Bibliography on Novels on Mughal India
Compiled by Lance Nelson
NOVELS ON MUGHAL INDIA
Basu, Kunal. The
Miniaturist. New Delhi; New York: Penguin Books, 2003.
Dalrymple, William.
White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth- Century India. New
York: Viking Press, 2003.
Myers, Leopold Hamilton (1881-1944).
The Near and the Far, containing
The Root and the Flower & The Pool of Vishnu. With an
introd. by L. P. Hartley. London: J. Cape, 1956.
"May occasionally be a little too late-Edwardian
in tone for current taste (
the first volume of " The Root and the Flower " was, I think,
published around 1930 ), but it is nonetheless a remarkable large
scale and fully imagined novel of ideas set in Akbar's reign which
is alive to the various
intersecting cultural and religious currents of
that time." --Paul Dundas
Ruswa, Mirza Mohammad Hadi (1857-1931). Umrao Jan Ada.
Trans. by David Matthews.
Calcutta: Rupa & Co., 1996.
Also a video:
Ali, Musaffar. Umrao
Jaan [videorecording]. Integrated Films/Sangeet Video, [199-?], 145 min.
Based on the novel "Umrao Jan Ada" by Mirza
Hadi Ruswa. Originally produced
as a motion picture in 1981.A costume and musical
spectacular of the life of a courtesan, musician and dancer in 19th
century Lucknow. Abducted as a child and sold in Lucknow, Umrao
Jaan is trained in music and
dance. She grows up to become immensely popular with the elite, falls in love with an aristocrat
nawab, finds companionship
with her childhood friend Gauhar Mirza, and finally
escapes her claustrophobic life with the bandit Faiz Ali.
Sundaresan, Indu.
The Twentieth Wife. New York: Pocket Books, 2002.
Sundareshan, Indu.
The Feast of Roses. New York: Atria Books, 2003
Worthington, Gary.
India Fortunes: A Novel of Rajasthan and Northern
India Through Past Centuries. Olympia, WA: TimeBridges Publishers,
2003.
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Appended by
Fred Smith:
Cuckold. By
Kiran Nagarkar. An historical novel about a mythical Mira Bai and her
husband. The latter is the hero, which is a convenient strategy, as we in
fact know next to nothing about him. The novel is really about the
politics of Mewar in the early 16th century, up to (and including) the
takeover by Babur. What I think really works well here is that the author
uses dozens, maybe hundreds, of Hindi words without translating any of
them, and he has made it work brilliantly.
Revised: June 28, 2004
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