Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #770842 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From Booklist
Set in sixteenth-century India, this peregrinatory novel depicts the world of the Mughal emperor Akbar in its complexity--its wealth and poverty, its cauldron of different peoples and beliefs, and its court filled with plots and courtly scheming. The first third of the story portrays the early life of Bihzad, an artist prodigy destined to head Akbar's itabkhana, or artists' pavilion, which produced the miniatures for which Mughal art is renowned. Enemies of Bihzad and his courtier father use a serious blunder in judgment to force him into exile from the court. The novel starts very slowly--its first third is filled with detail of life at court and discursive dialogue. Once Bihzad's exile begins, suspense about his fate in the chaos and political upheaval of sixteenth-century Asia energizes the plot and provides tension for the remainder of the story. Panoramic in scope, lyrical in approach, and filled with vivid descriptions of the era's violence and sexual practices. Ellen Loughran
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Review
“… as sumptuous as the imperial pleasure domes that [Basu] describes…. Nothing short of enthralling.” -- Alistair Cooke, Independent on Sunday

From the Publisher
Set in 16th–century India, Kunal Basu’s exquisite new novel unfolds a story of ambition and love at the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar. Bihzad, the son of the emperor’s chief artist, is the most gifted and the most wayward member of the royal workshop. When the emperor decides to move the court from Agra to his new city at Fatehpur Sikri, he takes the brilliant young man with him. Everyone expects that he will one day inherit his father’s position at court. But Bihzad’s glittering career is brought to an abrupt end by an unpardonable crime. Politics and passion fill the pages of this richly imagined tale, as intricate and sumptuous as the paintings it evokes. Kunal Basu’s first novel, The Opium Clerk, was published to critical acclaim. Born in Calcutta, Basu now lives in Oxford, England.

Customer Reviews

Art 101
Kunal Basu's tale is an interesting episodic journey that follows the life of an artist Bihzad from his young days as a boy who loves to draw to his time as an old man. The book is an adventure that takes us through 16th century India to the Mogul Empire. Many of the terms in the book require a bit of getting used to such as the boy's father who is head artist is called the "Khwaja." The "Darogha" is the head of the artists' workshop called the "kitabkhana." Once the unusual nature of the terms become more familiar, we relax into what is a very interesting tale. It makes sense that in an era before the wide use of printing presses and photography that rulers needed legions of artists to produce their images to be presented throughout their empire. I felt like I was learning a bit about the history of art & the status of the artist. Bihzad is a master who falls a bit too much in love with his Emperor and therefore paints the wrong pictures resulting in banishment and a rather endless sojourn in the desert. Many of the characters that flit into the story are sweetly drawn such as the birdwomen and the postal carrier. The scenes in the harem are drawn with an objective eye, almost clinical in detail. Overall, this is a very different tale set in a different culture & time, written by an Indian author. Enjoy!