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The Book of Indian Kings (Aleph Olio): Stories and Essays
The Book of Indian Kings comprises stories and essays about some of the greatest rulers and statesmen in the history of India. Beginning with an essay on one of the country’s iconic rulers, the Mauryan emperor, Ashoka, by our greatest living historian, Romila Thapar, this volume brings together some of the finest writers of our time on a glittering array of monarchs, including Salman Rushdie on Emperor Akbar, Khushwant Singh on Maharaja Ranjit Singh, William Dalrymple on Bahadur Shah Zafar, Rajmohan Gandhi on Tipu Sultan, Jadunath Sarkar on Chhatrapati Shivaji, and Manu S. Pillai on Krishnadeva Raya.
The Emergence of Mauryan India by Romila Thapar
The First Hindu Empire by Abraham Eraly
Raja Raja Chozhar by Kalki
Krishnadeva Raya by Manu S. Pillai
The Shelter of the World by Salman Rushdie
Shivaji and His Times by Jadunath Sarkar
Tipu Sultan by Rajmohan Gandhi
The Last Mughal by William Dalrymple
Ranjit Singh, Maharaja of the Punjab by Khushwant Singh
Madhavrao Scindia by Vir Sanghvi and Namita Bhandare
The Emergence of Mauryan India by Romila Thapar
The First Hindu Empire by Abraham Eraly
Raja Raja Chozhar by Kalki
Krishnadeva Raya by Manu S. Pillai
The Shelter of the World by Salman Rushdie
Shivaji and His Times by Jadunath Sarkar
Tipu Sultan by Rajmohan Gandhi
The Last Mughal by William Dalrymple
Ranjit Singh, Maharaja of the Punjab by Khushwant Singh
Madhavrao Scindia by Vir Sanghvi and Namita Bhandare
- GenresHistoryNonfictionIndia
128 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 1, 2019
134 people are currently reading
523 people want to read
About the author
Salman Rushdie
201 books13.1k followersSir Ahmed Salman Rushdie is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Western civilizations, typically set on the Indian subcontinent. Rushdie's second novel, Midnight's Children (1981), won the Booker Prize in 1981 and was deemed to be "the best novel of all winners" on two occasions, marking the 25th and the 40th anniversary of the prize.
After his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), Rushdie became the subject of several assassination attempts and death threats, including a fatwa calling for his death issued by Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran. In total, 20 countries banned the book. Numerous killings and bombings have been carried out by extremists who cite the book as motivation, sparking a debate about censorship and religiously motivated violence. In 2022, Rushdie survived a stabbing at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York.
In 1983, Rushdie was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was appointed a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in 1999. Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for his services to literature. In 2008, The Times ranked him 13th on its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Since 2000, Rushdie has lived in the United States. He was named Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University in 2015. Earlier, he taught at Emory University. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2012, he published Joseph Anton: A Memoir, an account of his life in the wake of the events following The Satanic Verses. Rushdie was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in April 2023.
Rushdie's personal life, including his five marriages and four divorces, has attracted notable media attention and controversies, particularly during his marriage to actress Padma Lakshmi.
After his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), Rushdie became the subject of several assassination attempts and death threats, including a fatwa calling for his death issued by Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran. In total, 20 countries banned the book. Numerous killings and bombings have been carried out by extremists who cite the book as motivation, sparking a debate about censorship and religiously motivated violence. In 2022, Rushdie survived a stabbing at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York.
In 1983, Rushdie was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was appointed a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in 1999. Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for his services to literature. In 2008, The Times ranked him 13th on its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Since 2000, Rushdie has lived in the United States. He was named Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University in 2015. Earlier, he taught at Emory University. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2012, he published Joseph Anton: A Memoir, an account of his life in the wake of the events following The Satanic Verses. Rushdie was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in April 2023.
Rushdie's personal life, including his five marriages and four divorces, has attracted notable media attention and controversies, particularly during his marriage to actress Padma Lakshmi.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 46 reviews
March 22, 2021
Avoid it. This book is not worth the price. Book on 10 Kings can't be justify in 112 pages. Its a waste of money, time and content too. All 10 Kings chapters were extracted from some books. This book felt like collection of just random chapters from random books. There was no deep research and at times it felt book was rushed in many places without any proper explanation. This book has limited depth, no new research and offers nothing new but an opportunity for the author and the publishers to milk the growing interest in the genre.
March 19, 2020
Some of the essays are too short, not worth the price.
January 14, 2020
Stories were too short!! Wanted more insight into the Indian Kings. Disjointed
January 11, 2020
The book is overpriced considering the contents. Saving Abraham Erali and the combined efforts of Vir Sanghvi and Namitha Bhandare its nothing but a collection of lucing writings. Better avoid
May 27, 2021
This book is really terrible to read across all the passages for which it lacks the complete context and it really seems to be just an experiment where a publisher can get the book published in the name of coffee table books. The ugly part was the description of Akbar from Salman Rushdie for which I really had to spent hard time going though his abundance of glory and honour.
June 27, 2021
No definite purpose of the book
Could not fathom the purpose of the book. Except a couple of essays ,others were blur and incomplete to give some meaning.
Disappointing as it is half baked
Could not fathom the purpose of the book. Except a couple of essays ,others were blur and incomplete to give some meaning.
