Manu S Pillai - The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin - Book Review

A collection of essays by one of the young historians of India. The book is divided into three parts - The first part is titled as - Before the Raj, the second part as Stories from the Raj and the third part is the Afterword which contains the sources and list of further reading. In a single page introduction, (a rare thing for a book which has 350+ pages) the author discusses the need to study history in the context. He also encourages each reader to draw her own conclusions because the objective of the book is just to light the way. For want of time and ease of reading, I will share ideas from three essays. The first one is the story of the Italian Brahmin - An Italian Jesuit who came to Madurai to convert. Since the European missionaries were dismissed as unclean, Roberto de Nobili decided to give up his cassock for the ochre garb of a sanyasi. He famous pronouncement was ‘I will become a Hindu to save the Hindus’ in 1646, he was transferred out of Madurai and died, blind and ten years later in Mylapore. The second tale is about the courtesan who became a princess. The name of the courtesan is Begum Samru. She was transformed into a warrior by her husband Walter Reinhardt. She was an intelligent woman who played the right cards with the power centres to make sure that she stayed in the upper echelons of power. She was in charge of the province known as Sardhana in the present-day U.P

By the time she died in the year 1836, she was one of the richest women in India. The third tale about Mahatma. Manu talks about the ironical situation when the body of Mahatma, who was an advocate of non-violence, was taken through the streets of Delhi with a scene of dramatic military display. Policemen were stationed at every nook and corner, along with around 4,000 trained men of war. His body itself was taken around on a gun carriage. Even the life of Mahatma was ridden with ironies. Hope you will grab a copy of this wonderful book and experience for yourself the lucid and captivating style of historical narration of Manu.S. Pillai.