https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=202.83.59.65Bharatpedia - User contributions [en]2026-08-04T23:31:37ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=City_of_Djinns&diff=168613City of Djinns2021-07-15T07:23:39Z<p>202.83.59.65: </p>
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<div>{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2018}}<br />
{{Infobox book<br />
| name = City of Djinns<br />
| title_orig =<br />
| translator =<br />
| image = City of Djinns bookcover.jpg<br />
| caption =<br />
| author = [[William Dalrymple (historian)|William Dalrymple]]<br />
| illustrator = Olivia Fraser<br />
| cover_artist = <br />
| country = United Kingdom<br />
| language = English<br />
| series = <br />
| subject = Travel<br />
| genre = Non-fiction<br />
| publisher = [[Penguin Books]]<br />
| pub_date = 1993<br />
| english_pub_date =<br />
| media_type = Print<br />
| pages = 320 pp. (hardcover)<br />
| isbn = 978-0002157254<br />
| oclc =<br />
| preceded_by = [[In Xanadu]]<br />
| followed_by = [[From the Holy Mountain]]<br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''''City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi''''' (1993) is a [[travelogue (literature)|travelogue]] by [[William Dalrymple (historian)|William Dalrymple]] about the historical capital of [[India]], [[Delhi]]. It is his second book, and culminated as a result of his six-year stay in [[New Delhi]].<br />
<br />
The City of Djinns is one of the first books by William Dalrymple which doesn't revolve around the history of India, rather it represents various anecdotes of his time in India and explores the history of India with the help of various characters he meets, like the Puri family, the driver, the customs officer, and British survivors of the [[British Raj|Raj]],<ref name = Telegraph><br />
{{cite web<br />
|title = William Dalrymple on Delhi<br />
|first = William<br />
|last = Dalrymple<br />
|date = 24 July 2014<br />
|url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/india/10988534/William-Dalrymple-on-Delhi.html<br />
|newspaper = The Telegraph<br />
|quote = An extract from William Dalrymple’s City of Djinns (1993)<br />
|access-date = 6 July 2020<br />
}}</ref> <br />
as well as whirling [[dervish]]es and [[eunuch]] dancers (‘a strange mix of piety and bawdiness’). Dalrymple describes ancient ruins<ref name = Telegraph /> and the experience of living in the modern city: he goes in search of the history behind the epic stories of the ''[[Mahabharata]]''. Still more seriously, he finds evidence of the city’s violent past and present day—the [[Indian Mutiny|1857 mutiny against British rule]]; the [[Partition of India|Partition massacres]] in 1947; and the riots after the [[assassination of Indira Gandhi]] in 1984.<br />
<br />
The book followed his established style of historical digressions, tied in with contemporary events and a multitude of anecdotes.<br />
<br />
==Adaptations==<br />
The book was adapted into a play in 2007 by Rahul Dasinnur Pulkeshi of Delhi-based Dreamtheatre.<ref><br />
{{cite web<br />
|url = http://www.livemint.com/2007/04/09160059/Starring-Dilli.html?atype=tp<br />
|title = ‘City of Djinns’ is being dramatized, with lots of flavour and fun thrown in<br />
|accessdate = 2007-06-29<br />
|publisher = The LiveMint.com<br />
}}</ref><br />
Dalrymple was played by [[Bollywood]] and stage actor [[Tom Alter]], with [[Zohra Sehgal]] playing the role of Nora Nicholson, a British national who prefers to stay in India after it achieves independence.<br />
<br />
==Awards==<br />
*[[Thomas Cook Travel Book Award]] (1994)<ref><br />
{{Cite web<br />
| url = https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/william-dalrymple<br />
| title = William Dalrymple<br />
| access-date = 6 July 2020<br />
| website = British Council<br />
}}</ref><br />
*[[Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award]] (1994)<br />
<br />
==Citation==<br />
*Dalrymple, William (1994). ''City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi''. Flamingo. {{ISBN|0-00-637595-2}}<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:City Of Djinns}}<br />
[[Category:British travel books]]<br />
[[Category:1993 non-fiction books]]<br />
[[Category:Culture of Delhi]]<br />
[[Category:Books about Delhi]]<br />
[[Category:Jinn in popular culture]]<br />
[[Category:Books by William Dalrymple]]</div>202.83.59.65