William Dalrymple’s much acclaimed book “The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty: Delhi, 1857” can now be enjoyed for its literary prose and historical insights by Hindi readers. On the occasion of Hindi Diwas, “Akhri Mughal: Ek Samrajaya Ka Patan”, with the exact cover as the English one, was released with great fanfare at Oxford Bookstore.
The credit for the Hindustani translation goes to Zakia Zaheer, a seasoned literary figure. “William Dalrymple wanted me to write this book in Urdu as it was the official language of those days. I wrote it in Urdu but unfortunately it could not see the light of the day and now it has been published in the Devanagari script. After Dalrymple, if there is any other person who knows the book by heart, it is me. While he took five years to write and research, it took me more than a year to translate,” said Zaheer.
On the challenges faced in the process, she said: “Too many, as William Dalrymple’s language is not easy to translate. Long complex sentences and too many words! The biggest challenge was that I used to get so upset about destruction and all the killing and torture that it became difficult to work for a long time. I had to stop and start again. Some of the passages would wrench my heart.”
Zaheer, familiar with the downfall of the Mughal empire and the language of those days, said: “During Zafar’s time there was Hindu-Muslim unity. He saw to it that his Hindu subjects were treated well. He played Holi with darbaris; showered gifts on Hindu officers during their festivals. He changed direction of Ramleela procession so that it went past his fort enabling the royalty to appreciate the grandeur of it.”
Noting that the British were against Zafar’s popularity and sowed seeds of hatred between the people of different religious denominations, Zaheer said: “ To create suspicion between the two communities, the British adopted the divide and rule policy. They were totally responsible for creating creating fissures between the two communities. Hindus and Muslims were fighting for the emperor (Zafar). But the British started indulging in looting and making plans to annex his kingdom through stealth. Gradually, the emperor started getting weak. Indian soldiers were more in numbers than the British soldiers. However, soldiers under the British were better trained, managed.”
Author William Dalrymple, who charmed everybody with his anecdotes, said it was difficult for a writer to maintain the same level of interest in a subject but Zafar kept him excited all through.
He said it was an incredibly romantic story and had the qaulity of a film narrative. “Everyone knows about the great Mughalperiod of Akbar and Shah Jahan but the end of the Mughal empire is often left out of the curriculum and ignored by the history books. Later Mughals were dismissed as non achievers, non entities .”
Shedding light on Zafar’s persona, the author said: “Zafar was an incredibly civilized man. In his youth, he was a great sportsman, an archer, but by the time the book is set he is 80, old Sufi, mystic, deeply into literature and poet in five languages — a man who arrived in power at a time when all power had already disappeared. The Company Resident was the real king of Delhi. And Zafar with very little money and political power, just by his charisma, acted as a catalyst for the great artistic and literary movement in history. This is the period when the city had Mir, Zauq, Ghalib competing for Zafar’s attention.”
Noted vocalist Vidya Shah sang a couple of songs including “Na Kissi ki Ankh ka Noor hoon” to highlight Zafar’s predicament.
