Besieged: Voices from Delhi 1857
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Compiled and Translated by Mahmood Farooqui
Penguin Viking
320 pages, Rs 699
This is the first-ever translation of the famous Mutiny Papers, originally written in Persian and Shikastah Urdu. The translations include fascinating pieces such as the constitution of the Court of Mutineers, letters from soldiers threatening to leave Delhi if they were not paid their salaries, complaints to the police about unruly soldiers, and reports of troublesome courtesans, spies, faqirs, doctors, volunteers and harassed policemen. Shifting focus away from the conventional understanding of the events of 1857, these translations return ordinary and anonymous men and women back into the history of the mid-19th century.
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