The upcoming event exemplifies the resort’s dedication to promoting cultural exchange and intellectual exploration, serving as a proud facilitator of this enriching experience and celebrating the depth and diversity of India’s cultural legacy…reports Asian Lite News
It is just right to debut a book discussing the rich cultural legacy of ancient India in Hampi, a place imbued with profound meaning through its breathtaking architectural remnants and spiritual and cultural practices.
The much-awaited book of renowned author and multiple award-winning historian Dr. William Dalrymple’s ‘The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World’ is set to debut at a special talk event at Evolve Back Kamalapura Palace in Hampi on 19 March 2024, at 7 pm.
The upcoming event exemplifies the resort’s dedication to promoting cultural exchange and intellectual exploration, serving as a proud facilitator of this enriching experience and celebrating the depth and diversity of India’s cultural legacy.
‘The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World’ uncovers the depth of ancient Indian culture, shedding light on its global significance through its religions, languages, art, and architectural wonders. Drawing from a lifetime of research, Dr. Dalrymple sheds light on India’s pivotal role as an intellectual and philosophical superpower in ancient Asia.
“We are honoured to welcome Dr. William Dalrymple to Evolve Back Kamalapura Palace, Hampi, for the unveiling of his much-anticipated book, ‘The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World.’ His profound insights into India’s cultural heritage resonate deeply with our ethos of offering immersive experiences that celebrate the essence of this land,” shared Jose Ramapuram, Marketing Director at Evolve Back Resorts.
William Dalrymple, renowned for his bestselling works such as Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India, White Mughals, and The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company holds fellowships at esteemed institutions such as the Royal Society of Literature. Awarded the prestigious President’s Medal by the British Academy in 2018, his literary contributions and co-founding of the Jaipur Literature Festival underscore his significant influence in the literary world.
In the words of Dalrymple, Liddle has “salvaged from the ruins an outstanding new history of a great city suspended between two Empires. A brilliant work of historical scholarship.”…reports Sourish Bhattacharyya
The chronicler of Delhi, Swapna Liddle, has come out with a new book that, in the words of William Dalrymple, “finally supersedes Percival Spear’s classic, ‘Twilight of the Mughals’.”
Taking a majestic sweep through the years 1803, when the army of the East India Company General, Viscount Gerard Lake, defeated the forces of Daulatrao Scindia led by a French mercenary at the Battle of Patparganj and entered Delhi, to 1857, when the last Mughal emperor involuntarily set off the events of the Revolt, ‘The Broken Script’ explores the forgotten facets of the intervening five decades — or the “hybrid half-century”, as Liddle describes them.
In the words of Dalrymple, Liddle has “salvaged from the ruins an outstanding new history of a great city suspended between two Empires. A brilliant work of historical scholarship.”
Liddle is known for her books ‘Chandni Chowk: The Mughal City of Old Delhi’ and ‘Connaught Place and the Making of New Delhi’, apart from her edited and annotated translation of ‘Sair-ul-Manazil’, the first known listing of Delhi’s historical monuments compiled in the 1820s by Mirza Sangin Bayg.
At the start of the 19th century, there was a Mughal emperor on the throne in Delhi, but the Mughal empire, in decline for almost a century, was practically gone, says the book’s promo. A new power had emerged — the East India Company, which captured the Mughal capital in September 1803, becoming its de facto ruler.
As two regimes overlapped, Delhi found itself at the cusp of modernity, changing in profound ways that are scarcely recognised today.
‘The Broken Script’, published by Speaking Tiger, describes in vivid detail the complex tussle between the last two Mughal emperors and the East India Company, one still wielding considerable symbolic authority, the other a fast-growing military and political power.
In this maelstrom of political uncertainty, Delhi saw some of its best moments, exemplified by characters such as the poet Ghalib and the self-taught mathematician Ram Chander, and of course the cultural and intellectual elite, business magnates, the old landed nobility and the exotic new ruling class — the British.
Through their prism, Liddle looks at the economic, social and cultural climate that evolved over six decades.
She examines the great flowering of poetry in Urdu, even as attempts to use the language for scientific education faltered; the fascinating history of the Delhi College, where both Ghalib and Ram Chander taught, and how it represented a radically new model for higher education in India; the rise of modern journalism in Urdu, and various printing presses and publications, represented by papers like the ‘Dehli Urdu Akhbar’; and the founding of institutions such as the Archeological Society.
