White Mughals

I had been reading White Mughals, by William Dalrymple (sent to me by Brent) over the last few weeks and getting to learn things that I had wondered about, but never had read before. From the cover, it seems the book is about a romantic relationship (and subsequent marraige) between the English Resident in Hyderabad and a Hyderabadi-Mughal noblewoman; however, it is anything but that. The romance is a just a faint backdrop of the political and social changes happening in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. How many cultures interacted together to form a complex political and social situation. How the British, slowly but surely (it took them almost 200 years to do that), took over the political power in India. How Hyderabad, Pune and Lucknow became big political players in India, but were unable to fill the void left by the crumbling Mughal empire; they eventually had to yield to the British. Finally, how the decisions of normal (even non-visionary) men (and women) affect the course of history. I had always wondered how it took the British 200 years to consolidate their power in India (~ 1650 to 1850), but that power could be kept for only 100 years. Even the Mughal Empire lasted longer.( ~1556 to 1707). As a child, reading history, I always wondered what really happened between 1707 (death of Aurengzeb) and 1857 (Queen Victoria becoming the Queen of India). [I think know now, but but I am too scared to show my ignorance]. This book gives some of the details of what happened in the middle. The transitional phases of history; the period between two big empires, ends up being more interesting than the actual empire. Thinking more about it, in the last 2500 years of the Indian political history, the periods under a unified central rule were really little (100 years of the Mauryas, 150 years of the Guptas, 150 years of the Mughals, 100 years of the British, 60 years and counting of the Indian Republic): not more than 600 years. Which means, the real history of India is anything but political: it is social, cultural, religious and dare I say, spiritual.