- Hardcover: 580 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins; First edition edition (7 Oct 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0002256762
- ISBN-13: 978-0002256766
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.6 x 6.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
148,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #47 in Books > Biography > Political > Countries & Regions > Indian Subcontinent
- #59 in Books > Biography > Historical > Countries & Regions > Indian Subcontinent
White Mughals
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
William Dalrymple's White Mughals is destined to become one of the great non-fictional classics of Anglo-Indian history. Dalrymple is steeped in India, having lived there for six years, and written a series of remarkable travel books chronicling its past and present, including City of Djinns and The Age of Kali. Having already earned comparisons with great travel writers like Chatwin and Theroux, Dalrymple has now produced a meticulously researched and beautifully written historical narrative on one of the most colourful but neglected aspects of British colonial rule in India.
Set in and around Hyderabad at the beginning of the nineteenth century, White Mughals tells the story of the improbably romantic love affair and marriage between James Achilles Kirkpatrick, a rising star in the East India Company, and Khair-un-Nisa, a Hyderabadi princess. Pursuing Kirkpatrick's passionate affair through the archives across the continents, Dalrymple unveils a fascinating story of intrigue and love that breaches the conventional boundaries of empire. As Kirkpatrick gradually goes native (adopting local clothes and enduring circumcision) he becomes a secret agent working for his wife's royal family against the English, as he tries to balance the interests of both cultures.
However, White Mughals is by no means just an exotic love story. It is a vehicle for Dalrymple's understanding of the complex legacy of the English Empire in India, that he defines more in terms of exchange and negotiation than dominance and subjugation. It is a powerful and moving plea by Dalrymple to understand the cultural intermingling and hybridity that defines both eastern and western cultures, and a convincing rejection of religious intolerance and ethnic essentialism. Elegantly written and at a pace that belies its length, White Mughals confirms Dalrymple's status as one of the most important non-fiction writers of his time. -–Jerry Brotton
Review
‘My favourite English book of the year, [an]
irresistible masterpiece’ Philip Mansel, Spectator Books of the Year
‘A remarkable achievement: illuminating, thought-
provoking, moving – and entertaining’ David Goodall, Tablet
‘A bravura display of scholarship, writing and insight. Dalrymple manages the incredible feat of outpointing most historians and most novelists in one go. This is quite simply a stunning achievement’ Frank McLynn, Independent on
Sunday
‘Gorgeous, spellbinding and important, [a] tapestry of magnificent set-pieces’ Miranda Seymour, Sunday Times
‘Enthralling…brilliant, as exhaustively researched as it is brilliantly written’ Saul David, Mail on Sunday
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
45 of 45 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As an avid reader of history, you once in a while come across a book that is so vivd that you are immediately transported back to another world and time that you are reluctant to leave once you have completed the last page. I must admit that I was enticed to read this book following some excellent reviews and the photogenic cover but was totally unprepared as to just how compelling a read this would be. Despite the 500 or so pages, I found this book impossible to put down.
Having read a few books on the Empire of late, "The White Mughals" deals with a hitherto unknown aspect where Europeans of the 18th Century embraced Indian culture with vigor. As Dalrymple explains, this was very much the norm as many white settlers becoming Hindu or Muslim and taking Indian wives. Whilst the author laces the main theme of his story with fascinating footnotes, the book largely concerns the romance between the East India Company's governor in Hyderabad, James Kirkpatrick and the beautiful Indian noblewoman Khair un-Nissa. Having set the theme with a detailed account of the politics of the Nizam of Hyderabad's court, vivid descriptions of Indian festivals, gardens and architecture as well as the machinations of Richard Wellesley, the Governor General of the East India Company and brother to the future Duke of Wellington, the book really comes into it's own with the account of the tragic relationship between the two central characters. Not only is this book excellently researched, Dalrymple has unearthed a wonderful story which he has put across with aplomb.
Having ploughed my way through innumerable history books over the years ranging from the Romans through to the First World War, this is one of the very best books that I have read and cannot recommend it highly enough. This is a book that will challenge your preception of the role played by Britain in India and I would be intrigued to learn just many people will be inspired to visit Hyderabad having enjoyed this book. The "White Mughals" is demonstrative of how history should be written. A fantastic achievement.
Having read a few books on the Empire of late, "The White Mughals" deals with a hitherto unknown aspect where Europeans of the 18th Century embraced Indian culture with vigor. As Dalrymple explains, this was very much the norm as many white settlers becoming Hindu or Muslim and taking Indian wives. Whilst the author laces the main theme of his story with fascinating footnotes, the book largely concerns the romance between the East India Company's governor in Hyderabad, James Kirkpatrick and the beautiful Indian noblewoman Khair un-Nissa. Having set the theme with a detailed account of the politics of the Nizam of Hyderabad's court, vivid descriptions of Indian festivals, gardens and architecture as well as the machinations of Richard Wellesley, the Governor General of the East India Company and brother to the future Duke of Wellington, the book really comes into it's own with the account of the tragic relationship between the two central characters. Not only is this book excellently researched, Dalrymple has unearthed a wonderful story which he has put across with aplomb.