All of these developments point to a fast-modernising society that was being shaped to a significant extent by Western ideas and institutions, but was also rooted strongly in indigenous systems of thought and learning.
The Revolt of 1857 and its aftermath violently disrupted this distinctive modernity, according to Liddle. Her book draws upon a variety of records — including Urdu poetry written after the revolt was brutally suppressed, proceedings of the trials conducted by the British, private letters and newspaper reports — for a nuanced examination of the events of 1857, challenging many commonly held and often simplistic assumptions.
In the process, ‘The Broken Script’ details not only the destruction wreaked upon Delhi, but also strategies for survival and early attempts to rebuild and revive individual lives and institutions.
Stressing he chooses to write history at this moment, though he loved writing travelogues in his twenties and could go back to them one day, the author says he has often considered writing a sequel to his 2010 bestseller, ‘Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India’…writes Sukant Deepak
Stressing that it is the job of the historian to take note of new research, historian and author William Dalrymple says there is nothing wrong with re-examining history in light of new evidence.
“It is a good thing that history must be reexamined by every successive generation: relooked at and rethought and discussed over again. I personally believe that it is not at all a bad thing for history to be looked at from the ever-changing perspectives of the present. Such discussion and debate is entirely legitimate, but it has to be firmly anchored in the facts found in the primary sources and not just be an expression of political opinion, nationalistic muscle-flexing, or religious orthodoxy.
“Sadly, there is often a tendency in this country to reduce history to binaries: a world full of great heroes and great villains. In reality, human beings are rarely black or white: we are all different shades of gray,” he tells IANS at the 6th Kerala Literature Festival organised by the DC Kizhakemuri Foundation. “It’s the historian’s job to research and express those subtle nuances. In history, nuance is everything.”
Currently working on his next book ‘The Golden Road’, the story of Indian influence spreading out over Asia – Buddhism going up to China and Hinduism and Sanskrit going down to South East Asia, and India numbers and mathematics going West, Dalrymple, born in Scotland wrote his first book ‘In Xanadu: A Quest’ at the age of 22 and moved to Delhi in 1989.
Spending five years researching his best-known ‘The City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi’, his other bestselling works include ‘From the Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium’, ‘The Age of Kali’, ‘White Mughals’, ‘The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi 1857’, ‘Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India’, ‘The Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan’ and ‘The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire.’
Stressing he chooses to write history at this moment, though he loved writing travelogues in his twenties and could go back to them one day, the author says he has often considered writing a sequel to his 2010 bestseller, ‘Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India’.
Also a photographer, Dalrymple says that writing and photography use different parts of the brain: Photography is immediate and about the instant moment, while writing is slow, and considered and involves much editing, rewriting, and rethinking.
“They both give me different pleasures. I am also doing a podcast titled ‘Empire’ with Anita Anand. It’s been a surprising hit since it started in August and there are now a million downloads a month. Earlier, it was just British, US, and Australian audiences, but now it is doing really well in India too.”
William Dalrymple’s bestseller ‘The Anarchy’ to be adapted into TV series.
The author, who has also collaborated with singer-composer Vidya Shah for literary-musical acts (‘The Last Mughal’ and the White Mughals’) feels it is interesting to divide his time between different forms of creativity and believes the variety keeps him fresh and engaged, always wrestling with new challenges: “While my main calling is history, I am also a photographer and have been a travel writer, a foreign correspondent, a festival organiser, and a podcaster. Next year, I am taking up a visiting fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford. If you keep yourself fresh and interested you’re more likely to keep your audience engaged.”
In his research process, the best part is visiting the places where the events he will write about took place. “It is more like a holiday — going to the ruins and the temples and the battlefields. Yes, the archives are a slog. But the hardest bit is writing… putting pen to paper. The first two-three months are especially tough but then you see the pile of paper building, and the writing improving through successive drafts and that feels very satisfying. It is exactly because of that difficulty that finishing a book is such a uniquely satisfying moment,” he concludes.
An author’s worst enemy is the temptation to go to the different literary festivals, but they did not take place. I was therefore forced to work hard and now it is time to sit down and write this book.”…William Dalrymple speaks with Sukant Deepak
Author William Dalrymple has stressed on the need for all the democracies to stand together on war-torn Ukraine.
