[HN Gopher] Our Man in Ajmer
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Our Man in Ajmer
        
       Author : Thevet
       Score  : 24 points
       Date   : 2023-03-29 19:13 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (literaryreview.co.uk)
 (TXT) w3m dump (literaryreview.co.uk)
        
       | shrikant wrote:
       | This is one of those reviews that is so well-executed that I
       | almost don't want to read the actual book because it may not
       | actually live up to the quality of the review.
        
         | whydoyoucare wrote:
         | I had the same feeling, the review is fantastic!
        
       | vs4vijay wrote:
       | I am from Ajmer, India. Good to see my city name here. :)
        
       | gumby wrote:
       | > ...complex game of political chess being played by Nur Jahan
       | with her rival and stepson, Shah Jahan
       | 
       | For some context, Shah Jahan is best known outside India as the
       | king who commissioned and spent his fortune on the Taj Mahal.
       | 
       | The description in the review drives home how when the British
       | arrived, India was about a third of world GDP, Britain, not so
       | much.
        
         | sudhirc wrote:
         | > The description in the review drives home how when the
         | British arrived, India was about a third of world GDP, Britain,
         | not so much.
         | 
         | India's GDP share was much higher before the invading Mughal
         | invasion started so they were part of the problem. See Angus
         | Madison's historical list of the ten largest countries by GDP.
        
           | selimthegrim wrote:
           | Surely you've read Irfan Habib on Mughal revenue system?
        
             | jim_inont wrote:
             | I can sense his name irritates you, perhaps you can shed a
             | light why he should not be read, and what is wrong with his
             | methodology?
        
         | Karrot_Kream wrote:
         | Shah Jahan was the 3rd Mughal Emperor and one of the 4 great
         | Mughal rulers. At the time the Mughal empire was much wealthier
         | than England, though Europeans had been in India for a long
         | time now. Arguing over what GDP means doesn't really matter for
         | setting the context of Shah Jahan's empire. It's not like
         | contemporaries at the time had a precise method of measuring
         | these things either.
        
         | DiscourseFan wrote:
         | I've posted this elsewhere, but not only is historical GDP hard
         | to measure, if we are going by consumer spending, societies
         | that developed Capitalism in the 18th and 19th centuries would
         | dwarf the GDP of every other society in the world. One reason
         | that the British were so successful in colonizing other
         | countries is that the scale of production became so vast, crops
         | so cheap, that food prices shot down and population began to
         | boom: they literally had to export people.
         | 
         | And for all that, London, at the height of British power, had
         | pollution so bad that it was unlivable, in the colder months
         | the smog could choke you out it was so dense. Because they had
         | people living in such close conditions, hygiene was non-
         | existent, and only the rich were able to avoid the putrid
         | underbelly of the working-class city. Well, I happen to know of
         | some other cities with booming populations at the beginnings of
         | industrial capitalism that may have the same problems...I don't
         | live in India myself, but I would say most Indians would be
         | happy if the GDP was cut in half, if they could have clean air
         | and drinking water. But if its all about GDP, then I guess the
         | British are in many ways responsible for lowering the overall
         | "GDP" of 18th century South Asian countries (there was no India
         | until the British showed up, and even before partition it was
         | just called "Hindustan"). But the great industries of India
         | today, and the conditions of working people, that has nothing
         | to do with the British, even though it matters far more than
         | how some Raj lived 300 years ago.
        
         | spaceman_2020 wrote:
         | Shah Jahan also commissioned the Red Fort, still the nominal
         | seat of Indian power - the site of all presidential addresses
         | on Independence Day.
        
           | valarauko wrote:
           | The Prime Minister makes the speech. Plus nobody would regard
           | the Red Fort as the nominal seat of Indian Power. The vast
           | majority of Indians would only think of the fort as the site
           | of the Prime Minister's speech, if at all.
        
       | ratherlongname wrote:
       | I don't know when and how I'll ever stop being salty about the
       | colonial powers that absolutely looted my country.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2023-03-31 23:02 UTC)