JOIN USAfter this popular work, he also wrote other works such as Tippoo Sultaun (1840), Tara (1863), Ralph Darnell (1865), Seeta (1872), and A Noble Queen (1878), all talking about the history of the country at that point in time. Taylor is said to have immsense regard for native institutions, traditions and culture.
Returning to India he acted from 1840 to 1853 as correspondent for The Times. He also wrote a Student’s Manual of the History of India (1870).
In the Confessions of a Thug, Taylor takes you through the life of a thug. There are several references to many parts of today’s Karnataka, including Chincoli.
According to an extract from Taylor’s, The Story of My Life, “The arch between the two centre rooms was turned in one day by two men in good stone and mortar work: it was 12 feet span, and two feet thick. I suggested to them to make a rough wooden frame to build over, but they shook their heads, and so I let them alone ; and they proceeded to build up the form of the arch between the piers with rough stones and mud, then struck the circle at the top, and smoothed it over with mud ; this soon dried in the sun, and the next day the arch was built over it, and was as firm as a rock. I often wondered what English workmen would have said to it all.
“I laid out a flower-garden too, and the soil turned out very good. I had to clear away some rocks, and make the ground tolerably smooth. The Rani kindly gave me a piece of ground in one of her gardens, at the foot of my hill, in which was a good well, so I did not despair of having plenty of plants, and wished to try and induce a taste among the people for English flowers and vegetables. I sowed beans, peas, cabbages, broccoli, and cauliflowers, which eventually throve and flourished.”
Taylor also talks of his experiences with hiring workers (forty of them) to build his home.
Apart from this, there is mention of the young king Venkatappa Nayaka, the Queen Eshwaramma and the people of the province.