Title: Empress – The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan
Author: Ruby Lal
Publisher: Penguin Viking, 2018 (First)
ISBN: 9780670090624
Pages: 308
Empress Nur Jahan is the most colourful figure in Mughal history. Born Mihr un-Nissa as the daughter of a middling Persian noble in Akbar’s court, her destiny turned for the marvelous with her second marriage to Emperor Jahangir. The queen’s exceptional intellect and ability prompted Jahangir to elevate her to the title of co-sovereign. Nur Jahan’s tales still lift up the spirits of Indian womanhood. Hers is a household name in South Asia. She has been the subject of many movies, plays, opera and historical romances. In a strictly patriarchal society like India, it is not an easy matter for even daring men to progress much far in their career. The advent of a woman is still stranger and not repeated often. After Nur, it took 350 years for another woman to ascend the heights of such power in Indian statecraft – Indira Gandhi. Ruby Lal is a historian of Mughal India who has authored two other books on the topic. She teaches at Emery University and divides her time between Atlanta and Delhi.
Lal claims herself to be a feminist historian and imparts many facts about the status and condition of imperial women in early Mughal history. The Mughals were a peripatetic dynasty in the beginning which offered much freedom to its womenfolk due to the practical difficulties of effectively sequestering them while on the move. The situation changed during the reign of Akbar who declared that women of the royal household were to be segregated in a well-ordered, high-walled harem. The movement of the sequestered women was restricted and rules governed who could visit them and who could not. Still, they exerted much freedom as seen in Akbar’s aunt’s pilgrimage to Mecca. Even though they were secluded, senior women in the harem were called upon by the emperor for counsel on matters of diplomacy. They were also instructed accordingly in the best traditions of the Mughal state. They used to read the treasured manuscripts kept in the confines of harems and enjoyed them.
Lal proceeds to narrate Mihr un-Nissa’s birth and her entry into adulthood with her marriage to Ali Quli, a courtier in Akbar’s entourage. She had had a good education against the injunctions of moral preceptors. We see this pattern throughout the world. There are wide variations in the implementation of the commandments in moral codes. Often, these literal advices go into extreme depths and we would be in serious error if we assume that the people of that time fully acquiesced and put in place such commands. According to the Akhlaqi-Nasiri, girls should be prevented from learning to read and write. The Qabus Nama, another guide to good conduct, declared that it was best for the girl not to come into existence at all, but being born, she had better be married or buried. But still, individual families did as they pleased and enlightened fathers taught their daughters to read and write.
Popular legends claim that Jahangir knew Mihr un-Nissa even before her first marriage and tried to obstruct the wedding to Ali Quli who served Akbar and later Jahangir. But Akbar intervened and overruled him. After the wedding, Quli was sent to Bengal where the couple stayed for many years. The author does not pass her judgement on this issue and stays neutral. So it is also likely that Jahangir didn’t know the girl till much later. Anyhow, Quli had the misfortune to associate with the losing party in the succession struggle between Jahangir and his son Khusraw. Whether Jahangir had coveted his wife or not, Ali Quli was killed on Jahangir’s orders for siding with Khusraw. Mihr un-Nissa returned to Agra upon becoming a widow and married Jahangir after a few years later at the age of 34.
Jahangir used to maintain a journal called Jahangirnama to record the noteworthy events of his reign. There are no entries on Nur Jahan till three years after their wedding. After that, he paints an admiring portrait of her as a sensitive companion, superb caregiver, accomplished adviser, hunter, diplomat and aesthete. No other Mughal record gives such a rich and full depiction of a royal woman. She was elevated as a co-ruler and coins were struck in the joint name of the royal couple. However, she was not given the other mark of sovereignty – reciting the Friday prayers in the congregation mosque in her name. That would have been bending the rules to the breaking point.
The book dutifully narrates Nur Jahan’s fall from grace, which was expected in the complex web of Mughal family relations and machinations of power. Jahangir always desired Shah Jahan to succeed him. In the early years of her reign, Nur Jahan also supported him as a capable prince. However, Nur had a daughter named Ladli Begum from her first marriage who had to be settled in life with a suitable alliance. Shah Jahan was already married to ArjumandBano, Nur’s own niece. Polygamy was the rule rather than the exception, but Shah Jahan was intimately attached to Arjumand for whom he would later build the Taj Mahal. It was clear that Ladli would be relegated to a junior position in the harem. Nur Jahan then selected Shahryar, Jahangir’s son from another woman and propped him up as a contender for the throne. This stung Shah Jahan into rebellion. He was routed in the early battles, but his father-in-law Asaf Khan, who was also Nur’s brother, handled the power vacuum after Jahangir’s death exceptionally well and enthroned Shah Jahan as the king. Nur was permanently eclipsed from power and she settled at Lahore, planning and constructing Jahangir’s mausoleum. As the break with the throne came about, condemnatory statements on her character and the dangers of her womanly wiles began to emerge. In the absence of a man in whose name she could fight and with no nobles or family members supporting or celebrating her imperial service, her fall was swift.
