A Princess's Pilgrimage: A Pilgrimage to Mecca (1863-1864)

A PRINCESS'S PILGRIMAGE; In 1870, Nawab Sikandar Begum of Bhopal became the first South-Asian Muslim woman to publish an account of her pilgrimage to Mecca. She traveled with a retinue of a thousand, visited Jeddah and Mecca, performed the requisite ritual and observances, than returned to India and wrote her witty and acerbic impressions of her visit. Reproduced here 'A pilgrimage to Mecca' is the original English translation by the wife of a British colonial officer of an unpublished Urdu manuscript. It is accompanied by a critical introduction and Afterword that makes this offering a comprehensive resource on travel writing by South Asian Muslim women, and encourage the reader-whether scholar, student or enthusiast-to rethink established understanding related to travel writing, colonialism and world history.