“And we all thought colonialism was over… I am not an Indian nor can I tell anyone what to do, but it seems short-sighted when there is not a single word of condemnation from here on the invasion of Ukraine. It is extremely important for democracies to stand up. Who knows what is next? Russia may not afford a prolonged war but China can definitely,” Dalrymple tells.
Author of ‘The Anarchy’, ‘Return of a King’, ‘The Last Mughal’ and the ‘White Mughals’ among others, Darlymple, who is the co-founder and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) which returns to its physical avatar in March feels digital can never substitute any festival on the ground.
“Half the fun of any such festival is in meeting people, enjoying the weather, those parties in the evening and interacting with the speakers first-hand… something we all have missed immensely. Of course, one can still get an awful lot out of the digital as a speaker and as an attendee. It’s obviously something that has blossomed over the last few years. This time, JLF will be seen in a hybrid avatar, offering the best of both the worlds.”
Admitting that it was not easy to convince many authors, especially from abroad to come down to Jaipur, in face of the Pandemic, Dalrymple, adds, “But I am quite surprised as there a lot of them willing to travel. We have a fantastic lineup of writers from India and abroad.”
The author, who wrote the evergreen ‘City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi’ is now heading towards the end of research for his forthcoming book ‘The Golden Road’. He says, “Initially, it was not able to get to Cambodia and other places owing to the Pandemic, but ultimately it happened. During the lockdowns, many writers managed to do more than they had done in 10 years. I was back from ‘The Anarchy’ tour when everyone was forced to stay indoors. An author’s worst enemy is the temptation to go to the different literary festivals, but they did not take place. I was therefore forced to work hard and now it is time to sit down and write this book.”
Talking about narrative history, a space much unexplored here before he came in, Dalrymple remembers, “When I started 30 years ago, there was a weird absence. In other places like Britain and the US, non-fiction sells just as good as fiction unlike here. While people were winning major prizes in fiction not much was being done on the historical non-fiction side. That has changed now and we have some wonderful new writers — there is a thirst for non-fiction. From leftists, right wingers to centralists, everyone is writing.”
Also a photographer who shoots in black & white, Dalrymple is all set to hold his exhibition in Baroda next month and launch a podcast called ‘Empires’. “Photography helps one use a different side of the brain. I have been a lone traveller for a long time and these journeys on the road have produced some wonderful opportunities for writing as well as photography.”
Even as his son, Sam is set to release his debut book next year, the author says it is exciting to have another writer around. “He is also being forced to concentrate, and both of us are researching our books. In fact, his brother was doing a history thesis as well. Well, my reference books keep disappearing… other than that it’s an enormous pleasure. There is no guarantee that your children will share your interests — but this is perfect. I am learning a lot from them. They keep telling me things that I’ve never heard of,” he says.
Dalrymple, who spends two-three years researching — reading what is already been written on a subject he is exploring, going through archives, art history, and archaeological sources elaborates on his process, “Travel, note taking and card indexes are involved. I tend to write quickly. The key is to get everything cut out and to really know your stuff. And then you can write fast. But yes, writing the ‘The Golden Road’ is going to be tough, I have never written about South-East Asia.”
The author, who has been mostly using mobile phones to photograph, recalls that when he recently met his friend, Don McCullin, considered Britain’s greatest living photographer, he too was bowled over by the results…writes Sukant Deepak.
Historian, author and photographer William Dalrymple believes that it is imperative that political forces do not interfere with either literature, the arts or writing of history — and that goes for any government in power — right, left or centrist.
While he does not see anything wrong with re-writing of history as every generation does that and it happens to be an ongoing process, the author of books like ‘The Anarchy’, ‘The Last Mughal’, ‘The White Mughals’ and ‘Return of a King’ among others, feels that when it done with particular end in mind rather than by impartial looking at the evidence, the same can be very damaging.
“You have to make a fair judgment based on available evidence, and then write as impartially as you can. Frankly, no one is completely impartial, we all come to any given situation with the biases and ideas we were brought up with. And so the writing of history will never be ‘complete’,” he tells.
Talk to him about the dominance of Marxist left in many history departments in the post war period, and he feels that it is inevitable that there be a reaction against that.
