A field-changing history explains how the subcontinent lost its political identity as the home of all religions and emerged as India, the land of the Hindus. Did South Asia have a shared regional identity prior to the arrival of Europeans in the late fifteenth century? This is a subject of heated debate in scholarly circles and contemporary political discourse. Manan Ahmed Asif argues that Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Republic of India share a common political ancestry: they are all part of a region whose people understand themselves as Hindustani. Asif describes the idea of Hindustan, as reflected in the work of native historians from roughly 1000 CE to 1900 CE, and how that idea went missing. This makes for a radical interpretation of how India came to its contemporary political identity. Asif argues that a European understanding of India as Hindu has replaced an earlier, native understanding of India as Hindustan, a home for all faiths. Turning to the subcontinent’s medieval past, Asif uncovers a rich network of historians of Hindustan who imagined, studied, and shaped their kings, cities, and societies. Asif closely examines the most complete idea of Hindustan, elaborated by the early seventeenth century Deccan historian Firishta. His monumental work, Tarikh-i Firishta, became a major source for European philosophers and historians, such as Voltaire, Kant, Hegel, and Gibbon during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Yet Firishta’s notions of Hindustan were lost and replaced by a different idea of India that we inhabit today. The Loss of Hindustan reveals the intellectual pathways that dispensed with multicultural Hindustan and created a religiously partitioned world of today.

Giving a bird’s eye view of the of the circumstances leading to the present scenario impacting my people and also to showcase some of the numerous burning problems we face today in Hindustan even 71 years after attaining ‘independence’ from Britain although the real freedom from mental slavery is yet to be attained.

For five centuries, Birbal has been one of the best-loved figures in the folklore of India. Polished like gemstones in the river of time, The Birbal Tales wit and insight have delighted children and grownups from Kerala to Kashmir. Now the complete collection comes to the West, after years of loving research and creative, and historically accurate, restoration. Moseleys Birbal Tales have won The National Writers Club First Prize for Fiction and the University of Southern Louisianas First Prize for Juvenile Fiction. This timeless classic is a wonderful gift for children and a treasury of humor and wisdom for adults. Testimonials Absolutely beautiful. I can see why you have a devoted following. - Duval Y. Hecht, President, BOOKS ON TAPE, INC. I have read Moseley's Birbal Tales and must say I was utterly enchanted. The stories are beautifully retold in a style that is not only charming in English but could have come straight from a collection of Persian tales at the Mughal court. Moseley has certainly captured the fantasy court world in which stories of this type are usually cast. He continues in the finest tradition of the Mughal qissagu (storyteller). I trust he will offer more volumes in this collection to the undoubted delight of his readers. - Wheeler M. Thackston, Professor of the Practice in Persian and Other Near Eastern Languages, HARVARD UNIVERSITY Delightful! - Swapna Vora, Editor, INDIAN EXPRESS, North American Edition At a time when thousands of intellectuals and professionals are migrating from India to the USA in search of wealth, Moseley has traveled to India to collect priceless gems from her immortal tradition and folk wisdom. Devoid of any high-sounding Brahmanic dogma, these tales have entertained and taught people of all levels for hundreds of years. Rendered again in the most lucid style, reading these tales is like reliving one's childhood. The book will fill the void for Indians now living in Diaspora and will give a new dimension of India to its Western readers. - Ved Prakash Vatuk, D. Litt, Director FOLKLORE INSTITUTE, Berkeley & Former Professor of Folklore, UC Berkeley It is so rare to have a book that will charm children, please adult readers, satisfy curiosity about foreign folk tales, and inform any reader regarding a different culture. But here is a book that does it all. - Ted Maas, ALLIANCE HOUSE, INC. James Moseleys collection of Birbal Tales capture the wit and wisdom of the famous Indian courtier while maintaining the simple poetry of those told orally for generations across India. - Maryann Mahajan, INDIA POST.COM Moseleysprose evokes the magical world of Akbars courtin witty, charming stories, which are still popular with children in India. Historical notes are appended. - BOOKLIST There are so many wonderful books for very young children, but there is too little good literature for middlings from age seven to eleven. This book, which adults can enjoy as well as children, brings praises from a Harvard Professor to a Hollywood Producer. Interestingly, although the tales are indeed charming and amusing, they are not fictional, but true stories of a wise man who really lived in long ago India in the palace of the Emperor Akbar. Birbal served his Emperor with wit and wisdom, and he became so renowned that even today parents and grandparents use these clever adventures as morality tales. - IndoLink.com This book is very promising. - Vandana Kumar, Editor, INDIA CURRENTS MAGAZINE, California Traveling throughout India for many years, the author collected many tales from the oral tradition surrounding the 14th-century Great Mughal Emperor, Akbar, and his wise advisor, the commoner Birbal. These short sto