MAHARAJA: THE SPECTACULAR HERITAGE OF PRINCELY INDIA
Andrew Robinson
100 full-colour photos by Sumo Uchiyama
Thames & Hudson, London
First published 1988, Reprinted 2009
Pages 160
Price: £14.95
ISBN- 978-0-500-28822-1
Reviewed by MARYAM JAMEELAH
The critical reader might well question the wisdom of selecting this book for review in Radiance since it deals with neither Islam/Muslims nor the Muslim world but rather concentrates its full attention on the princely heritage of Hindustan. Yet this has had no little impact upon the substantial Indian Muslim minority.
Under British rule existed scores of autonomous kingdoms in India, all of which were abolished after independence – the royalty stripped of their powers and titles by a republican democracy and some even sentenced to prison during the late Indira Gandhi’s notorious Emergency (1975-1977). Much earlier, Mahatma Gandhi had strongly condemned this fabulously wealthy royalty maintained in the midst of the most dire poverty and misery.
The history of both East and West shows that the overthrow of monarchy in favour of republicanism has everywhere resulted in a vast increase in Godlessness and disbelief as glaringly proved by the French Revolution (1789) and the Reign of Terror that followed it. The modern history of India is no exception. The disastrous consequences of republicanism for religion are indeed so great that many believers think it preferable that the monarchy be allowed to continue, no matter how decadent or corrupt.
Unfortunately, instead of dealing with these serious matters, too much of the material of this book is squandered on trivia – the literary style frankly frivolous and flippant in many places.
All the royal personalities described here are devout Hindus with the sole exception of the late Muslim Nizam of Hyderabad. The only detail about him disclosed to the reader is his wealth as one of the richest men in the world and his spectacular collection of jewels. No mention whatever of the Nizam’s considerable attempts to revive Islamic civilization within his realm and his patronage of the late English convert, Marmaduke Pickthall (1875-1936) enabling him to translate and publish the first English version of the meaning of Holy Qur’ān by a Muslim (1930). As scholars and translators, both Maulana Maudoodi and his elder brother, Khair Maudoodi, received the Nizam’s special attention, resulting in Maudoodi’s famous classic, Towards Understanding Islam (Risala-i-Diniyat) (1932). Furthermore, the Nizam also patronised Maulana Maudoodi’s Urdu monthly, Tarjuman ul Quran during its early years, enabling it to survive its initial financial difficulties.
Much more than its prose are the merits of this book’s magnificent colour photography on the finest quality glazed paper – which, as a luxurious coffee-table edition, is certain to attract affluent Hindu as well as western readers. However, its appeal to the general Muslim reader, even in India is very doubtful.