Disappointing as it is half baked
December 20, 2021
Boring dullish book.
This book is for whose think there's only men on this planet!
This book is for whose think there's only men on this planet!
February 19, 2021
This was a book of pieces. Some stories started and ended abruptly. Some were too short. And only few which seemed complete to read.
January 4, 2020
The book brings together some of the greatest writers and historians of India. The writing is impeccable and the book itself is very beautiful.
That being said, some stories do begin or end abruptly and that is because they are taken from different books written by the authors. The story on Raja Raja Chozar was a disappointment.
A prerequisite for reading this book is the basic knowledge of Indian Kings and royal houses.
That being said, some stories do begin or end abruptly and that is because they are taken from different books written by the authors. The story on Raja Raja Chozar was a disappointment.
A prerequisite for reading this book is the basic knowledge of Indian Kings and royal houses.
March 25, 2020
3.3/5.
I arrived at this rating by averaging the ratings I gave to different narratives by each author within this book. A better rating would be weighting the rating by the number of their pages and then taking the average, since the excitement or the meh feeling would be more or quickly forgotten respective to their lengths, here all being less than or equal to a novella, the length is linear in relation to the overall mood of the narrative.
Well, this is the kind of book that I believe is compiled so as to be a gateway into the bigger and richer volumes in the annuals of history, collated together to give a taste, illustrate an incident , and tell a perspective, for these all are small snippets of much bigger works from the respective authors. And I feel that the best way to review this is by putting down my thoughts on each individual chapters.
I realise the awesomeness of the Gaussian distribution, since even among these esteemed authors there is a curve where a few are fabulous and a few meh and most of them confirming to the expectations we've from these respective authors.
1. The Emergence of Empire: Mauryan India - Romila Thapar - 2/5
This seemed like a collections of some chronological facts about the Ashokan Edicts. It maybe academic in nature but it is certainly not a narrative. Reading this snippet didn't arouse me to look for the bigger volume of which this excerpt is a part of. It reminded me therefore of the robotic tone of the some of the IVRS messages —factual but lifeless.
2. The First Hindu Empire - Abraham Eraly - 4/5
This again in a collection of facts, but with a major difference. This has a warm tone that made me care more about the kings discussed as if they were characters of some novel. The reasoning provided as to why the first two Guptas maybe mere chieftains and the way light was thrown at some of the mythic deeds of the kings like the Ashvamedha yaga piqued my interest in the right direction. The way the author discusses about the mindset of the Gupta kings and which leads them to consider an act of Sri Lankan king as submission, which is chronicled in a Chinese work is interspersed into the story here, which was awesome.
Then again there was the story of Dhruvadevi, told as if a classic drama novel/movie while all the while quoting the sources made it even more enjoyable. This is an excellent narrative. The only reason I wasn't giving 5/5 is since there come later works within this book which are better than this.
3. Raja Raja Chozhar - Kalki - 1/5
This piece of work made me go WTF. This is a small two page text about how a royal sister loved his beautiful royal brother. Big deal! This text failed to provide either a context or a coherent narrative. I'm more inclined to believe that the error lies squarely with whoever compiled this book.
4. Krishnadeva Raya - Manu S. Pillai - 4/5
This is a history text of extraordinary detail that still reads like a novel. At every step the author questions the facts and the sources, so I think I read an unbiased treatise on Krishnadeva Raya. Author also provides his own interpretations of why the King acted in a certain way, like when King praised the Telugu language. The narrative if filled with a generous dose of footnotes and sources.
5. The shelter of the world - Salman Rushdie - 3/5
This work is definitely fiction with elements of magical realism. If the text is based on actual historical facts or just use historical figures to tell a a fictitious story, I don't know. This snippet from 'Enchantress of Florence' is a text of exquisite writing and flow. But to what purpose this is included in this collection is what makes me scratch my head. Looking at the title 'The Book of Indian Kings', I'd expect more facts than fiction.
6. Shivaji and His Times - Jadunath Sarkar - 3.5
This narrative has remarkable quality. In this small extract of a text we get to see many shades of the king Shivaji, just like a human he is. He is not above his tactics and given his methodology of guerrilla warfare, are bound to have non-straightforward ways of combat and trickery. Author does well not to just ramble and eulogise. Again a text rich with footnotes.
7. Tipu Sultan - Rajmohan Gandhi - 5/5
Stunning historical fragment of a text. Instead of preaching king's humanity or despotic nature and making conclusions, author just presents the facts and let you make your own conclusions. The text majorily draws from that of a Wilks writing about the same, while also not taking everything as it is, given that Wilks is a soldier of British army and bound to be biased in his words. But author does well to point out those instances where Wilks praises Tipu despite his unwillingness to do the same.
Author points out how Tipu forced many towns and regions including the inhabitants of Coorg to Islam while also giving an aid to Sringeri Sharada Peetham upon request. Make out what you will from it.
Author gives us glimpses of Anglo-Mysore wars, which feels as if we are in one of those tents frustratingly waiting for the news about our other troops and allies which never seem to come. We get to look at the forts, strategies, and myriad of weapons used. We also learn a great deal about Cornwallis and the intentions of Napoleon which never got fulfilled. We also get to know the reasoning behind the British targeting Mysore more than the bigger Maratha Empire.
