White Mughals

In 1798 James Achilles Kirkpatrick, British resident at the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad, fell in love with the great-niece of the Nizam's prime minister and a direct descendant of Muhammed. To marry her Kirkpatrick converted to Islam and even, according to Indian sources, became a double agent working for the Hyderabadis against the East India Company. This remarkable story, unearthed by William Dalrymple during five years of research, casts light on the many British colonizers in India who "went native," taking on the dress, customs, and religions of the sub-continent. These "white Mughals" were a source of difficulty and embarrassment to colonial administrations from the sixteenth century until the 1850s, when a new breed of Crown subjects took the reins. With a colorful supporting cast of other "white Mughals" from the era -- including "Hindoo Stuart," who traveled with his own team of Brahmins, and Alexander Gardner, whose tartan turban sported egret plumes -- this exotic love story conjures all the sweep and resonance of a great nineteenth-century novel. Book jacket.