A Princess`s Pilgrimage

A Princess Pilgrimage – A Pilgrimage to Mecca (1863-1864) In 1870; Nawab Sikander 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 rituals and observances; then returned to India and wrote her witty and acerbic impressions of her visit. Reproduced here;this is the original English translation by the wife of a British colonial officer of an unpublished Urdu manuscript.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 make 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 understandings relating to travel writing colonialism and world history.