No translation, however conscientious be the translator, can fully substitute for the original. For all the nuances, the terminology of the day, the forms of ordinary speech in Delhi in the 1850s, the descriptions of the court, the rebels and of the victims and victors, the historian will need always to go to the original Urdu text. But Rana Safvi has still given us a translation that should serve to satisfy the general readers’ interest. She has enriched it by biographical notices of the author and three of his patrons (pp. 272-76), a description of the Red Fort (pp. 277-82), a useful glossary (pp. 283-88) and end-notes (nos. 6 and 136 missing) (pp. 300-322).
