BAAGI SULTAN (REBEL SULTANS HINDI)

In 1707 when Emperor Aurangzeb went to his grave, the Mughal empire

began to crack into a hundred fractured pieces. It was the lure of the

Deccan that drained this conqueror ’s energies, putting him on a course

of collision with his most threatening adversaries. After all, the Deccan

was a land that inspired wonder. Its treasures were legendary, and its

kings magnificent. It was a horizon of rousing adventure, attracting

talent from beyond oceans. A traveller here could encounter bands of

European snipers, available for military hire, or forbidding fortresses

where African nobles scaled the heights of power. Diamonds and pearls

lay heaped in the Deccan’s bazaars, while in its courts thrived Persians

and Marathas, Portuguese and Georgians, presiding over a world of

drama and betrayal. A thousand fortunes were made in the Deccan,

drawing the formidable envy of generations of Mughal emperors.

In Rebel Sultans, Manu S. Pillai narrates the story of the Deccan from

the close of the thirteenth century to the dawn of the eighteenth. Packed

with riveting tales and compelling characters, this book takes us from

the age of Alauddin Khilji to the ascent of Shivaji. We witness the

dramatic rise and fall of the Vijayanagar empire, even as we negotiate

intrigues at the courts of the Bahmani kings and the Rebel Sultans

who overthrew them. From Chand Bibi, a valorous queen stabbed to

death, and Ibrahim II of Bijapur, a Muslim prince who venerated Hindu

gods, to Malik Ambar, the Ethiopian warlord, and Krishnadeva Raya on

Vijayanagar ’s Diamond Throne – they all appear in these pages as we

journey through one of the most arresting sweeps of Indian history.

Unravelling a forgotten chapter in our medieval past, Rebel Sultans

reminds us of a different age and a different time in the Deccan – one

that ended an empire and rewrote India’s destiny.