Begum Wilayat Mahal, the self-proclaimed heir to the House of Awadh, has fascinated journalists and writers for decades. She claimed she was Indian royalty, descended from the kings of Awadh, a kingdom annexed by the British in 1856. She spent a decade in the waiting room of the New Delhi train station, receiving journalists intrigued by the image of Indian royals in cramped conditions. Then, her family was granted use of a rundown 14th-century hunting lodge in Delhi; none were seen in public again.
Both during Wilayat Mahal’s life, and after her death, journalists have tried to figure out whether her story was true, most famously by a 2019 feature by the New York Times that picked apart the family’s story.
Now, in their book The House of Awadh: A Hidden Tragedy (HarperCollins India: 2025), Aletta André and Abhimanyu Kumar dig into Begum Wilayat Mahal’s past, chasing down leads in India and Pakistan to fully explore this story.
Aletta André is a Dutch historian and journalist, who has covered South Asia for Dutch and international media since 2009. Abhimanyu Kumar is an Indian poet and journalist with a wide experience covering politics, arts, culture and minority issues.
You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at<a href="https://asianreviewofbooks.com/"> The Asian Review of Books</a>, including its review of <a href="https://asianreviewofbooks.com/the-house-of-awadh-a-hidden-tragedy-by-abhimanyu-kumar-and-aletta-andre/">The House of Awadh</a>. Follow on Twitter at<a href="https://twitter.com/BookReviewsAsia"> @BookReviewsAsia</a>.
Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at<a href="https://twitter.com/nickrigordon?lang=en"> @nickrigordon</a>. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>Support our show by becoming a premium member! <a href="https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-review">https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-review</a>

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Abhimanyu Kumar and Aletta André, "The House of Awadh: A Hidden Tragedy" (HarperCollins India, 2025)

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