Incarnations: India in 50 lives
Sunil Khilnani’s Incarnations, journeys across India and explores modern India spanning two and half thousand years, through lives of 50 historical phenomenal idiosyncratic people, including Birsa Munda. a young charismatic healer who led his tribal community in revolt against the British, Jyotirao Phule, the life of the lower-caste boy who rose to become a social reformer, Lakshminai Rani of Jhansi: Badass Queen in 1857 rebellion, Rammohan Roy, the 19th century Bengali scholar and reformer who campaigned against ritual suicide, Shivaji, the 17th century warrior-king , Dara Shikoh, the Mughal prince and scholar who found himself at war against his brother, Malik Ambar, the life of the Ethiopian slave who arrived in India but rose to become a kingmaker, Akbar, the greatest ruler of the Mughal Empire, Mirabai the 16th century mystic poet, Krishnadevaraya, the 16th century warrior and king, Guru Nanak, 15th century founder of Sikh, Rajaraja Chola, the self-styled King of kings,, Shankaracharya, the Hindu philosopher and theologian, Aryabhata, the legendary Indian mathematician and astronomer, Charaka, pioneer of Ayurvedic medicine, Ashoka, ruler of Indian empire, Kautilya, the Indian Machiavelli, Panini, master of the Sanskirt language, Mahavira, the inspiration behind the Jain faith, The Buddha, Chidambaram Pillai, Annie Besant, English social reformer converted to become leader of the Congress party, Vivekananda, India’s first global guru and icon who travelled widely in the west and established Hinduism as a world religion in the late 19th Century, Jamsetji Tata, who transformed Indian industry, Dee Dayal, pioneering photographer.
Incarnations emphasises India’s openness as well as its historical diversity and lights up India’s rich, varied past and its continuous ferment of ideas. He also examines relevance of the men and women who have made India – and the world- what it is.
Sunil Khilnani, King’s College, London, professor and director of the India Institute, brings to life often missing elements of Indian history, its people, figures that have shaped the histories of America, Europe and China.
Incarnations: India in 50 lives by Sunil Khilnani Allen Lane £30 656 pages.