Through the eyes of a Princess: Mistress of the Throne!!

 

“Marble, I perceive, covers a multitude of sins”

-         Aldous Huxley

 

Just eight words in this quote cover so many dimensions in one of the most important chapters of World’s history – the Taj Mahal.

Behind the breath-taking beauty of Taj Mahal, lies a macabre of a story, full of conspiracy & deceit, proving the age old adage that behind everything that looks so beautiful from outside, lies an ugly story…and Ruchir Gupta’s The Mughal Intrigues: Mistress of the Throne just brings that out.

I wish every Prince & Princess’ story had a “happily ever after”, like in fairy tales. Surprisingly though while fairy tales paint the travails of a monarch or a princess to just find “true love” & then “live happily ever after”, historically reality is as “far far away”, as the magical kingdoms of fairytales.

We all read fairytales when we grow up & think in our head, just how perfect a King’s life would be? How happy a Queen would be once married to the King? How the royal children would eat Gold for breakfast & sleep on a bed of Silver!! The reality is that these fantastical images are just in our head. Historically if we come to trace the patterns of a Monarchy & its royal members, behind all the façade of opulence is actually an ugly life full of back-stabbing, jealousy, deceit, politics; where it transcends all boundaries of ugliness & reaches to one’s own parents or children, leave siblings completely aside.

 The author, in this book, has just brought out that feeling.

He had sent me a copy of this book sometime back, & I must say I took my own time to read it J But once I started it, there was no stopping, as the book transported me to the Mughal era….and its characters played each act beautifully in front of me.

While we all know about the great & mesmerising Taj Mahal and the love story behind the monument; we hardly know what all went by when the monument was being conceptualised & made.

While we all know Aurangzeb to be a monster who killed his own kith & kin & captured his own father to seize the Royal Throne, we hardly know what made Aurangzeb the way he was.

While we all have read about the luxuries & ornate opulence of Mughal Dynasty through ages; we hardly know the reality that used to transpire behind closed doors in a Mughal “zenankhana” (harem)…the hotbed of the most devious politics played in the kingdom.

Gupta takes us on this journey through the eyes of Mughal princess Jahan Ara. We all have heard this name Jahanara countless number of times, especially because the name has been romanticised in old Hindi films of 50s & 60s; but we seldom know who Jahanara was & what was her life’s history.

Jahanara was Shahjahan (son of Jahangir, grandson of Akbar’s) & Mumtaz Mahal’s oldest child. Her siblings were “heir apparent” to Mughal throne, Dara Shikoh and then Shuja, Aurangzeb, Murad, Roshanara, and the youngest Gauhar.

While most of us know popular versions of how Shajahan loved Mumtaz Mahal & how amongst his sons, Aurangzeb came out to be a monster…Jahan Ara, as a member of the royal family takes us to the story from the beginning & from within the legendary & infamous Mughal zenankhana or harem.

History is rife with stories of the royal Mughal harem & how it was the actual hotbed of all politics & deceit in the Royal chambers. Shahjahan, like any other monarch, had innumerable wives & concubines. The lives of these women is painted absolutely apt & perfectly by the author. These women, who were the loveliest in the nation, were like a bird trapped inside a golden cage. They lived in the pinnacle of luxury & comfort, but their life was dependent upon when the King would come to the harem & take one of them with him to spend the night. This was their only shot at surviving in the harem with dignity. Thus these women would outdo each other in a bid to catch the Emperor’s eyes…the display of which was pathetic & desperate to say the least. Aside from this display of skin to lure the King, the author also takes us to the world of absolute debauchery that existed in Mughal harems amongst the concubines in depravation of regular indulgence in sex (since the Emperor would visit after days on end, and when he would, the probability of his picking up many women was lesser). He mostly preferred picking up Mumtaz Mahal of all his women, and thus the lady enjoyed the affection & dignity in the palace that came with it, with her children being the cynosure of the country’s eyes!!

Jahan Ara being the eldest, was especially Shahjahan’s favourite, and because she resembled her mother Mumtaz Mahal in not only looks, but also in deportment she was the favourite amongst the Kingdom & the important lords in the Mughal dynasty. This earned her flak in the harem, as jealousy against her perfect demeanour & looks were rife amongst all women in “zenankhana”, including her own sister Roshanara, who was not as pretty as Jahanara and neither had mannerisms to recommend her, and thus hated Jahanara with a vengeance.

