Original version

BBC Radio 4 Extra

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama. With recent favourites from BBC Radio 4.

Incarnations: India in 50 Lives

Documentaries

Factual: History

The history of India told through the lives of 50 phenomenal people.

BBC Radio 4 FM

Incarnations: India in 50 Lives: Malik Ambar: The Dark Fated One

Malik Ambar: The Dark Fated One

02/06/2015

BBC Radio 4 - Incarnations: India in 50 Lives, Malik Ambar: The Dark Fated One

The life of the Ethiopian who arrived in India as a slave but rose to become a kingmaker.

The life of the Ethiopian who arrived in India as a slave but rose to become a powerbroker and kingmaker.

Prof. Sunil Khilnani profiles the life of Malik Ambar, an Ethiopian slave who rose to become a power-broker and king maker.

Malik Ambar's story challenges some of our familiar perceptions of slavery. He was part of a tradition of military slavery which created elite warriors, educated and nurtured by their masters and treated almost like sons. Once freed, his power base grew. He took on the mighty Mughal Empire of the north using sophisticated guerrilla tactics and an ability to harass his enemy under cover of darkness.

Emperor Jahangir became obsessed with the Ethiopian, calling him "the ill-starred Ambar" and "Ambar of dark fate". A painting commissioned by Jahangir shows the Ethiopian's severed head on a spear and the Emperor firing arrows into it. However, as Prof. Khilnani reveals, all is not what it seems in that image.

Sunil Khilnani contrasts the rise to power of a black African in 16th century India with contemporary Indian attitudes towards people of African descent - a racism even shared by Mahatma Gandhi during his South African years.

Producer: Jeremy Grange.

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Incarnations: India in 50 Lives

Malik Ambar: The Dark Fated One

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC Radio 4 Extra

About BBC Radio 4 Extra