Download The First Firangis: Remarkable Stories of Heroes, Healers, Charlatans, Courtesans & Other Foreigners Who Became Indian AudioBook Free
The Indian subcontinent has been a land of immigrants for a large number of years: waves of migration from Persia, Central Asia, Mongolia, the center East and Greece have helped create India's exceptionally diverse cultural blend. In the hundreds of years before the British isles Raj, when the Mughals were the preeminent power in the subcontinent, several migrants known as 'firangis' made India their home. In this e book, Jonathan Gil Harris, a 21st-century firangi, tells their reports. These gripping accounts are of healers, troops, designers, ascetics, thieves, pirates and courtesans who weren't powerful or privileged. Often these were escaping poverty or spiritual persecution; many were helped bring here as slaves; others simply adopted their heart of adventure. A few of these migrants were absorbed into the military services. Others dropped in with spiritual communities - the Catholics of Rachol, the underground Jews of Goa, the fakirs of Ajmer, the Sufis of Delhi. Healers from Portugal and Italy modified their medical practice in accordance with local traditions. Gifted artisans from European countries joined up with Akbar's and Jahangir's royal ateliers and helped create enduring artwork. And even though almost invisible within the archival record, some migrant women, like the Armenian Bibi Juliana and the Portuguese Juliana Dias da Costa, found a home in royal Mughal harems. Jonathan Gil Harris uses his own experience of becoming Indian through the process of acclimatizing to the country's culture, customs, weather, food, clothes and customs to bring the reports of the shadowy figures to stunning life.
