Book Review : A Masterpiece for This Fractious Day

Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya, Representing the Other? Sanskrit Sources and theMuslims, Eighth to Fourteenth Century, Delhi: Primus Books, 2017.

A brilliant essay in historiography, Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya’s Representing the Other? Sanskrit Sources and the Muslims, Eighth to Fourteenth Century is a bitter pill for all who inhabit our warring times. It is not meant only, as we might like to believe, for the fast-growing hordes of fanatics who insanely swear by nationalism and patriotism and understand neither. It is also meant – we shall presently see why – for those, like us, who believe themselves to be untouched by the deadly malaise. There can be no better way to introduce this little masterpiece than to begin with its dedication and telescope it with the book’s last sentence.