Jadoowallahs, Jugglers and Jinns: A Magical History of India
Picador, India; Hurst, UK; Scribe, Australia
'A universe of pure unadulterated delight' Shashi Tharoor
'Best books of 2018' New Statesman
From exploring the origins of the Rope Trick legend to documenting the life of India’s greatest magician, P.C. Sorcar, Empire of Enchantment, is a rich and colourful narrative history of Indian magic. Drawing on ancient religious texts, colonial records, newspaper reports and the memoirs, diaries and testimonies of Western and Indian magicians, John Zubrzycki offers us a vibrant narrative on Indian magic from ancient times to the present day.
Picador, India; Hurst, UK; Scribe, Australia
'A universe of pure unadulterated delight' Shashi Tharoor
'Best books of 2018' New Statesman
From exploring the origins of the Rope Trick legend to documenting the life of India’s greatest magician, P.C. Sorcar, Empire of Enchantment, is a rich and colourful narrative history of Indian magic. Drawing on ancient religious texts, colonial records, newspaper reports and the memoirs, diaries and testimonies of Western and Indian magicians, John Zubrzycki offers us a vibrant narrative on Indian magic from ancient times to the present day.
‘This is – quite literally – a book of marvels’
William Dalrymple 'Exceptionally well-crafted and brilliantly told, Jadoowallahs, Jugglers and Jinns brings alive the most enchanting tales and traditions from the history of Indian magic’ Shashi Tharoor 'Amazing, brilliant and incredibly erudite’ Lee Siegel 'Immensely enjoyable’ PC Sorcar Jnr 'Enjoyable, authoritative and unexpected ... a wonderfully restrained commentary’ John Keay |
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Reviews
The Spectator
'Here’s a strange, deeply learned but consistently entertaining salmagundi of marvels, myths and outrageous cons — a surefooted survey of a vast terrain, alive to the cultural and anthropological implications of the subject but majoring on fun anecdotes and bizarre tales.'
Financial Times
'John Zubrzycki’s Empire of Enchantment, a fantastic and thoroughly engaging history of Indian magic, is bristling with anecdotes of this sort, tales of conjurors, tricksters, illusionists, jugglers, and cunning conmen across the centuries.'
Sunday Times
"A pleasing sense of humour ... and an eye for the absurd. Zubrzycki has mined a rich seam of anecdotal treasures"
The Telegraph
"An enjoyable review of beliefs, variants and sects; from the orthodox rituals of Brahmin priests reciting prayers for a better harvest, to a very unorthodox text, the Kamarupa Seed Syllables, which refers to summoning the Hindu goddess Lakshmi for sex."
The National
'Empire of Enchantment is much more than a history of Indian magic. It is an extraordinarily riveting social history of India, and of India’s encounter with the world.'
Asian Review of Books
'An utterly fascinating history of a wonderful cultural tradition which has received little scholarly attention from Western writers.'
India Today
'A whirlwind tour of a tradition that stretches from the spells of the Atharva Veda to the kitschy razzle-dazzle of today's stage conjurers'
Scroll.in
'A magic trick performed in three acts, Zubrzycki plays raconteur in the book to the birth, disappearance, and reappearance of modern Indian magic.'
Outlook
'In this page-turner, Zubrzycki teases apart the many strands of India’s magical history with a sleight of hand that would put a conjuror to shame.'
Quartz
'An amazing story.'
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
How India's magic tricks shocked and enchanted the West
The Hindu Business Line
'To tell the story of Indian magic is to “hold a mirror to India’s religious traditions, its society and culture.'
The Hindu
'Zubrzycki focuses on magic and its derivates as entertainment, and has brought to life the history of the art in India.'
The Asian Age
'From the pomp and circumstance of the stage, the death-defying sword swallowers, the amazing levitating brahmins, the trapeze artists, the mysterious rope-climbing sadhus, the amazing contortionists and jugglers, the book is a treatise on the varied skills and trappings of the magical art in India.'
The Spectator
'Here’s a strange, deeply learned but consistently entertaining salmagundi of marvels, myths and outrageous cons — a surefooted survey of a vast terrain, alive to the cultural and anthropological implications of the subject but majoring on fun anecdotes and bizarre tales.'
Financial Times
'John Zubrzycki’s Empire of Enchantment, a fantastic and thoroughly engaging history of Indian magic, is bristling with anecdotes of this sort, tales of conjurors, tricksters, illusionists, jugglers, and cunning conmen across the centuries.'
Sunday Times
"A pleasing sense of humour ... and an eye for the absurd. Zubrzycki has mined a rich seam of anecdotal treasures"
The Telegraph
"An enjoyable review of beliefs, variants and sects; from the orthodox rituals of Brahmin priests reciting prayers for a better harvest, to a very unorthodox text, the Kamarupa Seed Syllables, which refers to summoning the Hindu goddess Lakshmi for sex."
The National
'Empire of Enchantment is much more than a history of Indian magic. It is an extraordinarily riveting social history of India, and of India’s encounter with the world.'
Asian Review of Books
'An utterly fascinating history of a wonderful cultural tradition which has received little scholarly attention from Western writers.'
India Today
'A whirlwind tour of a tradition that stretches from the spells of the Atharva Veda to the kitschy razzle-dazzle of today's stage conjurers'
Scroll.in
'A magic trick performed in three acts, Zubrzycki plays raconteur in the book to the birth, disappearance, and reappearance of modern Indian magic.'
Outlook
'In this page-turner, Zubrzycki teases apart the many strands of India’s magical history with a sleight of hand that would put a conjuror to shame.'
Quartz
'An amazing story.'
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
How India's magic tricks shocked and enchanted the West
The Hindu Business Line
'To tell the story of Indian magic is to “hold a mirror to India’s religious traditions, its society and culture.'
The Hindu
'Zubrzycki focuses on magic and its derivates as entertainment, and has brought to life the history of the art in India.'
The Asian Age
'From the pomp and circumstance of the stage, the death-defying sword swallowers, the amazing levitating brahmins, the trapeze artists, the mysterious rope-climbing sadhus, the amazing contortionists and jugglers, the book is a treatise on the varied skills and trappings of the magical art in India.'
