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Mapin`s latest ofering Maharajas` Jewels showcases both the kings and their treasures in a lavishly illustrated coffee table book format. The possession of the biggest and finest of jewels has always been the prerogative of kings, but nowhere has this royal right been better exploited than in India. Famed sic\nce antiquity as a supreme source of diamonds, rubies, sapphires and pearls, the Indian subcontinent has also produced some of humanity`s most colourful sovereigns: a glittering array of maharajas, ranas, nawabs and nizams whose history stretches back over thousands of years. This book tells the story of thes kings and their jewels beginning with the rise of the magnificent Mughal empire in the 15th century and tracing it through to the extinction of monarchy in India 400 years later. Throughout this tumultuous period, the fortunes of India`s gemstones and jewels presaged th fate of the kings: as the best of the royal diamonds, rubies and emeralds slid out of Indian hands into european ones, so too did real political power. Katherine Prior is a freelance historian specilaising in the social history and personalities of the British Empire. John Adamson runs a publishing business in Cambridge producing high quality illustrated books. ISBN: 81-85822-79-4
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