Complete Works of Voltaire 75B - Fragments sur l'Inde; Mandement du muphti (Hardcover, Critical edition)

This edition of Voltaire's "Fragments sur l'Inde" is the first ever scholarly critical edition of a neglected historical text from his later years. The work, first published in 1773, sees Voltaire returning to the subject of Indian history, which had interested him since the first drafts of the "Essai sur les moeurs" in the 1740s. Inspired by the prospect of rehabilitating the memory of the executed General Lally, the "Fragments sur l'Inde" are in two parts: the first explores recent colonial enterprises in India and the disastrous Pondicherry campaign, which was to cost Lally his life; while the second is a more general meditation on Indian history, religion and customs. This volume also contains a text attributable to Voltaire, the "Mandement du muphti, suivi d'un Decret du divan".