Hyderabad

Description

Starting with the period prior to the city's birth in 1591, the book presents an unbroken and colourful chronicle of Hyderabad, one of contemporary India's most important cities. Charting the city's fascinating march from Bhagnagar to Hyderabad to 'Cyberabad', this story is replete with diverse engaging, eccentric, and often daring characters, some of whose lives are stranger than fiction.

Narendra Luther describes the origin and evolution of Hyderabad's unique composite culture, which has continued to attract people since its founding by its poet-builder. Retaining the basic information from the original, this paperback edition includes a new chapter and updated information.

Author Information

Narendra Luther is an authority on the history and culture of Hyderabad. A former bureaucrat, he has held several senior positions in the Government of India as well as in the State Government of Andhra Pradesh. He has also translated Sidq Jaisi's Darbaar-e-Durbaar into English, titled The Nocturnal Court: The Life of a Prince of Hyderabad (OUP, 2004).

Table of contents

Photographs 
Preface 
Preface to the Paperback Edition 
Preface to the Revised and Updated Edition 
PART 1: THE BEGINNING: 
1. Antenatal Scenario 
2. Birth of Bhagnagar 
3. Ma Saheba 
4. In Praise of Bhagnagar 
5. Abdullah's Humiliation 
6. Mendicant to Sultan 
7. Kuchipudi, Ramadas, and Madanna 
8. Madanna's Fall 
9. The Long Siege 
PART 2: A CHANGE OF GUARD: 
10. A New Titan 
11. Dissipation of the Legacy 
12. Musa Ram and Hashmat Jung 
13. The Resident's Playing 
14. A Parade of Diwans 
15. 'If Hyderabad is lost ' 
16 The Great Diwan 
17. The Toddler Nizam 
18. Paigah's Fancy Dress Party 
19. Mahboob's Camelot 
20. The Great Achievers 
PART 3: END OF AN ORDER: 
21. A Unique Collection 
22. The Masters of Verse 
23. Chunnu Nawab and the 'Balishter' 
24. The Troubled Decades 
25. Nazar for the Nizam 
26. 'Head Over Heart' 
27. 'Rabbit in a Hutch' 
28. Dissent and Sanity 
29. The Short March 
30. The Debacle 
31. Hope, Despair, Hope 
32. An Escape and a Sentence 
33. A Call to Arms 
PART 4: DAWAN OF DEMOCRACY: 
34. The Transition 
35. Chief Ministers Galore 
36. Politics of the Theatre 
37. The e-Governance 
38. The Seething Cauldron 
39. Epilogue 
Notes 
Bibliography 
Oral History References 
Index