The Break of Dawn

"Unconstrained unlike a historian the fiction writer Khan Mahboob Tarzi invents a moment in the history of 1857 and imbues it with high romance and action."-Rita Kothari translator writer and professor of English Ashoka University"[The 1857] rebellion has been the subject of scholarly attention and debate but the events have not drawn too much literary attention in terms of novels plays etc. It is thus good to read this novel and to have it in translation."-Rudrangshu Mukherjee chancellor and professor of history Ashoka University-A thriller and romance set amidst the raging battle to free India of the British in 1857.-Brings into focus the lesser-known popular literature in Urdu around the 1857 mutiny.-The translator Prof. Ali Khan Mahmudabad was led to the book out of personal interest as it includes an account of the erstwhile Mahmudabad royal family's role in the 1857 revolt. -Introduces readers to Khan Mahboob Tarzi a prolific author who wrote over a hundred novels on history politics science-fiction romance and erotica.It is the searing month of June. The rebellion against the British has just begun and Awadh is up in flames. Hindus and Muslims have joined hands to overthrow the foreign rulers and set India free. Some Indian rulers have started to enter into alliances to fight the firangis while others have thrown in their lot with the foreigners. Amid all this Riyaz Khan a young soldier from the army of the Raja of Mahmudabad saves a group of Britishers from fellow 'mutineers' and escorts them to the safety of Lucknow. In this group is Alice who falls in love with Riyaz and eventually becomes an informer for the rebels. The Break of Dawn originally published in Urdu under the title Aghaaz-e-Sahar is a thrilling page-turner and a reminder of a time when Indians of all classes and creeds came together to fight for the honour and freedom of their homeland. Review The revolt of 1857 is a momentous event in the history of British rule in India. The people of a very large part of north India took up arms to throw out the rule of thefiranghi. Sepoys drawn from the peasantry of north India especially south-eastern Awadh openly defied and killed British officers and their families; the sepoys were joined by the peasants to attack and destroy all that represented British rule. For leadership sepoys and peasants turned to those who had been in authority before the arrival of British rule-the Mughal Badhshah princes/kings/queens of regional principalities and to large taluqdars. It was in Awadh that this revolt against British rule became most popular and intense. This rebellion has been the subject of scholarly attention and debate but the events have not drawn too much literary attention in terms of novels plays etc. It is thus good to read this novel and to have it in translation. Many of the principal participants of the revolt in Awadh are characters in this novel which moves very swiftly over complex events. The register of the novel is distinctively nationalist. I am not sure if this novel is one of its kind. There could be similar narratives in Urdu or Hindi in existence. If this is indeed the case then scholars like my young friend Dr Ali Khan Mahmudabad should make the effort to bring them before a wider reading public. I would like to end this note with a word of warning even if it sounds obvious: This is a work of fiction and thus everything in it should not be taken as fact. The imaginary is not history. -- Rudrangshu Mukherjee chancellor and professor of history Ashoka UniversitySometimes a book of fiction an utterly readable and absorbing story that makes no claim to be a literary masterpiece can open up doors to understanding that the virtuosity of a grand epic may fail to manage.Aghaaz-e-Sahar orThe Break of Dawn is one such book. We could have easily passed it by; not known of its existence. However we would have not known then tha