“There is a historiography emphasising economical and social forces at the expense of biography and human agency. Yes, very few biographies have been written by Indian history departments until recently. I support some form of re-balancing, particularly towards more biographically led history and that is what I have been doing in my work already. It makes history much more interesting and accessible. Many Marxist historians researching early India, often ignored the importance of religion as a motivating force in human history,” he says.
Dalrymple, whose latest series of photographs ‘In Search of Ancient India’ is being exhibited (October 8-November 3) at Vadehra Art Gallery in the capital says it is a byproduct of his new book project – ‘The Golden Road’. “As you know, for the past 20 years I have written about early colonialism in India by the East India Company, and my four books on that, has now appeared as a box set — ‘The Company Quartet’. Now I am back to my first love which is early Buddhist Art, art history and Archaeology.”
Even as a a teenager, the author would spend most of his time at digs. Most of his summer holidays would be spent at various archaeological sites, first in Scotland and then in England. “When I left school I wanted to go and dig in Iraq and arranged to take on an ancient Syrian site, but at the last minute the dig was cancelled by Saddam Hussain and I ended up coming to India.
“The stuff that used to interest me in those days was very early history- Indus Valley, Ashoka, Ajanta, Sanchi. Some of the first things I ever wrote about India was on that very early history. The various travels that I made in the course of researching my book The Anarchy, led me to pick up this subject as my next book. Stuff that I have been longing to write about for years but never dealt with it at book length.”
The book is essentially a story of Indian culture around Asia and has three parts — the first is the northwards thrust through Pakistan and Afghanistan and Xinhang, Western China. The route that Buddhism took up through there, to eventually become by the 7th century, the state religion in China.
“Today, when India and China are at loggerheads, it is important to remember that India once culturally colonised China. When it became the state religion under the emperor Wu Zeitian in the 660’s, with it came a bunch of Indian learning — Indian Geography, ideas of astronomy, astrology and mathematics. For a brief period there was a very wholesale Indian culture colonization of China. It was never actually complete since Chinese culture is very strong and very ancient, but all sorts of Indian ideas were grafted onto Chinese culture and that was the first part of the book.
The second part of the book is south and eastwards, the story of Buddhism and Hinduism heading through the maritime silk route. Particularly the Pallava’s from Bay of Bengal to Java, Indonesia via Vietnam. The third part of the story is on Indian mathematics and astronomy heading west-wards.”
Talk to him about his fascination with photography, and the author says that it goes well with his work, and allows him to see the history that he has read and written about. It a very satisfactory thing to have a record of travelling. The first thing I do when I arrive at an amazing temple or site, is to photograph it. In a sense it helps you focus. Obviously, the photographs are a wonderful thing in themselves if you get them right.”
The author, who has been mostly using mobile phones to photograph, recalls that when he recently met his friend, Don McCullin, considered Britain’s greatest living photographer, he too was bowled over by the results.
Just like the current one, even his last exhibition, ‘Historian’s Eye’ boasted of black & white photographs. Ask him why he prefers that over colour, and the author asserts, “Some of the works that I most admire are from Bill Bryant, Cartier-Bresson, Don McCullin and Sebastian Salgago. These are photographers who have always shown how black to white could be a much stronger medium than color in the hands of a real master. I think it reduces and it adds to the strangeness. Also, it reduces familiarity. If you can get it right, it makes for much more powerful and moody images. It emphasizes signal, patterns and form.”
This author of ‘City of Djinns’ — a love letter to Delhi, who made an entire generation rediscover the country with works like ‘In the Age of Kali’ ‘Nine Lives’ is not really missing writing in that genre. “I still do long magazine pieces. However, history is my real love in which I try to channel all my love for archaeology and art history. It is much more difficult to write about early cities. After all, we are trying to rebuild entire civilizations from a few scripts, archaeological digs and records of a few Chinese pilgrims.
For someone who has written extensively on Afghanistan, it is hard not to ask him about his take on the situation there now. “A tragedy and completely avoidable situation. There was a folly on the part of the US to withdraw like that. Such a major setback for everyone. Obviously, first and foremost for the Afghans, but also a major setback for America, Britain, Australia and India. India has lost a lot of influence in that region. The only people who really win from this I think are the Chinese. Obviously, the Pakistanis have been triumphant. I think the real winners are China and Pakistan. There were actually very few American troops in Afghanistan and it was not costing huge amounts of money, by American standards. There was no anti war movement like with Vietnam. It could easily have been maintained.”
