First published in 1894, Sawaneh-i Dehli, or the Biography of Delhi, is a graphic and dramatic first-hand account of life on the streets of Delhi penned by Mirza Ahmad Akhtar Gorgani, grandson of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal Emperor of India. From being the abode of gods where lying and dying was supposed to be a blessing to becoming the imperial city facing decline and ruin in the early nineteenth century, Sawaneh-i Dehli – written by a great admirer of the British Empire – offers a glimpse into one of the oldest cities in the Indian subcontinent.