City of Djinns

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City of Djinns
Author	William Dalrymple
Illustrator	Olivia Fraser
Language	English
Subject(s)	Travel
Publisher	Penguin Books
Publication date	1993
Preceded by	In Xanadu: A Quest
Followed by	From the Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium

City of Djinns (1994) is a travelogue by 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.

Delhi is a massive metropolis with an enormously enchanting past. It has been the capital city for so many of India's rulers that every bit of its landscape speaks of a glorious past. It is indeed the city that symbolizes India's myriad and turbulent history.

Dalrymple's second book City of Djinns examines the traumatic events of the Partition of India, the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots which occur as a result of the assassination of Indira Gandhi among other events.

Additionally he investigates the world of the first British inhabitants of the city who "went native", the Mughals, the Tughlaqs, ending with ancient Hindu origins of the city as described in The Mahabharata.

The book followed his established style of historical digressions, tied in with contemporary events and a multitude of anecdotes.

The book has now been made into a play by Rahul Dasinnur Pulkeshi of Delhi-based Dreamtheatre ^[1] . Dalrymple is played by Bollywood and stage actor Tom Alter, with Zohra Sehgal playing the role of Nora Nicholson, a British national who prefers to stays in India after it achieves Independence.