History has never been as readable - intriguing, engrossing and gripping! By weaving fact and fiction together, Alex Rutherford has brought the historical characters of the bygone era to life in his Empire of the Moghul series. The Serpent’s Tooth is the fifth novel in the series, devoted to the reign of Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan who ruled over a colossally wealthy empire of 100 million souls in the early seventeen century.
One can feel the presence of Shah Jahan as he swings his legendary sword alamgir in the battlefield; as he conducts court from rubies and turquoises
studded silver throne; and as he spends romantic moments with his beautiful wife Mumtaz. Rutherford shows historical characters not just as names in dull history textbooks, but as people with emotions and passions, loves and jealousies, dreams and insecurities not too different from any one of us.
Like his ancestors, Shah Jahan had to follow the savage ‘throne or coffin’ tradition to gain his throne. It goes without saying that through the Moghul history, brother had fought brother and sons their fathers for the throne, and Shah Jahan has been no exception. Shah Jahan had fought his brothers and half-brothers to the throne, his sons were no less ruthless and murderous towards each other. Caught in the crossfire, Shah Jahan had spent last few years of his life imprisoned in the historic Agra Fort. As he sat alone in the darkness he had wondered why there had been so much death and destruction within his family. What had the Moghuls done to deserve it? God had allowed them unbounded power and wealth but denied them the peace and harmony that even the humblest family had a right to expect. His name meaning ‘Ruler of the World’ had mocked him.
Rutherford not only handles historical text with care but adds value to the narrative from his travels through some of the important landmarks of then Moghul Empire. The end product is a totally absorbing narrative, an amazing page turner. The characters are authentic and the actions are real, as one gets a ringside view of the shifting sands of politics, the tragic consequences of deceit, and the horrifying view of raw savagery. Rutherford makes the reader relive every moment, at time as an onlooker and at other moment as a courtier. The beauty of the story lies in the writing.
In his impeccable style, Rutherford transports the reader into another world. So much so that this reviewer could not hold himself back from reading the previous four volumes in the series. The Empire of the Moghul has been full of colour and beauty, joys and tears, love and deceit set against the backdrop of a glorious period in Indian history.
If you haven’t read Alex Rutherford; your lessons in history shall remain incomplete....Link
Empire of the Moghul: The Serpent’s Tooth
by Alex Rutherford
Hachette, New Delhi
Extent: 421, Price: Rs.599
So, it would seem! Else, all dreams for better arrangement of the world would not have been attacked, poisoned, discredited and ridiculed. From Cuba to Rwanda and from Congo to Iraq, countries refusing to Western dictate have succumbed to atrocities unleashed in the guise of ensuring 'political stability'. Accumulated evidence indicates that western terrorism has consumed lives of some 55 million people around the world since the end of World War II.
The shocking reality is that such global arrangements have not only gone unchallenged in the West, it has often been accepted without much opposition in rest of the world too. The conversation between a renowned social critic and an investigative photo journalist offers a painful reflection on how millions of 'un-people', a term George Orwell had coined for people who do not matter, continue to be victims of the neo-colonial whip.
In 173 pages, the conversation traverses across the world to unveil the footprints of imperialist brutality. The facts are devastating and so are the manipulative designs of the powers that be. There is not much to choose between Europe's brutal colonial legacy and America's neo-colonial hegemony. The form may have changed, from armed combat to drone warfare, but the content and the intent remain the same. The West, despite few setbacks, seems to be trying to consolidate its control over the world. It is seemingly not done yet!
The trouble with this otherwise absorbing conversation between two intellectuals who are in the prime of their career is that both have similar insights on the geopolitics of organised crime by the West. Consequently, one doesn't get to the depth of why-the-world-is-the-way-it-is and how-it-could-be-different-from-what-it-is? Exposing the hypocrisy of the imperialist forces, however, the conversation takes a definite shot at the media reinforced argument which presents terrorism in relation to Islamic extremists only. Since terrorism refers to a methodology of using violence and terror to serve political ends, the world ought to worry more about ‘western terrorism’!....Link
On Western Terrorism: From Hiroshima to Drone Warfare
by Noam Chomsky and Andre Vitchek
Pluto Press, UK
Extent: 192, Price: Rs. 1,022
Endowed with enormous virtues, Krsna has been differently understood: as an epitome of beauty, as an invincible warrior and as a mythological reincarnation. It has perhaps been so because the pre-classical figure existed in three distinct roles: as a charming pastoral figure; as a warrior hero; and as the divine incarnation. Of these three, Kevin McGrath analyses the role of Krsna as a military strategist and a moral teacher.
McGrath’s Krsna is mortal, endowed with a great fluidity of speech. Throughout his ksatriya life, Krsna excelled as a dextrous and agile performer in all situations, never inflexible, always responsive but without losing control. If Krsna could be viciously obdurate one moment, he was gentle sage the other moment. Since he didn’t draw any blood in the battlefield, his words become the most potent weapon used in the war.
Unlike other incarnations of Visnu, notably Ram, who had led life as a ksatriya, it is Krsna who draws power from his mental agility alone. He is always percetible and thoughtful, aware of his surroundings at all times. Krsna handles all episodes with consummate oration, be it the disrobing of Draupadi in the court or the demise of Ashwatthama in the battlefield. It is Krsna’s oration, the ‘magnetic and unspeakable’, that uplifts him to a superhuman status. The poetic richness of Mahabharata showers praise on the multi-talented Krsna, converting some of his immoral actions into strategic moves for winning the battle over the symbolic ‘evil’. Assigning a ‘divine’ status to Krsna, according to the author, has been an after thought!
McGrath depicts the heroic life of Krsna which apparently pre-existed his divine status. This (assumption) lends objectivity to his analysis of the complex friendship and profound amity between a charioteer and his hero - sometimes referred to as ‘two krsnas’ for being partners both in fighting and in intimate camaraderie
. Probably compiled during the Bronze Age, the composition of epic Mahabharata went through the hands of at least four composers. No wonder, the author observes few inconsistencies in rendering of the verses.
Spread over eight chapters, the book offers a radical peep into the heroic character of Krsna as he conducts himself as an intimate companion, as an invincible warrior and as a fine poet. Laced with intricacies, the epic offers studies in contrast of its central characters. Heroic Krsna is an absorbing study of the period that is distanced from our imagination. Despite the characters and the events of the epic Mahabharata frozen in time, the narrative help relive those glorious moments and their relevance for the present. Using Sanskrit verses, McGrath interprets the many stories and sub-stories that have formed the cultural basis of India.
Heroic Krsna is not a work of brahmanical literature but one that is pitched around academic inquiry
to understand the cultural icon....Link
Heroic Krsna
by Kevin McGrath
Harvard University Press, Harvard
Extent: 278, Price: $85
