Immortalizing a literary work which juxtaposes art and history, culminating in the creation of a masterpiece is no easy task. But a historian of Manu S. Pillai’s caliber has achieved this on a monumental scale in False Allies: India’s Maharajahs in the Age of Ravi Varma. Pillai describes the travels of the painter Ravi Varma through five princely states. He demonstrates how these maharajas, far from being frivolous despots consumed by lust and luxury, were involved in industr