Madhulika Liddle

Madhulika Liddle (born 8 January 1973) is an Indian writer best known for her books featuring 17th century Mughal detective Muzaffar Jang.

Madhulika Liddle

Background and personal life

Madhulika was born in the town of Haflong in Assam, India, the younger of the two daughters of Andrew Verity Liddle and his wife Muriel Liddle. Andrew Liddle was an officer in the Indian Police Service, which meant that he would be transferred to a new town every two or three years. Therefore, the first twelve years of Madhulika's life were spent in various towns across Assam. In 1985, Liddle was transferred to New Delhi, and Madhulika finished her schooling in that city. She went on to study at the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering and Nutrition (IHMCN) in New Delhi.

Career

Madhulika worked at the India Habitat Centre in Delhi, followed by an advertising agency, and resigned from NIIT in 2008 to write full-time.

Writings

Madhulika's first work to be published was a short story named Silent Fear, which won the Femina Thriller Contest in June 2001.

The Muzaffar Jang Series

Madhulika's best-known series of works are historical whodunnits featuring 17th century Mughal detective Muzaffar Jang. Muzaffar Jang first appeared in print in a short story, Murk of Art, in the anthology, 21 Under 40, published by Zubaan Books in 2007. The first full-length Muzaffar Jang novel was published by Hachette India in 2009 as The Englishman's Cameo. As of 2021, four books in the series have been published.

The Englishman's Cameo (2009)

The Englishman's Cameo introduces Muzaffar Jang, a twenty-five-year-old Mughal nobleman living in the Delhi of 1656 AD. Muzaffar ends up investigating a murder of which his friend, a jeweller's assistant, is accused. The book became a bestseller in India, and was published in French by Editions Philippe Picquier, as Le Camée Anglais.

Both editions received numerous favourable reviews, with Pradeep Sebastian of Business World writing: "Its intimate picture of life in Emperor Shahjahan's Dilli resembles a delicate Mughal miniature…" and Zac O'Yeah of Deccan Herald describing the book's "originality and freshness" as its strongest point. Gargi Gupta, for the Hindustan Times, wrote: "The Englishman's Cameo is a fast-paced yarn written in snappy prose. It also succeeds in evoking the Mughal era through its manners, fashions, jewels and architecture. There's blood, dead bodies every 50 pages or so, and even a love interest to keep readers hooked."

The Eighth Guest & Other Muzaffar Jang Mysteries (2011)

The Eighth Guest & Other Muzaffar Jang Mysteries is a collection of ten short mystery stories set in the latter half of 1656 AD, following Muzaffar Jang's successful solving of the case of The Englishman's Cameo. These stories are set against varying backdrops, including the Imperial Atelier, a traditional Mughal garden, the sarai built by the Princess Jahanara in Delhi, and the Royal Elephant Stables. Included in the collection was the first Muzaffar Jang short story (Murk of Art), reprinted in this collection as The Hand of an Artist.

Engraved in Stone (2012)

Engraved in Stone, the third book in the series, is set in Agra. When a wealthy and influential merchant named Mumtaz Hassan is murdered, the Diwan-e-Kul, Mir Jumla (who is in Agra, en route to the Deccan, where he's been sent on a campaign) assigns Muzaffar the task of finding the culprit. In the process, Muzaffar stumbles across another mystery which is as old as Muzaffar himself.

Crimson City (2015)

Crimson City, the fourth Muzaffar Jang book, is set in Delhi during early spring, 1657. The novel starts with recalling Mughal army's siege of Bidar in the Deccan, and introduces Muzaffar Jang as the brother-in-law of the Kotwal of Dilli. The novel weaves through historical landmarks of Mughal-era Dilli while showcasing the ability of Muzaffar Jang in solving a series of murders in his neighbourhood, as well as other unconnected crimes, including the abduction of a moneylender's infant son, and the death of a wealthy nobleman in the bath house he himself had built. Interestingly, the unconnected episode of abduction of the moneylender's infant son is used as a commentary upon the tense relations between Muslims and Hindus during the Mughal era (and, obliquely, in the contemporary times as well). In Chapter 8, the Hindu moneylender is shown as holding back from providing Muzaffar Jang, his hungry "saviour", a few morsels. The author comments: "it was odd, he (Muzaffar Jang) thought, that a man could be on the one hand praised to the skies, and on the other, not even considered human enough to share food with." What comes subsequently is interesting, to put it mildly. Jang wonders whether there could have been a compromise, had he asked for a meal? He/Author imagines that if at all there would have been such a compromise, then the moneylender would have only given Muzaffar company while he ate, and after Muzaffar's departure the dishes he had eaten in would be thrown away and Gangu (the cook) would have bathed and gone to the temple to purify herself. Writing such an unconnected episode, it seems, was to complement existing narratives about the inhumane treatment of Dalits historically at the hands of the Hindus, and not just Brahmins. Jang feels relaxed that he didn't ask for a meal as a denial would have been "excruciatingly embarrassing". His wife Shireen tries to sum up what he is feeling: "It is a double-edged sword, is that what you mean to say? If we regard Hindus as different, they regard us as different, too. Too different to be even humane too." Jang responds that faith ought to be "a personal thing, something that should raise you above petty things like whether or not a man shares the same belief as you do. That is what I believe religion should be: a way of making ourselves better human beings."

Short stories

Madhulika has written a range of short stories in different genres. Several of these have won awards (including the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association Awards Short Story Competition, for A Morning Swim, in 2003) or have been selected for anthologies. In 2016, one of her stories, Poppies in the Snow, was longlisted for The Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award. Her first collection of contemporary short stories was published as My Lawfully Wedded Husband and Other Stories in 2012.

Miscellaneous Writings

Madhulika's non-fiction writing includes travel writing, humour, and writing on classic cinema.

Awards and recognition

• Commonwealth Broadcasting Association Short Story Competition – Honourable Mention (2002) for Love and the Papaya Man
• Commonwealth Broadcasting Association Short Story Competition – Overall Winner (2003) for A Morning Swim
• Winner of the Oxfordbookstore e-Author version 4.0 for a set of five short stories: Woman to Woman, The Mango Tree, The Tale of a Summer Vacation, The Marble Princess, and The Sari Satyagraha.
• Longlisted for The Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award (2016) for Poppies in the Snow

External links

• Official site: www.madhulikaliddle.com