The truth is finally out!
Thanks to recent discoveries by researches from all over the world, we now know that the English East India Company pillaged India, looted--a word borrowed from India--trillions of dollars' worth of treasure from India.
The next time you read of the lords and ladies who made their fortunes in India, living the high life, think of the millions who starved to death in the Jewel of the Crown.
But it's easy to blame the East India Company and ignore their henchmen. After all, the Europeans relied on native allies who committed much of the dirty work.
Many rajahs and nawabs bloated with the blood of their countrymen. And locally recruited sepoys and peons were often harsh, if not downright brutal to their brethren.
However, many more Indians passively resisted, and even fought the foreigners.
Foremost among the early rebels was Puli Thevar.
He outwitted the English in several military engagements, and was also the only local chieftain who defeated the vaunted Yusuf Khan--a man the English mentioned in the same breath as Clive of India, no less.
However, Yusuf Khan subsequently rebelled against his English masters.
Was Yusuf Khan a traitor or a freedom fighter?
Even in present day Tamil Nadu, India, he remains a political hot potato. Not long ago, a famous South Indian movie star had to abort his movie based on Yusuf Khan because of a groundswell of opposition--and this even after Queen Elizabeth II visited the film studio in Tamil Nadu in 1997 as the chief guest for the movie-launch.
Pick up a copy of Puli Thevar. Hear what he and Yusuf Khan had to say to one another, and how the English glossed over the former's many victories.
This novel is based on the facts and legends surrounding Puli Thevar.
