The Historian

The Raza Library in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, is home to around 30,000 rare manuscripts in Pashto, Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu and even Tamil.

- SAM DALRYMPLE

Among its greatest masterpieces is Akbar's zodiac calendar with its extraordinary set of miniature paintings. Rampur doesn’t feature on many tourist itineraries in India. Yet, just a century ago, this small town in western Uttar Pradesh was one of India’s greatest princely states and home to the country’s largest Afghan diaspora. Indeed, its extraordinary library is probably the best-preserved early modern library in the country: home to around 30,000 rare manuscripts in Pashto, Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu and even Tamil.

This library, which feels like something out of an orientalist fever dream, was established by Nawab Faizullah Khan soon after the first Anglo-Rohilla War to house books that the Rohillas had plundered from the Royal Mughal Library. Among its greatest masterpieces is Akbar’s zodiac calendar, which features an utterly extraordinary set of miniature paintings.