Download or read book The Last Queen of Jaipur written by Dharmendar Kanwar and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biography of Gayatri Devi, Maharani of Jaipur, b. 1919, princess and politician.
Download or read book The Last Queen written by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2022-05-10 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WINNER of the 2022 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WORKING WOMEN AWARD for BEST FICTION OF THE YEAR! LONGLISTED for 2022 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD! She rose from commoner to become the last reigning queen of India’s Sikh Empire. In this dazzling novel, based on true-life events, bestselling author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni presents the unforgettable story of Jindan, who transformed herself from daughter of the royal kennel keeper to powerful monarch. Sharp-eyed, stubborn, and passionate, Jindan was known for her beauty. When she caught the eye of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, she was elevated to royalty, becoming his youngest and last queen—and his favorite. And when her son, barely six years old, unexpectedly inherited the throne, Jindan assumed the regency. She transformed herself from pampered wife to warrior ruler, determined to protect her people and her son’s birthright from the encroaching British Empire. Defying tradition, she stepped out of the zenana, cast aside the veil, and conducted state business in public, inspiring her subjects in two wars. Her power and influence were so formidable that the British, fearing an uprising, robbed the rebel queen of everything she had, but nothing crushed her indomitable will. An exquisite love story of a king and a commoner, a cautionary tale about loyalty and betrayal, a powerful parable of the indestructible bond between mother and child, and an inspiration for our times, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s novel brings alive one of the most fearless women of the nineteenth century, one whose story cries out to be told.
Download or read book Rajmata Gayatri Devi Enduring Grace written by and published by . This book was released on 2005-03-01 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book traces the life and times of Gayatri Devi of Cooch Behar, 'the princess from the east' who became the third wife of Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II of Jaipur. Gayatri Devi revisited, but this time by an insider who embellishes a fairy-tale life with rare nuggets of information.
Download or read book The Secret Keeper of Jaipur written by Alka Joshi and published by MIRA. This book was released on 2021-06-22 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A NEW NOVEL BY THE AUTHOR OF THE HENNA ARTIST, A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK Good Morning America’s “27 Books for June" PopSugar’s Best Summer Reads of 2021 In New York Times bestselling author Alka Joshi’s intriguing new novel, henna artist Lakshmi arranges for her protégé, Malik, to intern at the Jaipur Palace in this tale rich in character, atmosphere, and lavish storytelling. It’s the spring of 1969, and Lakshmi, now married to Dr. Jay Kumar, directs the Healing Garden in Shimla. Malik has finished his private school education. At twenty, he has just met a young woman named Nimmi when he leaves to apprentice at the Facilities Office of the Jaipur Royal Palace. Their latest project: a state-of-the-art cinema. Malik soon finds that not much has changed as he navigates the Pink City of his childhood. Power and money still move seamlessly among the wealthy class, and favors flow from Jaipur’s Royal Palace, but only if certain secrets remain buried. When the cinema’s balcony tragically collapses on opening night, blame is placed where it is convenient. But Malik suspects something far darker and sets out to uncover the truth. As a former street child, he always knew to keep his own counsel; it’s a lesson that will serve him as he untangles a web of lies. "Captivated me from the first chapter to the last page." —Reese Witherspoon on The Henna Artist Don’t miss THE PERFUMIST OF PARIS! The final chapter in Alka Joshi’s New York Times bestselling Jaipur trilogy!
Download or read book The Last Maharaja written by Quentin Crewe and published by Michael Joseph. This book was released on 1985 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Is A Biography Of Are Who Enjoyed The Powers Of An Autocratic Before Autocrat Who Also Presided Long Before Independence Required It, Over The Dismantling Of His Own Position And Maharaja And The Passage Of Power From His Hands To His People. Accompanied By A Remakable Set Of Photographs.
Download or read book Before We Visit the Goddess written by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-04-25 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A new novel from the author of Oleander Girl, a novel in stories, built around crucial moments in the lives of 3 generations of women in an Indian/Indian-American Family"--
Download or read book The Return of Ratnavati written by Ashita Saxena and published by Notion Press. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Curse’ is still haunting Bhangarh, will it ever be broken??? As the noon Sun bids farewell, this place comes alive. Once a beautiful place, it is now in ruins. This is the story of Bhangarh, a small town in Rajasthan, 80 km from the ‘Pink City’ Jaipur. Tourists feel a strange presence of formless forms and hear eerie war sounds and sounds of the dancers’ anklets. ¬ This place is acknowledged amongst the top ten haunted places in the world. It is believed that one who visits here at night did not return alive. ASI (Archeological Survey of India) has put a ban on visits after sunset and before sunrise. It is a well known fact that here the building structures have no roof and if someone tries to construct it, the roof falls down. This¬ kingdom and its people are waiting for their princess Ratnavati also known as ‘the Jewel of Rajasthan’ to remove the ‘Curse’.
