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1/x Just finished William Dalrymple's brilliant book - The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India company. "On the evening of my visit, I hired a small dinghy to row me upstream. It was an hour before sunset, that beautiful moment north Indians call godhulibela -
2/x cow-dust time - and the Yamuna glittered in the evening light as brightly as a scattering of Mughal gems. Egrets picked their way along the banks, past pilgrims taking a dip near the auspicious point of confluence, where the Yamuna meets the Ganga. Ranks of little boys with-
3/x fishing lines stood among the holy men and the pilgrims, engaged in the less mystical task of trying to hook catfish. Parakeets swooped out of cavities in the battlements; mynahs called to roost. For forty minutes, we drifted slowly, the water lapping against the sides of -
Really enjoying #TheAnarchy by @DalrympleWill. Great information and gripping narrative really takes you into the events. The characters come through in 3 dimensions and full color. But ....
... the book is marked by a small number of annoying and inexplicable errors in translation of Urdu/Persian/Arabic terms, including the following.....
The glossary at the end gives two meanings for “Alam” - the world, and the battle standard used in Muharram by Shi’as. In fact, these are two different words:
‘aalam عالم = world
‘alam علم = standard
BTW, ‘alam refers to battle standards in general.
‘aalam عالم = world
‘alam علم = standard
BTW, ‘alam refers to battle standards in general.
