stress at the coffe shop starts again.
May be we could hang huge colorful signs in the streets and in the cofee shop very 60's style "make love no war" :)
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