Zahir Dehlvi

Zahir Dehlvi (1835-1911) was an official in the Mughal court of Bahadur Shah Zafar and also an accomplished poet. He was witness to a crucial moment in history and his memoir remains the most richly detailed surviving account of the course of the 1857 Revolt and its bitter consequences. Forced to flee Delhi in the aftermath of the Revolt, his later life was full of tribulation. He eventually settled in Hyderabad where he died. Rana Safvi is a renowned writer, scholar and translator. She is the author of Tales from the Quran and Hadith and Where Stones Speak: Historical Trails in Mehrauli, the First City of Delhi. She has also translated both the editions of Asar us Sanadeed, the seminal work on Delhi’s monuments, written by Sir Syed Ahmed. She runs the popular blog ‘Hazrat e Dilli’ on her site ranasafvi.com and is passionate about documenting India’s syncretic culture through her writings.