Download or read book Sawai Man Singh II of Jaipur Life and Legend written by R.P. Singh and published by Roli Books Private Limited. This book was released on 2005-12-01 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sawai Man Singh II of Jaipur: Life and Legend is the story of how fate catapulted Kanwar Mor Mukut Singh of Isarda to the throne of Jaipur, a state that he ruled as Sawai Man Singh II for twenty-seven years before its merger with independent India. From being a ruler to serving as India's ambassador in Spain, he lived through a period of Indian history marked with glory and upheavals. Flamboyant, debonair and elegant, he had two overriding passions - polo and his third wife, Maharani Gayatri Devi. His polo team ravaged England in 1933, winning all major tournaments - a feat yet unparalleled. His romance with Gayatri Devi, the stunningly beautiful princess from Cooch Behar, is the stuff of legend. Sawai Man Singh's dream was to die 'in a polo field, in the midst of a chukka, with my friends around me, my pony under me, my polo stick in my hand, and my boots on'. On 24 June 1970 at Cirencester, England, his dream was fulfilled, plunging the world in grief.
Download or read book The Henna Artist written by Alka Joshi and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2021-08-05 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trusted with the secrets of the wealthy, she can never reveal her own... Escaping from an abusive marriage, seventeen-year-old Lakshmi makes her way alone from her 1950s rural village to the pink city of Jaipur. There she becomes the henna artist-and confidante-most in demand to women of the upper class. Known for her original designs and sage advice, Lakshmi must tread carefully to avoid the jealous gossips who could ruin her reputation and her livelihood. As she pursues her dream of an independent life, she is startled one day when she is confronted by her husband, who has tracked her down these many years later with a young girl in tow-a sister Lakshmi never knew she had. Suddenly the caution that she has carefully cultivated as protection is threatened. Vivid and compelling in its portrait of one woman's struggle for fulfillment in society, The Henna Artist opens a door into a world that is at once fascinating, stark and cruel.
Download or read book The Forest of Enchantments written by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2019-01-07 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'One of the most strikingly lyrical voices writing about the lives of Indian women' -- Amitav Ghosh 'Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni turns the Ramayana around by telling it in the voice of Sita ... this inversion is a gift - it presents us a with a way to know an already well-known story better and to love an already beloved story more' -- Arshia Sattar 'This inspired evocation of the goddess Sita is an epic song of strength and solidarity told with joy and intensity. It brings to life the personalities and predicaments of the Ramayana' -- Namita Gokhale 'Among the many, many Ramayanas there are now even - thankfully - some "Sitayanas", but I know of none with the special magic that Chitra Divakaruni ... brings to the telling' -- Philip Lutgendorf 'Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's Sita ... is an epitome of courage and self-respect, showing a path for all women. While weaving a familiar story, Chitra provides deep and surprising insights' -- Volga 'An incomparable storyteller' -- Denver Post 'Divakaruni's stories are irresistible' -- The New York Times Book Review 'Divakaruni's storytelling talents put her right up there with the best' -- Miami Herald 'In recasting the Ramayan as a love story Divakaruni accords Sita parity with Ram, revealing her innate strength. By giving primacy to her thoughts and feelings this also becomes the private tale of Shri and Shrimati Ramchandra Raghuvanshi, two wonderful people who loved each other but who broke up. To readers well-acquainted with that tragedy of modern times, the failed marriage, it will appeal. The ending, however, surpasses all expectations.' -- The Sunday Standard 'The success of both The Palace Of Illusions and The Forest Of Enchantments hinges acutely on the skill with which Divakaruni deploys the narratorial voice.' -- Mint 'The Forest of Enchantments is one of the simplest and most beautiful retellings of Sage Valmiki's epic.' -- Jetwings 'Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni does justice to the women of Ramayana ... The Forest of Enchantments is not just a retelling of a much-told epic, rather it is a book that tells it like it is - balanced and non-judgmental.' -- Huffpost 'A work ... of pluralities and possibilities ... This is the Sitayan we will give to our daughters, that they may imbibe Sita's strength, and even more proudly to our sons, who will learn how a woman is to be treated' -- The Wire 'Banerjee is markedly feminist ... Her spin on the most pivotal moment of Sita's life, the agnipariksha episode, is a moment of feminist brilliance. Her Sita answers all the questions