Mirza Muhammad Hadi Ruswa (1857-1931) was one of the finest Urdu prose writers of his times. To this were added his skills as mathematician, astronomer and theologian. He had a command over Urdu, Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, English, Latin and Greek and wrote several tracts on philosophical subjects. He was the head of the literary department of the All India Shia Conference and wrote twenty volumes on the Shia religion. His other acclaimed novel is Akhtari Begum.
Umrao Jan Ada is perhaps one of the most enigmatic and forgotten female figures in South Asian Literature. The question of her existence, her beauty, her scholarly abilities and her poetic gift more...