Of historic and historical excesses - William Dalrymple's and The Anarchy

Any Dalrymple regular would have you know the collector's item value of his well-researched (most boasting of previously untapped research material excavations), riveting retelling of history; never off course, the course of facts and specifics, and yes, the turn of phrase and superbly stitched narrative, glued together with insights into the lives of the historic and historical events, people and places. A humanising touch of a historian.

In his most ambitious literary canvas till date, The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire, historian and author, Dalrymple, relays the story, with his characteristic verve and literary flair, the East India Company's saga of taking over large tracts of Asia and the price that India in particular, had to pay for being run by a 'Company State', as the enterprise rose as a remarkable political and military behemoth, inspiring many a critique, case in point, Edmund Burke calling it a 'state in the disguise of a merchant.'

The Anarchy, holds in it ink, one of history's most striking stories: how the Mughal Empire―which dominated world trade and manufacturing and possessed almost unlimited resources―fell apart and was replaced by a multinational corporation based thousands of miles overseas, and answerable to shareholders, most of whom had never even seen India and no idea about the country whose wealth was providing their dividends.

Busting myths, and a relook at history from a fresh perspective is what Dalrymple's forte has been and this book isn't an exception to this template. The focus is on the Company running a country from a five window office back in London, like a Company State, collecting taxes and maintaining almost a 2 lakh strong private army, by early 19th century.

The ruthless power of the conglomerate exerted with Machiavellian machinations and merciless coercion, is what the author travels the reader through its Dramatis Personae that he documents at the start of the 500 plus page, tome. Robert Clive's being the most riveting. 'He had a street fighter's eye for sizing up an opponent, a talent at seizing the opportunities presented by happenchance, and a breath-taking aggressive audacity.'

Charting the undulating landscape of history and the ravages of time, Dalrymple successfully also hints at present day parallels of insidious and incestuous relation between political corruption and coercive corporate corporate greed.

History will continue to be represented and retold according to the times and the present, but that, it is an authoritative, substantiated and precisely referenced and, perhaps the most important of them all; is relayed engrossingly- a rare combination that Dalrymple more than replicates in his books, after book.

A special note on the Type (font) Garamond used in the text, stands testimony to the writer's artistic eye, just as his unparalleled acumen in tapping art resources and adding flavour to the text as well as the speeches. For instance, the one about one of the first Hindustani words to be included in the English language to have been 'loot'.

The many detailed annotations of the accompanying images on glossy paper etches out the equally vivid words, ably aided by the 100-page long Bibliography- index, glossary et al.

The ominous hand in glove(ness) of the 'abuse of corporate power' in relation to the affairs of the state and the merging, fuzzy boundaries of morality when faced with power and money, is not only a present connect with history that the author ends on, but in doing so he, secures a 'chew on the cud' for that rare breed called the Reader. May the tribe grow! Read on.