The Mughal private eye

[1]

By Madhulika Liddle [2]

Rs 350

Madhulika Liddle’s detective Muzaffar Jang may not be original as far as private eyes in historical settings go, but he is definitely a first for an aristocrat in 17th century Mughal India.
He’s young, almost too young to be a sought-after detective, is not bestowed with the snootiness which is embraced almost as a privilege by his peers. He has friends in low places, and has a persistent nose for mystery which will dig up even the most reticent and reluctant secrets.

There are 10 short stories in this collection of Jang mysteries, the character that first made his appearance in The Englishman’s Cameo.
For people who pick this book up with expectations of being able to compare it to Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie’s creations would be wise to avoid it altogether. The mysteries aren’t complicated pieces of a jigsaw puzzle with too many pieces and no clue as to what goes where. They’re simple and unassuming. Avid mystery readers would be disappointed that these stories aren’t sinister enough or convoluted enough.
There are tales of simple theft, or a more serious burglary, a curious bequest, murder, also a seeming case of murder but with no corpse, even one of treachery against the emperor and his proclaimed heir.
The interesting part here, and which is hard to miss, is the way a century we have only read about, or probably seen on TV, inaccurately I might add, has been brought to life. It is vividly descriptive with attention to detail and it is simply delightful to read the way the words just flow with no attempt to flummox the reader. It’s as if you were in Shahjahan’s Dilli, roaming the galis and visiting the sarais, part of the audience that Jang is addressing, waiting for him to make sense of the muddle and provide the answer.
Liddle is also thorough with her research. It may be unimaginable, not to say unbelievable, to see Jang sully his hands experimenting with chemicals and apparatus, a la Holmes, not to consider that Conan Doyle’s creation had more than 200 years to expand his horizon of mixtures and compounds.
Jang doesn’t do that, but he does rely on scientific information: there a hakim or vaid to give time of death or predict the soporific used, even a chemist to explain how someone created a false bruise on his body.
In some way, these stories are a welcome break from the abundance of mystery writing that makes it impossible to distinguish one from the other.
Where others would be lost for being too commonplace, Liddle has been ingenious in creating a detective who is set in a time which places him far ahead in any competition.