This book reads like a graph from the Tipu's viewpoint, each battle going in his favour and reaching an apogee before the eventual fall.
8. The Last Mughal - William Dalrymple - 2.5/5
Decent. Tells us about the the last Mughal, Bahadur Shah Zafar, while hinting that he was burdened by the kingdom and he is someone who'd rather be anywhere else than on the throne of the last feeble Mughal empire. Much of it is conveyed telling us about the painting by Ágoston Schoefft. A small morsel of text which left me unsure of what the point was that the compiler of this edition is trying to make.
9. Ranjit Singh, Maharajah of the Punjab - Khushwant Singh - 3/5
Filled with apocryphal stories about the Punjab King who united peoples of all faiths to form his empire by appealing to their Punjabi nationalism and successfully repelled invasions by outside armies, particularly from the northwestern frontiers. This work seems to be penned to show that the King Ranjit Singh is more than an academic character and a simple-minded nationalist and that he shouldn't be reduced to extremes either as a saint or as a vile creature. His legacy, we are told, sparkles in the way his troops tried to bring under his colors those regions which are headed by the co-religionists of the troops that befell them, citing the examples of Kabul and Tibet.
10. Madhavrao Scindia - Vir Sanghvi and Namita Bhandare - 5/5
As a rule I'm not interested in reading about kings of the modern era. To me they don't exude the same allure as the ancient kings. Much of my love of reading about ancient kings comes from the Telugu socio-mythological movies. But the author was so skilled and the text so awesome that I sat up and read page after page about a king and kingdom that existed during the time of India's Independence, 1947. Needless to say that surprised me. I don't know what trick author employed or what he did differently but it was a delectable read.
This book is a must read, if you love anything remotely related to history.
I arrived at this rating by averaging the ratings I gave to different narratives by each author within this book. A better rating would be weighting the rating by the number of their pages and then taking the average, since the excitement or the meh feeling would be more or quickly forgotten respective to their lengths, here all being less than or equal to a novella, the length is linear in relation to the overall mood of the narrative.
Well, this is the kind of book that I believe is compiled so as to be a gateway into the bigger and richer volumes in the annuals of history, collated together to give a taste, illustrate an incident , and tell a perspective, for these all are small snippets of much bigger works from the respective authors. And I feel that the best way to review this is by putting down my thoughts on each individual chapters.
I realise the awesomeness of the Gaussian distribution, since even among these esteemed authors there is a curve where a few are fabulous and a few meh and most of them confirming to the expectations we've from these respective authors.
1. The Emergence of Empire: Mauryan India - Romila Thapar - 2/5
This seemed like a collections of some chronological facts about the Ashokan Edicts. It maybe academic in nature but it is certainly not a narrative. Reading this snippet didn't arouse me to look for the bigger volume of which this excerpt is a part of. It reminded me therefore of the robotic tone of the some of the IVRS messages —factual but lifeless.
2. The First Hindu Empire - Abraham Eraly - 4/5
This again in a collection of facts, but with a major difference. This has a warm tone that made me care more about the kings discussed as if they were characters of some novel. The reasoning provided as to why the first two Guptas maybe mere chieftains and the way light was thrown at some of the mythic deeds of the kings like the Ashvamedha yaga piqued my interest in the right direction. The way the author discusses about the mindset of the Gupta kings and which leads them to consider an act of Sri Lankan king as submission, which is chronicled in a Chinese work is interspersed into the story here, which was awesome.
Then again there was the story of Dhruvadevi, told as if a classic drama novel/movie while all the while quoting the sources made it even more enjoyable. This is an excellent narrative. The only reason I wasn't giving 5/5 is since there come later works within this book which are better than this.
3. Raja Raja Chozhar - Kalki - 1/5
This piece of work made me go WTF. This is a small two page text about how a royal sister loved his beautiful royal brother. Big deal! This text failed to provide either a context or a coherent narrative. I'm more inclined to believe that the error lies squarely with whoever compiled this book.
4. Krishnadeva Raya - Manu S. Pillai - 4/5
This is a history text of extraordinary detail that still reads like a novel. At every step the author questions the facts and the sources, so I think I read an unbiased treatise on Krishnadeva Raya. Author also provides his own interpretations of why the King acted in a certain way, like when King praised the Telugu language. The narrative if filled with a generous dose of footnotes and sources.
5. The shelter of the world - Salman Rushdie - 3/5
This work is definitely fiction with elements of magical realism. If the text is based on actual historical facts or just use historical figures to tell a a fictitious story, I don't know. This snippet from 'Enchantress of Florence' is a text of exquisite writing and flow. But to what purpose this is included in this collection is what makes me scratch my head. Looking at the title 'The Book of Indian Kings', I'd expect more facts than fiction.
6. Shivaji and His Times - Jadunath Sarkar - 3.5
This narrative has remarkable quality. In this small extract of a text we get to see many shades of the king Shivaji, just like a human he is. He is not above his tactics and given his methodology of guerrilla warfare, are bound to have non-straightforward ways of combat and trickery. Author does well not to just ramble and eulogise. Again a text rich with footnotes.
