Moor's Last Sigh...

After my trip to Spain and having visited the enchanting 'Alhambra' in Granada, quite coincidentally there were references to it in 2 of the books I have read since then. The one in 'History of the Universe' series part III as they discuss the history of Spain and how the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille conquered Granada and drove the last of the Nasrid Sultans/Moor Kings from there. The beautiful Alhambra was the palace or the royal court of the Moor Kings in Granada. The Moor dynasty bore 20 kings until King Boabdil was forced to surrender to the catholic kings. To avoid humiliation, he escaped from Alhambra in the nite on his horse through a tiny pass which is still called 'El Ultimo Suspiro del Moro' (the last sigh of the Moor). It is believed that the King uttered his last sorrowful exclamation as he turned his eyes from taking their last farewell gaze from Alhambra. Coincidentally, Salman Rushdie's 'Moor's Last Sigh' covers some of the same ground in the historical context of the novel. The story revolves around the protagonist, Moraes Zogoiby or Moor, who is a direct descendant of King Boabdil and whose ancestors fled Spain to avoid persecution and generations later found themselves in India. Truly riveting how Rushdie weaves the story around history of Spain and more modern India. I guess I enjoyed the book a lot because I could relate to both the references now.