3 Review(s)

In 1857, when the Indian Mutiny broke out, Mark Thornhill (1822-1900) was the magistrate of Muttra, modern Mathura. His vivid account of ensuing events - published in 1884 - including a night ride to Agra through the rebel army and the developing tensions inside the fort, was well reviewed at the time, and, more recently, became one of the sources for J. G. Farrell's The Siege of Krishnapur. Also including excursuses on the history and architecture of Agra from the time of Babur, and ghost stories pertaining to it - Thornhill published a separate volume of Indian fairy tales - the narrative is notably modern in its acute psychological perceptions of response to violence and its conservationist concern for damage to buildings. Thornhill wrote the book as an historical analysis, and his conclusions about the underlying causes of the Mutiny illuminate subsequent developments in the region as well as the conflict he describes.