7. Tipu Sultan - Rajmohan Gandhi - 5/5
Stunning historical fragment of a text. Instead of preaching king's humanity or despotic nature and making conclusions, author just presents the facts and let you make your own conclusions. The text majorily draws from that of a Wilks writing about the same, while also not taking everything as it is, given that Wilks is a soldier of British army and bound to be biased in his words. But author does well to point out those instances where Wilks praises Tipu despite his unwillingness to do the same.
Author points out how Tipu forced many towns and regions including the inhabitants of Coorg to Islam while also giving an aid to Sringeri Sharada Peetham upon request. Make out what you will from it.
Author gives us glimpses of Anglo-Mysore wars, which feels as if we are in one of those tents frustratingly waiting for the news about our other troops and allies which never seem to come. We get to look at the forts, strategies, and myriad of weapons used. We also learn a great deal about Cornwallis and the intentions of Napoleon which never got fulfilled. We also get to know the reasoning behind the British targeting Mysore more than the bigger Maratha Empire.
This book reads like a graph from the Tipu's viewpoint, each battle going in his favour and reaching an apogee before the eventual fall.
8. The Last Mughal - William Dalrymple - 2.5/5
Decent. Tells us about the the last Mughal, Bahadur Shah Zafar, while hinting that he was burdened by the kingdom and he is someone who'd rather be anywhere else than on the throne of the last feeble Mughal empire. Much of it is conveyed telling us about the painting by Ágoston Schoefft. A small morsel of text which left me unsure of what the point was that the compiler of this edition is trying to make.
9. Ranjit Singh, Maharajah of the Punjab - Khushwant Singh - 3/5
Filled with apocryphal stories about the Punjab King who united peoples of all faiths to form his empire by appealing to their Punjabi nationalism and successfully repelled invasions by outside armies, particularly from the northwestern frontiers. This work seems to be penned to show that the King Ranjit Singh is more than an academic character and a simple-minded nationalist and that he shouldn't be reduced to extremes either as a saint or as a vile creature. His legacy, we are told, sparkles in the way his troops tried to bring under his colors those regions which are headed by the co-religionists of the troops that befell them, citing the examples of Kabul and Tibet.
10. Madhavrao Scindia - Vir Sanghvi and Namita Bhandare - 5/5
As a rule I'm not interested in reading about kings of the modern era. To me they don't exude the same allure as the ancient kings. Much of my love of reading about ancient kings comes from the Telugu socio-mythological movies. But the author was so skilled and the text so awesome that I sat up and read page after page about a king and kingdom that existed during the time of India's Independence, 1947. Needless to say that surprised me. I don't know what trick author employed or what he did differently but it was a delectable read.
This book is a must read, if you love anything remotely related to history.
March 2, 2020
This book is a collection is essays excerpted from various books about some of the prominent kings in India. Some of the essays are barely couple of pages long and some spanning twisty pages or so. Except for few essays there isn’t much useful information in the book, nevertheless a short and nice intro to these kings.
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November 30, 2021There is no point to this book. It is made up of a bunch of excerpts pulled free from their contexts from various works. They are each either anecdotes in a famous emperor's life or their brief sketch. All of them are positive pieces, or dry history. There is not much fun, there is nothing that makes this worth reading.
December 10, 2022
Just pathetic.
January 9, 2022
It's a lazy compilation of mixed tropes. All excerpts - 2 taken from fiction and rest stands over giant non-fiction works by (un)popular historians. The average quality of the anthology is mediocre, but the pricetag that came with it - makes it not recommendable to buy and read through.
Of the fictionalized "stories", a 2 page-translation from Kalki's epic "Ponniyin Selvan" could no way encompass what "Arulmozhivarman" stood for. It's the most wretched piece taken out of the six volume tamil epic.
The second one, taken of "Akbar" from Rushdie's "Enchantress of Florence" reeks of magic realism, interrupted with pinch of popular and infrequent histories. Sadly what would have worked for historical fiction is wordfully banal w.r.t other interesting reads of this bunch.
For the non-fiction "Essays", apart from Thapar's caricature in "Emergence of Mauryan Empire" (which no way tells the topic it set outs with, and blabbers archaic textbook humdrums), and Dalrymple's "The Last Mughal" which reads like a poster of teaser of trailer of a film series - remaining six excerpts are really worth one's time, as they grasp the reader not with mere facts and anecdotes, but warmth of the tale told.
Albeit Singh's take on "Ranjit Singh" is still short, it puts light in the offbeat trajectories of how he united Punjab over boundaries of community, religion, territory and other interests.
The rest four jewels - Bhandare/Sanghvi's "Mahdavrao Scindia (is more about his father)", Eraly's "The First Hindu Empire", Gandhi's "Tipu Sultan", Pillai's "Krishnadeva Raya" and Sarkar's "Shivaji and his times" are told with nuance, unbiased interpretations of circumstances and possibilities of decisions taken, and tells of the main "kings" as well as the people supporting, deposing or opposing him. Also, bountiful footnotes in the later two are praiseworthy for the ones who want's too dwelve a bit more.
Of the fictionalized "stories", a 2 page-translation from Kalki's epic "Ponniyin Selvan" could no way encompass what "Arulmozhivarman" stood for. It's the most wretched piece taken out of the six volume tamil epic.
The second one, taken of "Akbar" from Rushdie's "Enchantress of Florence" reeks of magic realism, interrupted with pinch of popular and infrequent histories. Sadly what would have worked for historical fiction is wordfully banal w.r.t other interesting reads of this bunch.
