https://www.scmp.com/rss/326965/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com An Appeal to the Ladies of Hyderabad: Scandal in the Raj, by Benjamin B. Cohen, Harvard University Press, 4/5 stars The trial of Oscar Wilde began at the Old Bailey in London on April 26, 1895. The Irish poet and playwright had sued the marquess of Queensbury for libel, an action which had led to unforeseen revelations about Wilde’s sexuality (Queensbury, whose command of English didn’t quite equal Wilde’s, had called the author a “somdomite”), forced him to abandon his suit, and himself face... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3018368/sex-scandal-raj-how-mixed-race-couple-were-ruined-rumours?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3018368/sex-scandal-raj-how-mixed-race-couple-were-ruined-rumours?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Jul 2019 03:00:11 +0000 Empire of Enchantment: The Story of Indian Magic by John Zubrzycki Hurst 4 stars Thinking of Indian magic is likely to conjure up (pun intended) images of snake charmers, levitation, rope tricks, jugglers and people taking afternoon naps on beds of nails. Indeed, the cover of Empire of Enchantment shows a snake charmer playing his pipe and lying on a bed of nails at the same time, a combination that was certainly new to this reviewer. Author John Zubrzycki, meanwhile, opens with the... https://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2157194/how-indian-magic-illusion-its-highest-art-form-came-west-and-opened?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2157194/how-indian-magic-illusion-its-highest-art-form-came-west-and-opened?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Jul 2018 05:01:25 +0000 The Passion Book: A Tibetan Guide to Love and Sex by Gendun Chopel (translated by Donald S. Lopez Jnr and Thupten Jinpa) University of Chicago Press 4 stars In 1934, Gendun Chopel, a former Tibetan monk, arrived in India in the company of an Indian scholar, Rahul Sankrityayan, just after giving up his monastic vows. He would remain there for some time before returning home in 1945, where he was arrested on a (probably) trumped-up charge of forging banknotes. While in India, he lived in poverty... https://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2142958/lot-sex-and-sanskrit-former-monks-record-his-mission-democratise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2142958/lot-sex-and-sanskrit-former-monks-record-his-mission-democratise?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Apr 2018 00:30:30 +0000