Reviews200: Coronation Durbar Delhi 1911

Coronation Durbar Delhi 1911, Official Directory with maps 

Printed at Superintendent Government Printing, Calcutta

Exactly a hundred years back, on 12^th December 1911, the Coronation of King George V – who became the first British monarch to visit India – was held in the durbar of Delhi. And the Capital of British Empire was moved from Calcutta to Delhi without public knowledge. The conglomeration for the event witnessed every ‘Who’s Who’ of British Empire and their Princely Allies. The sheer scale at which the event was held meant that planning to the minutest of scale and resources to be used were detailed out as specifically as possible. The directory serves as the official document for planning and organization of the coronation and one sees the eye for details of the organizers.  All ceremonies, receptions, parades, awards, routes, places and people involved, sports, and departure are precisely detailed out with maps where required. The document serves as an important resource to appreciate the planning and resource-management of British of those times.

PS: Indeed the centenary of the event is not even talked about – let alone being celebrated – in the country today. The Coronation Park in Northern Delhi, today, remains neglected, unmarked and locked.

The document can be downloaded from archives.org here

Reviews200: A Narrative of the Siege of Delhi, Charles John Griffiths

A Narrative of the Siege of Delhi, Charles John Griffiths

Comprising mostly of a journal entries of around four months by a high-rank official of British Army of Ferozepore regiment during the times of “Mutiny/First War of Independence” in 1857, it gives a general perspective of the attitude of a British of that time; important insight towards the disregard of natives, expectedly racist, biased, overtly-bragging account of the capture of Delhi. The first chapter describes the flippant attitude of the British during the first few days of the rebellion. The blowing-off of rebels with cannons describes how British used religion as a strategy (blowing off the body unfits both Hindus' and Muslims' religious requisite for the proper last rites). The book drags over the next three chapters accounting the days at war-field and loss of men on both sides. The last two chapters describe the occupation, loot, and riches of the city. The writer admittedly smitten by the grandeur of the city, rebuts the plan to blow off Jama Masjid merely as a rumor (it has been at times theorized that the British had prepared to detonate the masjid unless they were compensated by the Muslim populace for their losses at war); decent book which should be read with skepticism.

It can be downloaded from PG here.

©Rakesh 2011

Reviews200: Twilight in Delhi, Ahmed Ali

Prologue

Reviews200 is my attempt at documenting the readings I do, without going into too many intricacies; keeping it simple and short, in less than 200 words.

Twilight in Delhi, Ahmed Ali

I probably read of this book in William Dalrymple’s City of Djinns. After much searching around, thanks to Flipkart, I finally got hold of it last weekend. First published in 1940, it was banned by the British for being subversive. But hardly any portion of the book is so and disappointingly, the book is more about a family who are descendents of Mughals than it is about Delhi. But Delhi remains an important character in the background though and the writer’s description of the city is flawless. Surprisingly some of descriptions still can be very closely related to the old Delhi of these times. The writing is poetic and the book serves as an important document revealing the times and culture of city during immediate preceding years to independence. The coronation of King George V in Delhi durbar is well described.  Apart from that, there are hardly any descriptions of British in Delhi. 

©Rakesh 2011