In this mix are Jahanara’s brothers Dara Shikoh, Shajahan’s favourite son & heir apparent to the Mughal throne & Aurangzeb. As historical events spell, the two brothers were held captive for years by Noorjahan as ransom post her fallout with Shahjahan, who was Jahangir’s son from a separate marriage. Noorjahan was Shahjahan’s stepmother, & extremely powerful woman. In fact historical facts state that it was Noorjahan who was the ruler of India at the time of Jahangir, with the latter just being a mere face to the public eye. There are evidence to prove that a heavily doped out and neck deep in merriment, Jahangir, was just an official face of the workings of dynasty…he used to sit in his House of Commons & would listen to the pleas of his countrymen to maintain a face to them. The real governance was in Noorjahan’s hand who was a highly crafty & manipulative woman, ruling the most powerful Kingdom of the region (handed down to Jahangir in a “platinum” platter by his father, the great Akbar). Noorjahan took advantage of Jahangir’s lack of interest in politics, & since Jahangir was captivated in her love, she used this to get her own father, Itmad-Ud-Daulah, appointed as the Prime Minister & de facto authority of the dynasty. Thus Noorjahan ran the actual governance, when Shahjahan, (Jahangir’s son with his Rajput wife Taj Bibi Bilquis/Princess Manmati) crushed her power in a rebellion & widowed her daughter by killing his own brother Shahriar, to whom Noorjahan’s daughter Ladli Begum was betrothed. Before this, Noorjahan had held Shah Jahan’s two sons Dara & Aurangzeb as ransom, so that Shah Jahan could not revolt easily.

However, things did not go as planned out by her, & the two young princes were finally freed from her captivity & united with their family. Jahanara then noticed that both her brothers, especially Aurangzeb had become different personalities under Noorjahan’s captivity & had not much love between them.

While this could have been healed by Jahanara’s mother Mumtaz earlier, at the time this story starts, Mumtaz Mahal was in her worst health as regular child bearing & miscarriages had left her a ghost of a woman & in extremely poor condition.

The tension between the siblings is painted beautifully by the author. Despite the situation involving a lot of drama, what I liked was that this sibling rivalry & heartburns were painted without extra melodrama, yet the true emotion of their rivalry was coming out in good effect.

For instance, despite being perfect, Jahanara does not come across as some irritating Miss Goody two shoes, but as an older sister who is trying desperately to keep all her siblings, especially her brothers Dara & Aurangzeb together. Her faith, despite seeing her family crumble, is not coming across as a foolhardy vision, but a genuine attempt to bridge gaps created by outsiders.

Hell breaks loose when two events happen in quick succession. Mumtaz Mahal’s death & eventual appointment of Jahanara as a de facto Queen till Dara was responsible & old enough to ascend the Throne. This stems jealousy in Roshanara, and further deepens the chasm between the siblings with them forming camps. Shah Jahan becomes a lost man without his wife Mumtaz’s loving & restraining hand and takes irrational calls that helps this rivalry to reach dangerous proportion. He also becomes disillusioned & spends most of his time in his harem with his many concubines or in building the monument World still sees as the finest, The Taj Mahal.

Shah Jahan shows open favouritism despite Jahanara’s many pleas & warnings & prefers Dara as his successor & favourite son, while despite proving his sharp military acumen, Aurangzeb is met with disdain bordering on contempt.

Gupta effectively paints the pain Jahanara goes through to keep her family together while without being over dramatic. Not only that, he paints the emotions of Aurangzeb beautifully, so much so that I would urge him to write a book on the infamous monarch of India as well!! Strong from outside, but weak with emotions & looking for approval inside; cruel on one aspect but needy for parental love in another; barbaric towards other faiths than Islam, but great military & economic acumen. Aurangzeb was hated by one & all, his own family & his countrymen, & somehow this made him further headstrong & bullish & irrational. It is definitely not easy to go around the World knowing you are despised by one & all; even those closest to you. Aurangzeb’s turmoil was beautifully captured by the author.

The author has taken creative liberty & painted certain fictional accounts too (like Jahanara’s love interest), but they do not seem out of place; in fact they could be & in all probability would be facts and bring out the evil law in royal kingdom rumoured to be established by Akbar, where no Mughal Princess was destined to marry in her life; she was destined to die a spinster. The reason for this cruel law could probably be to eliminate all possibilities of a claim to Mughal Throne by the offspring of a daughter, thus changing the royal bloodline, and could have been particularly done after Akbar himself faced a revolt from her sister’ husband; or if these rumours against Akbar are not true, then could have just been because Princesses were supposed to marry cousins & Shahjahan killed all his brothers & their male progeny, leaving no suitor for his daughters.

The pain that the princesses go through to meet their clandestine lovers & their indulgence in homosexual relations within the harem has been painted not sensationally but very subtly yet driving full impact. It did not seem that the author was stuck at using sex to sell his book (despite the opportunity present), but was stating a glaring fact, that helped the story include all historical events in a crisp manner.

The double standards of Mughal emperors & society by & large were brought about sometimes in casual discussion, while sometimes in heart wrenching parts.

Finally, what I found the best about the book was that nowhere, not in any line or verse, did Gupta’s Mistress of Throne try to paint any one character as the “purist” hero/heroine of the story. Every character, including Jahanara are painted in their character’s hues & not black or white, which gives the story a lot of power & emotion, than a mere re-telling of historical facts or a one dimensional version. Jahanara is painted a strong & resilient woman, that historical facts state she was, and one who sacrificed her own happiness for her family, yet even she had shortcomings like any human being.

It is a good book & definitely a must read for all. The language is simple & cohesive and the book despite being a historical re-telling is a quick read. My only wish was that the author should have chosen a better cover page to highlight his book further….but other than that I extremely enjoyed reading Ruchir Gupta’s The Mughal Intrigues: Mistress of the Throne.