we would have had when listening to the Ramayana while leaving us with plenty of food for thought.' -- The New Indian Express 'Divakaruni's retelling reminds her readers that the Ramayana, besides being a morality tale, is a love story at its heart' -- Huffpost 'Divakaruni and her women characters are a formidable pair' -- The Wire The Ramayana, one of the world's greatest epics, is also a tragic love story. In this brilliant retelling, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni places Sita at the centre of the novel: this is Sita's version. The Forest of Enchantments is also a very human story of some of the other women in the epic, often misunderstood and relegated to the margins: Kaikeyi, Surpanakha, Mandodari. A powerful comment on duty, betrayal, infidelity and honour, it is also about women's struggle to retain autonomy in a world that privileges men, as Chitra transforms an ancient story into a gripping, contemporary battle of wills. While the Ramayana resonates even today, she makes it more relevant than ever, in the underlying questions in the novel: How should women be treated by their loved ones? What are their rights in a relationship? When does a woman need to stand up and say, 'Enough!'
Download or read book The Last Mughal written by William Dalrymple and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2009-08-17 with total page 819 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WINNER OF THE DUFF COOPER MEMORIAL PRIZE | LONGLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE 'Indispensable reading on both India and the Empire' Daily Telegraph 'Brims with life, colour and complexity . . . outstanding' Evening Standard 'A compulsively readable masterpiece' Brian Urquhart, The New York Review of Books A stunning and bloody history of nineteenth-century India and the reign of the Last Mughal. In May 1857 India's flourishing capital became the centre of the bloodiest rebellion the British Empire had ever faced. Once a city of cultural brilliance and learning, Delhi was reduced to a battered, empty ruin, and its ruler – Bahadur Shah Zafar II, the last of the Great Mughals – was thrown into exile. The Siege of Delhi was the Raj's Stalingrad: a fight to the death between two powers, neither of whom could retreat. The Last Mughal tells the story of the doomed Mughal capital, its tragic destruction, and the individuals caught up in one of the most terrible upheavals in history, as an army mutiny was transformed into the largest anti-colonial uprising to take place anywhere in the world in the entire course of the nineteenth century.
Download or read book Istanbul written by Bettany Hughes and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2017-09-19 with total page 709 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Istanbul has long been a place where stories and histories collide, where perception is as potent as fact. From the Koran to Shakespeare, this city with three names--Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul -- resonates as an idea and a place, real and imagined. Standing as the gateway between East and West, North and South, it has been the capital city of the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires. For much of its history it was the very center of the world, known simply as "The City," but, as Bettany Hughes reveals, Istanbul is not just a city, but a global story. In this epic new biography, Hughes takes us on a dazzling historical journey from the Neolithic to the present, through the many incarnations of one of the world's greatest cities--exploring the ways that Istanbul's influence has spun out to shape the wider world. Hughes investigates what it takes to make a city and tells the story not just of emperors, viziers, caliphs, and sultans, but of the poor and the voiceless, of the women and men whose aspirations and dreams have continuously reinvented Istanbul. Written with energy and animation, award-winning historian Bettany Hughes deftly guides readers through Istanbul's rich layers of history. Based on meticulous research and new archaeological evidence, this captivating portrait of the momentous life of Istanbul is visceral, immediate, and authoritative -- narrative history at its finest.
Download or read book The Whispering Memories written by Shyam Kumar and published by Leadstart Publishing Pvt Ltd. This book was released on with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shyam Kumar, the youngest sibling of one brother and five sisters, was born on 5th December 1945 in Multan (now in Pakistan). After partition of India in 1947, his entire family migrated as refugees to Delhi as refugees where they had to spend a few nights on footpaths opposite the Old Delhi Railway Station till the hunt for a shelter was over. He had his schooling at government schools in Delhi and graduation from the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur. He joined New Delhi YMCA where he worked for 35 years. During this period, he authored a novel – The Last Dawn, published in 1999 and a story book in Hindi – Jheel Ke Us Paar, published in 2021.