Having ploughed my way through innumerable history books over the years ranging from the Romans through to the First World War, this is one of the very best books that I have read and cannot recommend it highly enough. This is a book that will challenge your preception of the role played by Britain in India and I would be intrigued to learn just many people will be inspired to visit Hyderabad having enjoyed this book. The "White Mughals" is demonstrative of how history should be written. A fantastic achievement.
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a marvellous book, history at its most appealing as documentation of a period and as gripping narrative. At its core is the love story and marriage between James Achilles Kirkpatrick, the East India Company's Hyderabad resident at the end of the 18th century, and Khair Un-Nissa, the grand-daughter of a high ranking official at the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Kirkpatrick's significance is that he represents a little-known phenomenon: the adoption by some Europeans of the religion, manners and dress of Islam or Hinduism while (in the case of the book's protagonists) retaining their essential Britishness. Around this theme of cross-cultural migration and the personal narrative of the Kirkpatrick family whose children were sent off to England at a young age and never saw their parents again, William Dalrymple has woven a marvellous tapestry of Hyderabad court life, East India Company attitudes and Anglo-Indian intrigue. The story is peopled with some fascinating human beings including the Nizam's Prime Minister Aristu Jah and his assistant and later successor Mir Alam; the William Palmers father and son who appear to have achieved as complete an identity with their host country as it is possible to imagine; Marquess Wellesley, the bullying Governor General of the day and elder brother of the (later) Duke of Wellington; Khair's mother Sharaf un-Nissa who lived on for decades after her daughter's death and whose late correspondence with her granddaughter is one of the book's most moving moments; and James Achilles Kirkpatrick himself, a decent and honourable man, anointed son of the Nizam, at first willing instrument of the Governor General's policies but later disillusioned by the latter's excesses and prepared to counter them. It is through the sources he has unearthed, in particular the correspondence, that Dalrymple succeeds so brilliantly in bringing these forgotten people back to life so that their motives and passions engage us across the gulf of two centuries and profound changes in social assumptions and attitudes. The story is imbued with the author's own evident love of India and its people and his ability to steep himself in his subject so that we feel we breathe the air of the country.
Anyone who has the slightest affinity for India or an interest in the colonial Anglo-Indian relationship will love this book.
Anyone who has the slightest affinity for India or an interest in the colonial Anglo-Indian relationship will love this book.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Beautifully written and very moving story of a romance between an Englishman and an Indian girl in the 18th century. The book provides an insight into how different British and Indian history could have been, had not the greed, ignorance and prejudice of a powerful few prevailed over the instincts of sensitive individuals like Kirkpatrick and many of his contemporaries.
An incredible amount of research must have gone into this book and Dalrymple's love and respect for India comes through on every page.
My only complaint is that he goes into too much detail about the politics of 18th century India -- this could possibly put off readers not familiar with India and its history. Basically at the heart of the book is the love story of Kirkpatrick and Khair -un-Nissa and several other couples like them -- and the very intricate descriptions of the politics tends to slow down the momentum.
But despite that, White Mughals is an amazing book that I would recommend to everyone -- don't be daunted by its size!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
White Mughals
This is a wonderful book. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I knew nothing about this murky area of British history, which I now feel I know a little about! Read more
Published 18 months ago by musicfan
An excellent read and triumph of "Small" history over "Big" history
Dalrymple's account of Kirkpatrick's love for Mughal India is as insightful as it is intriguing. The author does not pretend to be detached from the people and events narrated. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Edmund
British colonials in India
This is one of the most exciting history books I have read. It is written with great skill - as if it were a novel and is just as gripping, with lots of juicy detail! Read more
Published on 7 April 2010 by G. Macpherson
Fascinating, thoughtful and provocative
Hard to praise a book more highly than this.
The author weaves deeply researched history together with the uncovering of a love story. Read more
The author weaves deeply researched history together with the uncovering of a love story. Read more
Published on 2 April 2010 by Bookish
Disappointing
I seem to be at odds with most other reviewers.
I am an avid reader and this subject fascinated me, but I just can't get into it. Read more
I am an avid reader and this subject fascinated me, but I just can't get into it. Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2010 by Jun Jieh
Anglo Indian history, a new perspective
This book opens a new and previously unseen view of the British presence in India and the relationships that developed with the ruling Moguls. Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2010 by Keith W
He just keeps on producing masterpiece after masterpiece...
He treads where others dare not imagine. He uncovers sources others are too lazy to find; and he writes is a way that is accomplished, original and engaging. Read more
Published on 17 Nov 2009 by The Riddler
Truly remarkable
This book is a must have. The quality of Dalrymple is unrivalled universally. A serious masterpiece of truthful literature.
Published on 4 Aug 2009 by I. Roohani
A hidden history of England and Indias love affair
That most British do not know who or what Anglo-Indians are, is a sad reflection on the lack of knowledge and interest for their own recent history. Read more
Published on 29 July 2009 by Spilsbury
Sheds Light on My Own Genetic History
I was vaguely aware of a distant kinship with William Dalrymple, but until I read this book I didn't know for sure that somewhere in the family tree swayed and swung a lovely... Read more
Published on 17 Mar 2009 by J. M. Young
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