For the non-fiction "Essays", apart from Thapar's caricature in "Emergence of Mauryan Empire" (which no way tells the topic it set outs with, and blabbers archaic textbook humdrums), and Dalrymple's "The Last Mughal" which reads like a poster of teaser of trailer of a film series - remaining six excerpts are really worth one's time, as they grasp the reader not with mere facts and anecdotes, but warmth of the tale told.
Albeit Singh's take on "Ranjit Singh" is still short, it puts light in the offbeat trajectories of how he united Punjab over boundaries of community, religion, territory and other interests.
The rest four jewels - Bhandare/Sanghvi's "Mahdavrao Scindia (is more about his father)", Eraly's "The First Hindu Empire", Gandhi's "Tipu Sultan", Pillai's "Krishnadeva Raya" and Sarkar's "Shivaji and his times" are told with nuance, unbiased interpretations of circumstances and possibilities of decisions taken, and tells of the main "kings" as well as the people supporting, deposing or opposing him. Also, bountiful footnotes in the later two are praiseworthy for the ones who want's too dwelve a bit more.
June 24, 2021
Number of pages: 113
Price: Rs. 399
To put it briefly, this book is a rip-off! A complete scam, with a click-bait title, the book is a lazy attempt by a bored editorial team at Aleph, to bring out just another title under the company.
The book comprises ten extracts about different Indian kings, each taken from individual books by eminent historians such as Romila Thapar, Salman Rushdie, Rajmohan Gandhi. Barring a few of the extracts, such as the one about Ranjit Singh by Khushwant Singh, which actually gives a fair enough idea about the king; the rest seem to be random extracts or are not put together appropriately. For example, the last extract titled 'Madhavrao Scindia', taken from 'Madhavrao Scindia: A Life' by Namita Bhandare and Vir Sanghvi, is actually about Madhavrao's father, Jiwajirao.
The length of each of the extracts also differs shockingly - with some as long as 27 pages and some a mere three!
The book is a part of a series called Olio by Aleph. And there are four other such books on other subjects. If this is how they are, then I shall definitely not recommend them as it is much better to buy each of the individual books to get your money's worth and obviously learn about the subjects better. This cannot even be called a collector's item. Very disappointing.
Price: Rs. 399
To put it briefly, this book is a rip-off! A complete scam, with a click-bait title, the book is a lazy attempt by a bored editorial team at Aleph, to bring out just another title under the company.
The book comprises ten extracts about different Indian kings, each taken from individual books by eminent historians such as Romila Thapar, Salman Rushdie, Rajmohan Gandhi. Barring a few of the extracts, such as the one about Ranjit Singh by Khushwant Singh, which actually gives a fair enough idea about the king; the rest seem to be random extracts or are not put together appropriately. For example, the last extract titled 'Madhavrao Scindia', taken from 'Madhavrao Scindia: A Life' by Namita Bhandare and Vir Sanghvi, is actually about Madhavrao's father, Jiwajirao.
The length of each of the extracts also differs shockingly - with some as long as 27 pages and some a mere three!
The book is a part of a series called Olio by Aleph. And there are four other such books on other subjects. If this is how they are, then I shall definitely not recommend them as it is much better to buy each of the individual books to get your money's worth and obviously learn about the subjects better. This cannot even be called a collector's item. Very disappointing.
August 30, 2020
Do you like the colour of History? Its texture, how it feels up close and personal? Would you like to catch a glimpse, just a glimpse mind you! Are you willing to enter this machine that will swoop you back in time, many many centuries back, to the era they now call BC? We will check on Ashoka the Great, a famed ruler of the Indian subcontinent before we move a little further. Meet Rajaraja of the Chola dynasty. Then a great king of the Vijayanagara empire. Get into the mind of Akbar the Great before encountering Shivaji Maharaj get ready for a tussle with Afzal Khan. Oh there is Tipu Sultan up against the British, making their life really difficult. Ohh what magic history holds! You can never know everything. But would a glimpse not still fill your heart with wonder and joy!? If that works for you, a few pages on such historical giants, no essay having a real beginning and an ending but just being part of a journey, then get into this machine. A wondorous journey awaits...
September 25, 2020
I've only recently started reading on Indian history and this was a great addition to it, different chapters written by different writers with a different style, some unique perspective on some known historical figures and it was definitely an interesting read from start to finish.
Plus it helps that the book is real pretty.
Plus it helps that the book is real pretty.
September 3, 2020
Nice profiles of Indian rulers ... Hope that a book on famous women rulers is published soon by Aleph
January 26, 2022
Well, technically, this isn’t a book, but a booklet. As just around 120 pages, this is a book that any capable reader can complete in a day at the most. An hors d'oeuvre of sorts, this book contains excerpts from books by 10 different authors – each well-renowned and established name on their own. Having read a few of their works, I thought that this would be a right book to test the waters on the writings of some other authors – works of whom I have been long wanting to read, but wasn’t sure where to start.
To go by the sequence of chapters in the booklet, Romila Thapar comes across as a historian who is old-school. Facts are laid down and presented in a purely academic fashion. No drama, no grand theatre of words on which the past events of history can play out again in front of our eyes. Interesting enough to make me want to pick her works though.