Download or read book Patterns of India written by Christine Chitnis and published by Clarkson Potter. This book was released on 2020-03-03 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It’s the trip of a lifetime—a textile-based tour of colorful Rajasthan, India featuring more than 200 lush photographs depicting everyday life in one of the most vibrant regions in the world. ”Get lost in the beauty of the photographs in Patterns of India, a striking journey through the colorful Indian state of Rajasthan.”—BuzzFeed Patterns of India is a visual experience that offers intimate insights into the diverse and richly hued Western Indian culture. Color is the thread that binds the vast country together, defining every aspect of life from religion and politics to food and dress. Organized by the five dominant colors royal blue, sandstone, marigold, ivory, and rose, this book explores how deeply color and pattern exist in a symbiotic relationship and are woven into every part of the culture. For instance, the fuchsia found in the draping fabric of a sari is matched by the vibrant chains of roses offered at temple, and the burnt orange spices in the marketplaces are reflected in the henna tattoos given to brides and wedding guests. While every color is imbued with meaning, it is often within the details of patterns that the full story comes to light. Photographer and writer Christine Chitnis spent over a decade traveling through, getting to know, and falling in love with the intricate patterns of everyday Rajasthani life. With history and culture-based essays woven throughout the more than 200 stunning photographs of architecture, markets, cuisine, art, textiles, and everyday goings-on, Patterns of India captures the beauty and essence of this unique part of the world.
Download or read book The Storyteller s Secret written by Sejal Badani and published by Platinum Spotlight Series. This book was released on 2019-08 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nothing prepares Jaya, a New York journalist, for the heartbreak of her third miscarriage and the slow unraveling of her marriage in its wake. Desperate to assuage her deep anguish, she decides to go to India to uncover answers to her family's past.
Download or read book La derni re reine de Jaipur written by Dharmendar Kanwar and published by . This book was released on 2010-02-03 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dans le contexte d'une Inde en transition entre le dominion britannique et la plus grande démocratie du monde, la Maharani Gayatri Devi, épouse du Maharaja de Jaipur, femme de caractère à la beauté légendaire, sort de l'univers fermé des cours royales de l'Inde pour raconter l'histoire séduisante d'une vie princière et, parallèlement, d'une étape importante dans l'histoire de son immense pays. En partant de son enfance en Inde jusqu'aux études en Europe, en passant par son mariage avec le Maharaja de Jaipur et de l'époque tumultueuse de l'Indépendance de l'Inde, en 1947, et au-delà, jusqu'à nos jours, les pages de ce livre, font revivre une histoire si passionnante qu'elle peut paraître imaginaire. Elue par Vogue parmi les dix plus belles femmes du monde, Gayatri Devi n'a pas tardé à séduire l'Occident, conquérant avec une aisance naturelle le monde difficile de la jet set internationale, tout en révélant une personnalité profondément humaine. On découvre ainsi les gestes d'une femme qui, en plus de pratiquer des sports comme l'équitation et la chasse à dos d'éléphant, s'est engagée dans la politique et a obtenu la plus grande adhésion populaire de l'histoire. Elle a fondé la première école publique pour filles officiellement acceptée en Inde et elle s'est consacrée à la restauration de la splendide ville de Jaipur. Voilà en bref le contenu d'un livre fascinant, qui couvre presque un siècle d'Histoire, du début du XXe siècle à nos jours. Enrichi d'illustrations d'époque, de memorabilia et de fac-similés de lettres, il scande la vie de cette femme hors du commun, qui continuera à influencer l'histoire de l'Inde.
Download or read book Palace of Clouds written by Rajyashree Kumari Bikaner and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-06-08 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book evokes the romance of the rugged desert kingdom of Bikaner and its Rajput royal family. It is a richly woven tapestry encompassing five generations of an aristocratic family's past and present. Tales of valour, battles and coronations, the splendour of the royal courts, the culture and traditions that made this Rathore state preeminent in the world, all set against the backdrop of imposing palaces, rugged forts and hunting lodges, the magnificence of the gilded age of the Maharajas. The author describes her formative years during the sixties when seismic changes in the world were taking place and which were to take her on an adventurous journey from her home in Bikaner to life in London. The author brings to life a treasure trove of anecdotes and introduces us to a world of elegance, sportsmanship and cosmopolitan culture.
