Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi

by William Dalrymple, Olivia Fraser

Sparkling with irrepressible wit, City of Djinns peels back the layers of Delhi's centuries-old history, revealing an extraordinary array of characters along the way-from eunuchs to descendants of great Moguls. With refreshingly open-minded curiosity, William Dalrymple explores the seven "dead" cities of Delhi as well as the eighth city-today's Delhi. Underlying his quest is the legend of the djinns, fire-formed... (more)

White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India

White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India

by William Dalrymple

Conjuring all the sweep of a great nineteenth-century novel, acclaimed author William Dalrymple unearths the fascinating story of the British Resident at the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad, James Kirkpatrick, who in 1798 fell in love with the great-niece of the Hyderabadi prime minister. To marry her, Kirkpatrick converted to Islam and even became a double agent working against the East India Company. Shedding... (more)

Mughal Throne: The Saga of India's Great Emperors

Mughal Throne: The Saga of India's Great Emperors

by Abraham Eraly

In December 1525, Babur, the great grandson of the Mongol conqueror Tamberlaine, crossed the Indus river into the Punjab with a modest army. At the battle of Panipat five months later, he routed the mammoth army of the Afghan ruler of Hindustan. Mughal rule in India had begun. It was to continue for over three centuries, shaping India for all time. Full of dramatic episodes and colourful detail, The Mughal Empire... (more)

The Twentieth Wife: A Novel

by Indu Sundaresan

An enchanting historical epic of grand passion and adventure, this debut novel tells the captivating story of one of India's most controversial empresses -- a woman whose brilliance and determination trumped myriad obstacles, and whose love shaped the course of the Mughal Empire. Skillfully blending the textures of historical reality with the rich and sensual imaginings of a timeless fairy tale, The Twentieth... (more)

The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor (Modern Library Classics)

The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor (Modern Library Classics)

by W. M. Thackston, Babur

Both an official chronicle and the highly personal memoir of the emperor Babur (1483–1530), The Baburnama presents a vivid and extraordinarily detailed picture of life in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India during the late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth centuries. Babur’s honest and intimate chronicle is the first autobiography in Islamic literature, written at a time when there was no historical precedent for a... (more)

Beneath a Marble Sky

by John Shors

Journey to dazzling seventeenth-century Hindustan, where the reigning emperor, consumed with grief over the tragic death of his beloved wife, commissions the building of the Taj Mahal as a testament to the marvel of their love. Princess Jahanara, their courageous daughter, recounts their mesmerizing tale, while sharing her own parallel tale of forbidden love with the celebrated architect of the Taj Mahal. This... (more)

Babur Nama

by Dilip Hiro

The "Babur Nama", a journal kept by Zahir Uddin Muhammad Babur (1483-1530), the founder of the Mughal Empire, is the earliest example of autobiographical writing in world literature, and one of the finest. Against the turbulent backdrop of medieval history, it paints a precise and vivid picture of life in Central Asia and Afghanistan - where Babur ruled in Samarkand and Kabul - and in the Indian subcontinent,... (more)

The Great Moghuls (History and Politics)

The Great Moghuls (History and Politics)

by Bamber Gascoigne

This book will appeal to the increasing numb er of people travelling to India each year, detailing perhap s the most interesting period of Indian history, the time of the Great Moghuls. '

The Enchantress of Florence: A Novel

by Salman Rushdie

A tall, yellow-haired, young European traveler calling himself “Mogor dell’Amore,” the Mughal of Love, arrives at the court of the Emperor Akbar, lord of the great Mughal empire, with a tale to tell that begins to obsess the imperial capital, a tale about a mysterious woman, a great beauty believed to possess powers of enchantment and sorcery, and her impossible journey to the far-off city of Florence. The... (more)

The Burden of ForeknowledgeJawahara Saidullah

The Burden of Foreknowledge

by Jawahara Saidullah

Pakistan Anchoring to Peace through Justice: Indus Valley 13 Centuries

Pakistan Anchoring to Peace through Justice: Indus Valley 13 Centuries

by Omer Vikas

This book starts with the Indus civilization which flourished in this region. Main centers of Indus civilization are Mohenjo Daro, Harrappa, Kej, Juderio Daro and Gandahara. Graceo-Bactrian civilization left its marks in and around Rawalpindi city such as in Taxila (Takshasila). The first Muslim ruler who prepared a large-scale expedition for India was Hajjaj-bin-Yusuf and than Muslims ruled here till Britain... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: mughals