BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT: Translation of 100-year old Urdu ms.

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Alberto M. Cacopardo and Ruth Laila Schmidt (eds.)

 

My Heartrendingly Tragic Story

 

Shaikh Muhammad Abdullah Khan 'Azar'

 

The autobiography of Shaikh Muhammad Abdullah Khan 'Azar', a Kati from the

Bashgal Valley in Afghanistan, was written in 1908, in exile in India, after

a long period of service with the colonial rulers. In his account, Azar

recollects the laws, customs, religion and history of his people, and adds

his own life story. It is the only insider account of the Katis as they

lived before their subjugation and conversion by Amir Abdur Rahman Khan in

1895-96, as well as an account of the Amir's campaign; and a rare

description of his English masters by a colonial subject, at a time when the

British Empire was at the height of its power.

The entire original manuscript is reproduced in facsimile as the

second part of the book. Extensive annotations by Alberto Cacopardo shed new

light on the manuscript's historical background.

Alberto Cacopardo is a member of the Istituto Italiano per l'Africa

e l'Oriente and has done anthropological research on the cultures of the

Hindu Kush.

Ruth Laila Schmidt is professor of Urdu at the University of Oslo,

and has done research on Urdu and the Dardic language Shina.

 

ISBN 978-82-7099-432-8

331 pp.

Hardcover

Map, photographs

Introduction by Georg Morgenstierne

 

NOK 390,-

EUR 46,80

Postage to Europe EUR 15; all other EUR 22

 

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