Abraham Eraly – I once had added his works to my Amazon wish-list en masse, only to remove them all as soon as I read a negative comment. My reading of his chapter vindicated my act. He comes across as bitter and cynical, waving away everything great about everyone as if it is all mere imagination or exaggeration. Not sure whether he is capable of understanding that history is a subject that is always contentious and simply scoffing at everything is the mark of those bitter old souls that spray acrimony at all around.
Kalki – the excerpt of his Tamizh magnum opus ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ is made to sound like a children’s tale, by inept translation. Hardly a page or two, I feel it is an injustice to Kalki while people like Eraly ate up so many pages.
Manu S. Pillai – Here is another modern historian who is full of sarcasm and disregard for the past. Though not on the same, bitter mould as Eraly, his treatment of past history and depiction, filled with derision and disregard for the sentiments, borders on sacrilege. Not sure why people like Eraly and Manu Pillai take pleasure in treating the past figures with disdain!
Salman Rushdie – I have a couple of his other works sleeping in my shelf. This one, an essay on Akbar, has given me a taste of what I can expect from them. Fluent, magical writing, but a tad too lengthy to my liking.
Jadunath Sarkar – One of the prominent historians of India, few people are aware of him these days. This excerpt, simple and straightforward writing, is interesting enough for me to want to read more of his works.
Rajmohan Gandhi, William Dalrymple and Khushwant Singh are all people whose works I have already read enough and relished. So, nothing much to add here.
Vir Sanghvi & Namita Bhandare – Their co-authored work on Madhavrao Scindia makes for interesting reading.
Overall, this is just an excerpt from the works of these authors and is not a complete book by itself. Not worth the price. 3 stars!
A.
To go by the sequence of chapters in the booklet, Romila Thapar comes across as a historian who is old-school. Facts are laid down and presented in a purely academic fashion. No drama, no grand theatre of words on which the past events of history can play out again in front of our eyes. Interesting enough to make me want to pick her works though.
Abraham Eraly – I once had added his works to my Amazon wish-list en masse, only to remove them all as soon as I read a negative comment. My reading of his chapter vindicated my act. He comes across as bitter and cynical, waving away everything great about everyone as if it is all mere imagination or exaggeration. Not sure whether he is capable of understanding that history is a subject that is always contentious and simply scoffing at everything is the mark of those bitter old souls that spray acrimony at all around.
Kalki – the excerpt of his Tamizh magnum opus ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ is made to sound like a children’s tale, by inept translation. Hardly a page or two, I feel it is an injustice to Kalki while people like Eraly ate up so many pages.
Manu S. Pillai – Here is another modern historian who is full of sarcasm and disregard for the past. Though not on the same, bitter mould as Eraly, his treatment of past history and depiction, filled with derision and disregard for the sentiments, borders on sacrilege. Not sure why people like Eraly and Manu Pillai take pleasure in treating the past figures with disdain!
Salman Rushdie – I have a couple of his other works sleeping in my shelf. This one, an essay on Akbar, has given me a taste of what I can expect from them. Fluent, magical writing, but a tad too lengthy to my liking.
Jadunath Sarkar – One of the prominent historians of India, few people are aware of him these days. This excerpt, simple and straightforward writing, is interesting enough for me to want to read more of his works.
Rajmohan Gandhi, William Dalrymple and Khushwant Singh are all people whose works I have already read enough and relished. So, nothing much to add here.
Vir Sanghvi & Namita Bhandare – Their co-authored work on Madhavrao Scindia makes for interesting reading.
Overall, this is just an excerpt from the works of these authors and is not a complete book by itself. Not worth the price. 3 stars!
A.
January 7, 2020
An interesting anthology about heyday heroes who ruled on Indian soil.Indian Kings who ruled over the heart of the commoners due to their kindness, welfare schemes, love for greater good, patronizing art and culture and other qualities fills in the pages of the book. An engaging piece on Tipu Sultan, ruler of Mysore by Rajmohan Gandhi, the intricate personality analysis of Emperor Akbar by Salman Rushdie, the fine details about The First Hindu Empire by Abraham Early and few others makes it an enriching read.I fell in love with the alluring essay on Emperor Krishnadeva Raya by Manu Pillai and the last chapter on Madhavrao Scindia by Vir Sanghvi and Namita Bhandare led readers peek into the life of Royals of Gwalior.Tracing the growing up years of Madhavrao, the changing scenario of India, the foresightedness of Maharaja Jiwajirao and the ultimate fate of the state made it a very appealing work.
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Written in a lucid language, the collection will keep readers engaged till the last line.The book is short and succinct, can be easily finished in a single sitting.
I felt disheartened by the chapter on Raja Raja Chozhar and few others as they finished very soon after they began, leaving me vying for more.
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The diversity of the subject, the famous authors associated with it and it's size makes the book a favourable pick for every beginner and nonfiction lovers.
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Written in a lucid language, the collection will keep readers engaged till the last line.The book is short and succinct, can be easily finished in a single sitting.
I felt disheartened by the chapter on Raja Raja Chozhar and few others as they finished very soon after they began, leaving me vying for more.
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The diversity of the subject, the famous authors associated with it and it's size makes the book a favourable pick for every beginner and nonfiction lovers.
