Learning History through Mysteries

How genre-fiction turned me into an medieval history buff

In the opening para of his novel “Cannery Row” John Steinbeck writes

Its inhabitant are, as the man once said, “whores, pimps, gamblers and sons of bitches,” by which he meant Everybody. Had the man looked through another peephole he might have said, “Saints and angels and martyrs and holymen” and he would have meant the same thing.”

This is just as applicable to history when viewed by the dilettante historian or writer of historical fiction. The choices of protagonists, players or perspectives are practically unlimited and depending on whose “SOB” (s)he is,” they may be a saint, angel or pimp or pirate.

The challenge in reading or writing history is that it could easily become a mind-numbing series of who blinded, deposed, imprisoned, or married whom, with names, places and dates running into one another. Making history both accessible and a ripping good tale is a tall order in general. Doing it in a way that allows readers to make sense of all the available facts while informing them of the many contrasting views is neither easy nor common.

Discovering Mysteries

In the early nineties I lived in Silicon Valley and every second Sunday the friends of the Palo Alto Library had a book sale. Paperbacks at 50 cents and hardbacks at a $1 meant, I’d pick up things willy-nilly. It was here that I discovered historical mysteries and through them history. Paul Doherty’s “The House of Death (Telamon Trilogy Book 1) introduced me to Alexander the Great (yet human.) Steven Saylor’s Roma Sub Rosa series brought Caesar and Cicero alive. Both series also showed me that an ordinary man (or woman as Fiona Buckley's Ursula Blanchard in Elizabethan England) can tell a ripping tale that also can make your love and seek out history.

In 2009, I found myself standing amidst the ruins of Hampi in northern Karnataka, in the heart of India's Deccan plateau. The Deccan is about 200,000 square miles in size, straddling the central part of southern India. It is over 2,000 feet above sea level on average and is bounded by mountain ranges on three sides: the Western and Eastern Ghats on either side, and the Vindhya range to the north. The name “Deccan” is an anglicization of the Sanskrit word dakshin meaning south. The Deccan’s early history is not well-known, but low rainfall must have made it hard to inhabit until humans developed rudimentary irrigation techniques. Since about the 4th century BCE, though, it has been fought over by many lowland rulers in India for its abundance of mineral resources. It reached it's pinnacle as a political force in the early 16th century as the capital of the Vijayanagara empire.

The sheer scale of Hampi - its ruins, landscape, and palpable sense of history - left me awestruck. It was a stark reminder of how little attention we pay to certain chapters of our past. While the Cholas, Cheras, and Tipu Sultan get their due in our history books, the Vijayanagara Empire often receives merely a passing mention. Many of us likely know more about English or even Roman history than medieval Indian history.

Western historians and novelists have done a commendable job bringing Roman history to life, aided by primary sources like Julius Caesar and Cicero, and Pliny (the Elder and Younger) tangible remnants like aqueducts and roads. In fact Steven Saylor’s Roma Sub Rosa series taught me far more about Roman history and life than sixteen years of formal education. But what of Vijayanagara, lost to time until its rediscovery in the early 20th century?

Recent years have seen historians pen extensive works on this era, shedding light on the Deccan Sultans and their predecessors, the Chalukyas. The biographers and novelists haven’t been far behind—RAYA - Krishnadevaraya of Vijanagara by Srinivas Reddy and Victory City by Salman Rushdie

Richard Eaton’s A Social History Of The Deccan, 1300-1761: Eight Indian Lives does a great job of this difficult task. First and foremost, it tells a good tale, with eight historical figures in the foreground and history narrated around their—at times sparse —personal stories. The methodology of telling a historical figure’s story – or social history – around which the events of history flow, makes it easier to follow, as well as want to stay with it. The nitpickers among us can always argue whether these were the best eight characters to pick – others may wonder if the author was being politically correct in picking an Andhra warrior (or two), a Sufi saint, an Ethiopian slave, an Iranian nobleman, a Maratha queen and a non-brahmin saint—almost one for every demographic. Yet this choice of characters itself says more about the melting pot that was the Deccan of the 14th-18th century than all the other books we’ve read.

While history is often written by the victors, social history of the kind Eaton and others have pursued reveals history to be far more textured and nuanced. For instance, the common view, when we’ve actually read any history of the Deccan, that the “Hindu kingdom” of Vijayanagara was the bulwark against the onslaught of Islam, quickly falls apart. The influence of Persia and Central Asia on the Deccan, the role that trade and politics (even more than religion) played in shaping history, and how deeply embedded in history are the linguistic roots of South Indian society — these were all eye-opening, and challenged so many assumptions for me. I not only read it in one sitting the first time I borrowed it, but bought myself a copy and re-read it afterwards.

My own journey into medieval Indian history, much like a well-crafted movie, started with a narrow focus on the Deccan plateau but soon panned out to encompass the medieval Middle East, North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. I'd argue that this era ranks among the most intriguing in all of history.

History, historians and other controversies

The job of a historian (or archeologist or paleontologist) is not unlike that of a scientist trying to make sense of the fragmental facts or data available and to build a hypothesis. In science—for large part—this is understood not just amongst practitioners but I’d like to think amongst anyone. Of course the controversies we’ve had over vaccinations and recently CoVID-19 challenge this assumption.

History and its interpretation has always been a contentious issue. Historians recognize that the author's perspective shapes historical narratives. Regarding India's history, there are ongoing debates (here, here & here) about how to approach its complex past, including ancient civilizations, colonial period, and post-independence development. Some scholars want to revise narratives they see as influenced by colonial perspectives, while others caution against politicizing historical research. These discussions reflect global conversations about decolonizing historical studies and balancing national narratives with academic rigor.

Building a definitive history (of the Deccan in particular) is made challenging by the region's diverse and fragmented sources, political landscape, and linguistic complexities. In contrast, the medieval history of England and the ancient history of Rome are generally better documented and more centralized, allowing for a more straightforward approach to historical reconstruction. A more detailed comparison of these different regional histories will require a separate, in-depth (future?) post.

As a novelist, these debates present me both opportunities and challenges for creating plausible and engaging narratives. It also provides endless reading options. History, after all, is not just about dates and dynasties. It's about people, their ambitions, their struggles, and the world they inhabited.

And sometimes, the gaps in our knowledge are where the most intriguing mysteries lie.

A subjective list of historical mysteries I’ve enjoyed

Ancient Greece
Paul Doherty, The House of Death (#1 in Alexander the Great trilogy)

Rome
Robert Harris Pompeii
Stephen Saylor Roman Blood (#1 in Roma Sub Rosa series)
Stephanie Dray et.al. A Day of Fire: A Novel of Pompeii

Vikings
Bernard Cornwell, The Last Kingdom (now on Netflix)

Medieval England
Fiona Buckley, To Shield The Queen (#1 in Ursula Blanchard series)
Ellis Peters, An Excellent Mystery (#12 in Chronicles of Brother Cadfael series)
Phillipa Gregory, The Other Boleyn Girl

Medieval India
Alex Rutherford, Raiders from the North (#1 in Empire of the Moghul series)
Salman Rushdie, Victory City

China
Robert van Gulik, Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (now on Netfix)
Qui Xiaolong Death of a Red Heroine (#1Inspector Chen Cao series)