Battuta had over the years moved among some of the richest and most powerful men of the age, but the one person he envied most was this poor, solitary islander.
When I told this story to my friend, her eyes glazed over with tears, and we walked in silence for a while. She was, she then told me, saddened by the many personal sacrifices she had to make in her pursuit of success.
‘Well, every achievement has its price,’ I told her consolingly. ‘No pain, no gain.’
‘And no cliché, no wisdom,’ she rejoined, laughing.
This book is dedicated to that witty and wise long-lost friend of mine.
THE BEGINNING
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VIKING
Published by the Penguin Group
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First published in Viking by Penguin Books India 2014
Copyright © Abraham Eraly 2014
Cover photograph courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Cover design by Aashim Raj
All rights reserved
The views and opinions expressed in this book are the author’s own and the facts are as reported by him which have been verified to the extent possible, and the publishers are not in any way liable for the same.
ISBN: 978-0-670-08718-1
This digital edition published in 2013.
e-ISBN: 978-9-351-18658-8
The Age of Wrath: A History of the Delhi Sultanate Page 61