January 3, 2020
All the excerpts from eminent historians and writers provide a chronological outline of the dynasties and monarchs who ruled over India. The political, cultural and socioeconomic conditions of the different periods (ranging from Ashoka's reign to postcolonial times) are reflected in the brief descriptions of the rulers. Salman Rushdie's description of the Mughal emperor Akbar (extracted from his novel The Enchantress of Florence) is by far the best.
December 18, 2021
A compilation of 9 essays on Indian kings, as old as Ashok and as recent as Scindia, the attraction of this book is the list of authors it boasts - Romila Thapar, Dalrymple, Rajmohan Gandhi, Kalki, Manu Pillai, Jadunath Sarkar, Khushwant Singh, Vir Sanghvi, and Salman Rushdie.
However, beyond the popular names, the collection is a bit lazy with little else in common. As a reader, I longed for more after reading any particular essay (which is a part of a more elaborate work, and hence in isolation reads like an incomplete story.)
Still, the insights into some of the historical mechanizations were a treat for a history buff. The exception is Rushdie's take on Akbar, which reads like a fictional narrative and a joy to read in isolation, nevertheless.
Sample this:
"...about abandonment in general, and in particular fatherlessness, the lessness of fathers, the lessness of the fatherless, and the best defenses of those who are less against those who are more: inwardness, forethought, cunning, humility, and good peripheral vision. The many lessons of lessness. The lessening from which growing could begin."
and after a few paragraphs, "Women think less about men in general than the generality of men can imagine. Women think about their own men less often than their men like to believe. All women need all men less than all men need them."
However, beyond the popular names, the collection is a bit lazy with little else in common. As a reader, I longed for more after reading any particular essay (which is a part of a more elaborate work, and hence in isolation reads like an incomplete story.)
Still, the insights into some of the historical mechanizations were a treat for a history buff. The exception is Rushdie's take on Akbar, which reads like a fictional narrative and a joy to read in isolation, nevertheless.
Sample this:
"...about abandonment in general, and in particular fatherlessness, the lessness of fathers, the lessness of the fatherless, and the best defenses of those who are less against those who are more: inwardness, forethought, cunning, humility, and good peripheral vision. The many lessons of lessness. The lessening from which growing could begin."
and after a few paragraphs, "Women think less about men in general than the generality of men can imagine. Women think about their own men less often than their men like to believe. All women need all men less than all men need them."
December 15, 2019
🌿The Book Of Indian Kings🌿
The Book of Indian Kings comprises stories and essays about some of the greatest rulers and statesmen in the history of India. Beginning with an essay on one of the country’s iconic rulers, the Mauryan emperor, Ashoka, by our greatest living historian, Romila Thapar, this volume brings together some of the finest writers of our time on a glittering array of monarchs, including Salman Rushdie on Emperor Akbar, Khushwant Singh on Maharaja Ranjit Singh, William Dalrymple on Bahadur Shah Zafar, Rajmohan Gandhi on Tipu Sultan, Jadunath Sarkar on Chhatrapati Shivaji, and Manu S. Pillai on Krishnadeva Raya.
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🌿The book is not only a complete blockbuster under single cover but it's very diverse and unique. I got to read many new things about different people from different authors which in itself is amazing. The book follows a smooth path which makes us realize how lucky indeed we are to be born in a country like India.
The book made me proud in many different ways. It has my favorite author's work too, it brought the childhood memories back as I read about Krishna devraya and Tipu Sultan.
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A very fresh and mesmerizing read, I will highly recommend it to everyone.
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Rating: 4🌟
The Book of Indian Kings comprises stories and essays about some of the greatest rulers and statesmen in the history of India. Beginning with an essay on one of the country’s iconic rulers, the Mauryan emperor, Ashoka, by our greatest living historian, Romila Thapar, this volume brings together some of the finest writers of our time on a glittering array of monarchs, including Salman Rushdie on Emperor Akbar, Khushwant Singh on Maharaja Ranjit Singh, William Dalrymple on Bahadur Shah Zafar, Rajmohan Gandhi on Tipu Sultan, Jadunath Sarkar on Chhatrapati Shivaji, and Manu S. Pillai on Krishnadeva Raya.
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🌿The book is not only a complete blockbuster under single cover but it's very diverse and unique. I got to read many new things about different people from different authors which in itself is amazing. The book follows a smooth path which makes us realize how lucky indeed we are to be born in a country like India.
The book made me proud in many different ways. It has my favorite author's work too, it brought the childhood memories back as I read about Krishna devraya and Tipu Sultan.
..
A very fresh and mesmerizing read, I will highly recommend it to everyone.
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Rating: 4🌟
July 19, 2021
Biographical sketches of Indian Kings by various authors. These are book extracts from the books of the authors. The Essays on Krishna Deva Raya by Manu Pillai and that of Tipu Sultan by Rajmohan Gandhi are very interesting.
The striking aspect that comes out on reading the lives of these kings is the coexistence of highly evolved sense for art & culture with gruesome cruelty they show in dealing with enemies. In those days the relationship with other country is a zero sum game. The prosperity of one country is at the cost of neighbouring country. The wealth in one country is the loot of the other. The sense of insecurity makes it imperative to maintain a large contingent of army whose only motivation is the the prospect of loot and rape. To maintain the army in peace times, common people were taxed to destitution. History is full of insecure kings, vulnerable half starved populations, zero sum wars, gigantic monuments built with the labour of innocents and kingdoms disintegrating at the peripheries with weakening centres. Fear of the other and Violence seems to be theme of History.
