The Hill of Devi: An Englishman Serving at the Court of a Maharajah

By E.M. Forster

Book Overview

The novelist E M Forster opens the door on life in a remote Maharajah's court in the early twentieth century. Through letters from his time working there as the Maharajah's private secretary, he introduces us to a fourteenth-century political system where the young Maharajah of Devas, 'certainly a genius and possibly a saint', led a state centred on spiritual aspirations. A loving and affectionate portrait of a forgotten world, The Hill of Devi chronicles Forster's infatuation and exasperation, fascination and amusement at this idiosyncratic court. He leads us with him to its heart and the eight-day festival of Gokul Ashtami, marking the birth of Krishna, where we see His Highness Maharajah Sir Tukoji Rao III dancing before the altar 'like David before the Ark'.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1780601603
• ISBN13: 9781780601601
• Release Date: May 2022
• Publisher: Eland Publishing Limited
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

the experience from which Passage to India was drawn

Forster spent a couple of years working as a secretary for an indigenous royal within the British Raj, a situation quite different from that of most Britishers working out in the Empire at that time and resulting in an experience, outward and inward, quite different from the ferociously enforced norm. Of course the man was quite different from the ferociously enforced norm to start with. This is Forster's account of that experience, and, aside from his own story, it includes a lot of interesting details of the "India" of that time, some of which still hold true (e.g. an innate tendency toward political intrigue, and generally the overwhelming social structure), and some of which are now receding into history (e.g. enormous morning flights of fruit bats returning to their roosts in the jungle, and generally the overwhelming presence of nature). Anyone who whose enjoyment of "Passage" went beyond plot and characterization will find quite a bit of edification in the cultural information supplied here. Of course, not being a novel, it lacks the full narrative impulse that people enjoy in "Passage", if they enjoyed it.