The book, coming from a self-professed feminist historian, is ideal for light reading. No new facts are revealed in this book. Lal exhibits a tendency to get carried away by the gravity of events she describes and comes up with fanciful descriptions of royal weddings that looks uncannily similar to modern elite marriages. In the epilogue, she states that ‘Islamic history is full of powerful women’ and cites Borte, the senior consort of Chingiz Khan as one of the examples. This is unfortunate as both Chingiz Khan and Borte were not Muslims. Such a grave slip is incredible on behalf of a professional historian.
Lal claims herself to be a feminist historian and imparts many facts about the status and condition of imperial women in early Mughal history. The Mughals were a peripatetic dynasty in the beginning which offered much freedom to its womenfolk due to the practical difficulties of effectively sequestering them while on the move. The situation changed during the reign of Akbar who declared that women of the royal household were to be segregated in a well-ordered, high-walled harem. The movement of the sequestered women was restricted and rules governed who could visit them and who could not. Still, they exerted much freedom as seen in Akbar’s aunt’s pilgrimage to Mecca. Even though they were secluded, senior women in the harem were called upon by the emperor for counsel on matters of diplomacy. They were also instructed accordingly in the best traditions of the Mughal state. They used to read the treasured manuscripts kept in the confines of harems and enjoyed them.
Lal proceeds to narrate Mihr un-Nissa’s birth and her entry into adulthood with her marriage to Ali Quli, a courtier in Akbar’s entourage. She had had a good education against the injunctions of moral preceptors. We see this pattern throughout the world. There are wide variations in the implementation of the commandments in moral codes. Often, these literal advices go into extreme depths and we would be in serious error if we assume that the people of that time fully acquiesced and put in place such commands. According to the Akhlaqi-Nasiri, girls should be prevented from learning to read and write. The Qabus Nama, another guide to good conduct, declared that it was best for the girl not to come into existence at all, but being born, she had better be married or buried. But still, individual families did as they pleased and enlightened fathers taught their daughters to read and write.
Popular legends claim that Jahangir knew Mihr un-Nissa even before her first marriage and tried to obstruct the wedding to Ali Quli who served Akbar and later Jahangir. But Akbar intervened and overruled him. After the wedding, Quli was sent to Bengal where the couple stayed for many years. The author does not pass her judgement on this issue and stays neutral. So it is also likely that Jahangir didn’t know the girl till much later. Anyhow, Quli had the misfortune to associate with the losing party in the succession struggle between Jahangir and his son Khusraw. Whether Jahangir had coveted his wife or not, Ali Quli was killed on Jahangir’s orders for siding with Khusraw. Mihr un-Nissa returned to Agra upon becoming a widow and married Jahangir after a few years later at the age of 34.
Jahangir used to maintain a journal called Jahangirnama to record the noteworthy events of his reign. There are no entries on Nur Jahan till three years after their wedding. After that, he paints an admiring portrait of her as a sensitive companion, superb caregiver, accomplished adviser, hunter, diplomat and aesthete. No other Mughal record gives such a rich and full depiction of a royal woman. She was elevated as a co-ruler and coins were struck in the joint name of the royal couple. However, she was not given the other mark of sovereignty – reciting the Friday prayers in the congregation mosque in her name. That would have been bending the rules to the breaking point.
The book dutifully narrates Nur Jahan’s fall from grace, which was expected in the complex web of Mughal family relations and machinations of power. Jahangir always desired Shah Jahan to succeed him. In the early years of her reign, Nur Jahan also supported him as a capable prince. However, Nur had a daughter named Ladli Begum from her first marriage who had to be settled in life with a suitable alliance. Shah Jahan was already married to ArjumandBano, Nur’s own niece. Polygamy was the rule rather than the exception, but Shah Jahan was intimately attached to Arjumand for whom he would later build the Taj Mahal. It was clear that Ladli would be relegated to a junior position in the harem. Nur Jahan then selected Shahryar, Jahangir’s son from another woman and propped him up as a contender for the throne. This stung Shah Jahan into rebellion. He was routed in the early battles, but his father-in-law Asaf Khan, who was also Nur’s brother, handled the power vacuum after Jahangir’s death exceptionally well and enthroned Shah Jahan as the king. Nur was permanently eclipsed from power and she settled at Lahore, planning and constructing Jahangir’s mausoleum. As the break with the throne came about, condemnatory statements on her character and the dangers of her womanly wiles began to emerge. In the absence of a man in whose name she could fight and with no nobles or family members supporting or celebrating her imperial service, her fall was swift.
The book, coming from a self-professed feminist historian, is ideal for light reading. No new facts are revealed in this book. Lal exhibits a tendency to get carried away by the gravity of events she describes and comes up with fanciful descriptions of royal weddings that looks uncannily similar to modern elite marriages. In the epilogue, she states that ‘Islamic history is full of powerful women’ and cites Borte, the senior consort of Chingiz Khan as one of the examples. This is unfortunate as both Chingiz Khan and Borte were not Muslims. Such a grave slip is incredible on behalf of a professional historian.
The book is recommended.
Rating: 3 Star
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