The striking aspect that comes out on reading the lives of these kings is the coexistence of highly evolved sense for art & culture with gruesome cruelty they show in dealing with enemies. In those days the relationship with other country is a zero sum game. The prosperity of one country is at the cost of neighbouring country. The wealth in one country is the loot of the other. The sense of insecurity makes it imperative to maintain a large contingent of army whose only motivation is the the prospect of loot and rape. To maintain the army in peace times, common people were taxed to destitution. History is full of insecure kings, vulnerable half starved populations, zero sum wars, gigantic monuments built with the labour of innocents and kingdoms disintegrating at the peripheries with weakening centres. Fear of the other and Violence seems to be theme of History.
August 14, 2022
Sure, it was a tad too short but I totally loved this book through and through. Has heavy vibes of the assorted story collection book by Manu S Pillai.
I really loved each and every story. The best thing about this book for me was that I felt the stories smoothly connected. There wasn't a heavy change in the authors' styles moving from one to the other. This is not to say each author had the same style though. The diversity of the stories is visible in their flavours but still they are like different coloured beads on a necklace. William Dalrymple's part did disappoint me a bit, but I guess his part was there to point out the regality of Kings.
I don't really understand the hate this book got in the previous reviews. It's literally titled stories and essays and that's what the book has! To each their own, I suppose.
I really loved each and every story. The best thing about this book for me was that I felt the stories smoothly connected. There wasn't a heavy change in the authors' styles moving from one to the other. This is not to say each author had the same style though. The diversity of the stories is visible in their flavours but still they are like different coloured beads on a necklace. William Dalrymple's part did disappoint me a bit, but I guess his part was there to point out the regality of Kings.
I don't really understand the hate this book got in the previous reviews. It's literally titled stories and essays and that's what the book has! To each their own, I suppose.
October 22, 2023
The Book Of Indian Kings is a collection of excerpts (and one original work) about various kings through Indian history. From the Maurya era to the last of the Mughals and Scindias.
Some excerpts were so randomly selected that I didn't really understand their purpose to this curation as they did little to tell of the kings they spoke of. I questioned the choice the editors made. For example, the selection about Madhavrao Scindia was actually far more about his father, and should have been titled accordingly or another excerpt chosen.
Having said that, Manu Pillai's piece was, as expected, very interesting and well executed. It was only original one written for this collection.
Salman Rushdie's take on Akbar was simply fantastic, it read like a magical realism essay on a historical character.
All in all, a super quick if not great read and good for a slow afternoon.
Some excerpts were so randomly selected that I didn't really understand their purpose to this curation as they did little to tell of the kings they spoke of. I questioned the choice the editors made. For example, the selection about Madhavrao Scindia was actually far more about his father, and should have been titled accordingly or another excerpt chosen.
Having said that, Manu Pillai's piece was, as expected, very interesting and well executed. It was only original one written for this collection.
Salman Rushdie's take on Akbar was simply fantastic, it read like a magical realism essay on a historical character.
All in all, a super quick if not great read and good for a slow afternoon.
March 27, 2020
A very good and authentic compilation of 10 essays on 10 most powerful and well -known empires/kings of India - the Mauryans, Guptas, RajRaja Chola, KrishnaDev Raya, Akbar, Shivaji, Tipu Sultan, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Ranjit Singh and the Scindias.
All essays are by eminent researchers/scholars and accurately chronicle the king and his empire. The one on Akbar by Salman Rushdie is part fictional in his genre of magic realism. The one on Shivaji and Tippoo are brilliant and the last on the Scindias is very contemporary.
Overall, a finely curated collection encompassing all the prominent monarchs. Each essay here is a true gem that may prompt you to delve deeper in the subject.
All essays are by eminent researchers/scholars and accurately chronicle the king and his empire. The one on Akbar by Salman Rushdie is part fictional in his genre of magic realism. The one on Shivaji and Tippoo are brilliant and the last on the Scindias is very contemporary.
Overall, a finely curated collection encompassing all the prominent monarchs. Each essay here is a true gem that may prompt you to delve deeper in the subject.
March 22, 2022
This small books packs quite a punch. The chosen monarchs are all deserving except one. Not sure how Madhavrao Scindia manages to make the list. Another crib - some pieces are frustratingly short. Otherwise, this is eminently readable stuff. The write-ups on the little-known Samudragupta and the now infamous Tipu Sultan stand out. Some may find the changing styles disconcerting, as we jump from one writer to another. This reader, on the contrary, enjoyed the fluctuating patterns of story-telling. Where else would you find the fact-based, journalistic writing of Jadunath Sarkar sharing space with the dreamy, oblique narrative of Salman Rushdie!
September 29, 2023
I grabbed this book during the last day of my 2-week-trip to India and devoured it. This is an entertaining collection of essays and short stories about some kings of India, this is not for people that want the detailed biography of the kings mentioned in its pages. Some chapters full of humor, others full of serious recollections about a king’s possessions proved to be a good way of painting a picture of India’s past empires to an outsider like myself. Some stories are more engaging than others and make you want to read the whole book from where they were extracted from originally, some others were boring to me. Overall good.
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