Winner of the 2009 Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy Book Prize, sponsored by the Association for Asian Studies The medieval Rajput queen Padmini - believed to have been pursued by Alauddin Khalji, the Sultan of Delhi - has been the focus of numerous South Asian narratives, ranging from a Sufi mystical romance in the sixteenth century to nationalist histories in the late nineteenth century. The Many Lives of a Rajput Queen explores how early modern regional elites, caste groups, and mystical and monastic communities shaped their distinctive versions of the past through the repeated refashioning of the legend of Padmini. Ramya Sreenivasan investigates these legends and traces their subsequent appropriation by colonial administrators and nationalist intellectuals, for varying different political ends. Using Padmini as a means of illustrating the power of gender norms in constructing heroic memory, she shows how such narratives about virtuous women changed as they circulated across particular communities in South Asia between the sixteenth and early twentieth centuries. This book will interest historians of memory, gender, community, culture, and historywriting in South Asia. Illustrating how enduring legends emerged out of particular precolonial repositories of "tradition," the book also addresses the nature of colonial transitions and precolonial historical consciousness.

“She will marry someone from outside the Rajput clan,” Raj Guru says in a soft, low but clear tone, every word falling like pebbles in the stillness of water. Shock waves reverberate inside the walls of the Raj Mandir. Everyone is dumbstruck as this is unthinkable and unacceptable. The Raj Guru shakes his head slowly and replies, ”I have done my calculations many times and the same reading keeps coming out every single time. She will not marry anyone from Hindustan! The person she marries will come from across seven seas.” Queen Shwetambari gets up from her throne in part shock and part excitement. If she plays her cards properly, then she could remove the last trace of Queen Serenova’s memories from their lives and get back her glory and power once again…. Eighteen years later, Princess Mandira marries Sir Victor, the Duke of Cornwall to gain independence for her country from the British rule. The story is set in the early eighteenth century and moves from the exotic terrain of the Himalayas across seven seas to the all-powerful Great Britain. What follows is a nail biting interaction when the grandeur and valour of the Rajput culture meets the cool elegance of the British nobility. Through the beautiful Mandira, the author in her two series explores the effect that the Hindu philosophy has when it is placed against the backdrop of a British landscape and brings out some interesting comparisons between two very diverse cultures!

This book traces the genealogy and historical memory of the twelfth-century ruler Prithviraj Chauhan, remembered as the 'last Hindu Emperor of India'.

Threatened by an imminent invasion and scheming political rivals envious of her immense popularity, Rani Padmavati must rise to the demands of war and fight for everything she believes in.

Until the 1920s, to be a Maharani, wife to the Maharajah, was to be tantalizingly close to the power and glamour of the Raj, but locked away in purdah as near chattel. Even the educated, progressive Maharani of Baroda, Chimnabai—born into the aftermath of the 1857 Indian Mutiny—began her marriage this way, but her ravishing daughter, Indira, had other ideas. She became the Regent of Cooch Behar, one of the wealthiest regions of India while her daughter, Ayesha, was elected to the Indian Parliament. The lives of these influential women embodied the delicate interplay between rulers and ruled, race and culture, subservience and independence, Eastern and Western ideas, and ancient and modern ways of life in the bejeweled exuberance of Indian aristocratic life in the final days both of the Raj, and the British Empire. Tracing these larger than life characters as they bust every known stereotype, Lucy Moore creates a vivid picture of an emerging modern, democratic society in India and the tumultous period of Imperialism from which it arose. Through the sumptuous, adventurous lives of three generations of Indian queens—from the period following the Indian Mutiny of 1857 to the present, Lucy Moore traces the cultural and political changes that transformed their world.

They Say In Jhansi That The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Their Town Was Lakshmi Bai&' The 400-Year-Old Town Of Jhansi Still Feels That It Owes Its Fame To A Young Rani Who Ruled For Four-And-A-Half Years. In The Uprising Of 1857 Which Came To Be Known As The First War Of Indian Independence', She Was A Singular Figure In A Gallery Of Heroes. Rani Lakshmi Bai Also Became The Protagonist In A Different Kind Of Story Fiction By British Writers To Dramatize The Horrific Experience Of The Mutiny In Which An Oriental Queen, Full Of Passion, Added A Thrilling Dimension. But Despite An Incredible Career, It Took Eighty Years For Indians To Write A Comprehensive Description Of Rani Lakshmi Bai'S Life. It Was Not Because She Was Forgotten But That People Who Lived In Her Time Did Not Leave Any Writing Behind And The Few Who Knew Her Were Too Afraid Of Reprisals To Profess Links With Her. How Did A Young Marathi Woman Come To Wield So Much Influence In A Strongly Rajput-Dominated Region In The Grip Of An Alien Power? The Life Of The Warrior Queen Has Inspired Historians, Writers And, More Recently, Film-Makers. But For The First Time, In Biographer Tapti Roy'S Vivid Rendition, Lakshmi Bai Is Located Within The Wider Context Of Her Time And Space.

In the history of Indian cinema, the name of Satyajit Ray needs no introduction. However, what remains unvoiced is the contribution of his forebears and their tryst with Indian modernity. Be it in art, advertising, and printing technology or in nationalism, feminism, and cultural reform, the earlier Rays attempted to create forms of the modern that were uniquely Indian and cosmopolitan at the same time. Some of the Rays, especially Upendrakishore and his son, Sukumar, are iconic figures in Bengal. But even Bengali historiography is almost exclusively concerned with the family’s contributions to children’s literature. However, as this study highlights, the family also played an important role in engaging with new forms of cultural modernity. Apart from producing literary works of enduring significance, they engaged in diverse reformist endeavours. The first comprehensive work in English on the pre-Satyajit generations, The Rays before Satyajit is more than a collective biography of an extraordinary family. It interweaves the Ray saga with the larger history of Indian modernity.