‘…and the so-called one India is only a means of British domination and British rule…’ Jinnah, Cairo, December 19, 1946 According to Jinnah, there never was any doubt that the British wanted to lead India ‘ultimately’ to freedom and independence, persistent with the ‘great ideal’ of Commonwealth (see his toast to King George VI). However, …
Dawn, Images, May 1, 2005. According to one contemporary account, Anarkali was in her forties or older when she was suspected of having an affair with the heir apparent, Prince Salim, who was in the thirtieth year of his life and father to at least three sons from numerous wives. Salim’s father, the otherwise enlightened …
This article was originally pubished in Dawn, The Review, sometime in December 2000. Today, I cannot present it without a postcript, which has been added at the end, to highlight a few important points that need to be revised in my opinion. No changes (except spelling and typos) have been made in the text itself. …
Dawn, The Review, 5-11 October 2000 Half-Greek, half-Persian and all Egyptian, Cleopatra was a woman who asserted her authority in a man’s world on her own terms. Historians, mostly men, have rarely forgiven her for that, while the fascination she has held for generations is comparable to that of Alexander the Great. A descendant of …
Dawn, The Review, sometime in September 2000 If ever there was a man who lived by the dictates of mind completely ignoring the voice of his heart, it was the Mughal emperor Shahjahan. Ironically, he is best remembered as the lover who built the famous Taj Mahal for his sweetheart. Shahjahan’s life is an interesting …
Dawn, The Review, September 7-13, 2000 ‘What’s your sun sign?’ The answer to this question could decide one’s appointment to the civil services in the days of Humayun, if one is to believe the story that he organized his entire administration on astrological elements. According to this account, for instance, the officers belonging to water …
Dawn, The Review, sometime in 2000 He was raised like an orphan. Not that his parents were dead, but his father was in exile and the little infant was in the custody of its uncle. A merciless uncle he was, for he had wrung the infant, barely a few months old, from the hands of …
Dawn, The Review, July 20-26, 2000. Prince Salim, the would-be emperor Jahangir, is being taken to the gallows for rebelling against his father, the emperor Akbar. He turns around to face a crowd that has gathered, not to see the bloodsport, but out of devotion to the noble prince. “Remember this as my dying wish,” …