Who really wrote the lines ‘If there is Paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this’?

An excerpt from ‘Shahjahanabad’, Rana Safvi’s book on the living city of old Delhi.

Rana Safvi

· Nov 01, 2019 · 07:30 am

How Bahadur Shah Zafar’s daughter had to flee from Delhi after he lost his empire

A translation of one of the many stories collected by Khwaja Hasan Nizami about the survivors of the Mughal emperor’s family.

Khwaja Hasan Nizami

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Rana Safvi

· Nov 01, 2018 · 08:30 am

Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s 19th-century books on the pre-1857 monuments of Delhi are now in English

In the two volumes of ‘Asar-us-Sanadid’, Sir Sayyid combined anecdotes with rigorous measurements and descriptions.

Sayyid Ahmad Khan

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Rana Safvi

· Aug 31, 2018 · 08:30 am

Why I cried while watching ‘Mulk’: I finally know what it means to be a Muslim in India

Anubhav Sinha’s drama explores the Islamaphobia experienced by a family following a terrorist attack.

Rana Safvi

· Aug 04, 2018 · 07:30 pm

Inside the Delhi Golf Club is a wealth of monuments that is anything but par for the course

Historian Rana Safvi takes readers on the guide to the forgotten old cities of Delhi through remaining monuments from the past.

Rana Safvi

· Jun 14, 2018 · 08:30 am

Opinion: Hindutva groups’ assault on AMU was never about Jinnah. It had a more sinister motive

It was intended to demonise a particular community and interfere in educational institutions that support free speech and liberal values.

Rana Safvi

· May 11, 2018 · 03:30 pm

This is the book that lovers of Urdu literature needed, to understand its history

An anthology of poetry and prose that offers a panoramic view of more than 100 years of writing.

Rana Safvi

· Sep 09, 2017 · 06:30 pm

May 16, 1857: How a massacre by rebel sepoys at the Red Fort felled Bahadur Shah Zafar

The Mughal king was tried and convicted for the murder of 56 Europeans taken prisoner by the soldiers.

Rana Safvi

· May 16, 2017 · 06:30 am

How Humayun convinced the love of his life to marry him

Hamida Bano grew up to be a feisty queen and loyal wife, but when she first met her husband, she was just an angry teen.

Rana Safvi

· Feb 14, 2017 · 11:30 am

How a massive explosion on this day in 1857 signaled to the British that Delhi was taken

British forces were only able to recapture the city in September, after a three-month siege of Delhi.

Rana Safvi

· May 11, 2016 · 06:30 am

In Mughal India, Holi was celebrated with the same exuberance as Eid

There were no barriers of caste, class or religion, and even the poorest of the poor could throw colour at the Emperor.

Rana Safvi

· Mar 23, 2016 · 08:30 pm

Was Nur Jahan a scheming temptress or just an independent woman who historians couldn’t fathom?

Whatever the truth, the impact this Persian refugee had on emperor Jahangir cannot be denied.

Rana Safvi

· Mar 08, 2016 · 01:30 pm