Escape from Harem

Tanushree Podder

Description

It was a dark, winter night when Zeenat was thrown into the Mughal's emperor's harem to satisfy his lust. Set against the backdrop of Jahangir's indolence and Shahjahan's rebellion, Escape from Harem tells the story of her life that changes forever that fateful night.

From the harem of Jahangir to Shahjahan's golden age of architecture and Jahanara's boudoir, Zeenat's life is a dizzying roller coaster of events, with moments happy and sad trapped in the quagmire of the imperial zenana. The silken skeins of romance juxtaposed with the coarse threads of passion and aggression recreate the tumultuous period of Mughal history.

Traversing the span between circa 1610 and 1650, her story is also a preview of the Mughal culture and way of life.

Sujets

• Historical
• Sha Jahan
• Mughal Empire
• Genre fiction
• Historical fiction
• Shah Jahan
• Jahangir
• Rétribution
• Revenge
• War
• Romance
• Harem
• HIStory
• Fiction
• Aurangzeb

Informations

• Publié par: Roli Books
• Date de parution: 11 août 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9788174369215
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

A self confessed word-a-holic and a traveller, Tanushree is sure to be packing her bags and boots to zip around the world when not brandishing her pen. With two successful novels, few best-selling non-fiction titles and a few hundred travel tales under her belt, she is all set to launch into yet another voyage with words. A bundle of optimism with wandering feet and a kaleidoscope of dreams, she loves nothing better than flirting with clauses and phrases.
After leading a nomadic life for several decades, thanks to the Indian Army, she has finally grown roots at Pune.

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© Tanushree Podder, 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Characters and significant events in this book are not fictitious; but personalities, interactions and thoughts, and words are figments of the author’s imagination.
First published in 2013 IndiaInk An imprint of Roli Books Pvt Ltd M-75, Greater Kailash II Market New Delhi 110 048 Phone: ++91 (011) 4068 2000 Fax: ++91 (011) 2921 7185 E-mail: [e-mail]; Website: rolibooks.com
Also at Bengaluru, Chennai, & Mumbai
Cover design: Saurav Das Layout design: Sanjeev Mathpal Production: Shaji Sahadevan
ISBN: 978-81-86939-76-5

For Ajoy My guiding star – my Polaris

Preface


The foundation of the great Mughal Empire in India was laid by Babar, a minor prince of Farghana in Afghanistan. Hounded by his rivals in Farghana, he crossed the rugged mountains to reach the rich territory of Hindustan, which was known as the ‘Golden Bird’ in those days. Although Babar was a Turk, he claimed to have descended from Changez Khan on his mother’s and Timur on his father’s side. To him goes the credit of establishing the Mughal dynasty in 1526, the word Mughal being an altered form of the word Mongol. Babar’s son, Humayun, a benevolent but weak ruler spent much of his time fleeing from or chasing his adversaries. His unceremonious death caused by falling from the staircase of his library brought an end to his turbulent rule.
It was his son Akbar, who proved to be the greatest Mughal ruler. An able administrator and shrewd statesman, he expanded the empire to encompass almost two-third of Hindustan. One of the most successful strategies devised by Akbar for the expansion of his empire was the matrimonial alliances with the proud Rajput kings.
Akbar ruled for five glorious decades, from 1556 to 1605, during which the Mughal Empire grew to be one of the wealthiest and ably-administered empires in the world. It became synonymous with splendour, power, wealth, and culture. It is said that the revenue earned by the Mughal Empire during Akbar’s reign amounted to more than seven times the revenue earned by the British through their colonies around the world. It was the era of architectural splendour when opulent structures like the Agra Fort and Lahore Fort were built. It was also the age of sublime music, miniature art forms, and spiritual liberalism.
Jahangir, the next Mughal ruler, inherited a rich empire that needed no great efforts to sustain. He went down in history as one who allowed his wife Nurjahan to hold the reins of the empire while he drowned himself in wine and opium. However, like other Mughal rulers before him, Jahangir too was a connoisseur of art and left a perfect account of his reign in the form of a diary, the Jahangirnama . His curious mind recorded every new thing – a bird, a flower or a fruit – that he came across. Whether it was his impressions about art, science, anatomy or nature, he left detailed accounts of his observations in his diary. The artefacts of this period are testimony to the splendour of the royal court of Jahangir.
However, Jahangir puzzled his contemporaries. He could be sadistic and vengeful one moment, gentle and generous the next. Instances of cruel torture and brutal punishments abound during his rule. Some of the European travellers who visited his court recorded his decadent and bloodthirsty pursuits quite vividly. His personality was a complex package of contradictions. Wine, women, and opium formed an important part of his life.
His successor Shahjahan’s name is synonymous with beautiful structures. Deeply interested in architecture, Shahjahan will forever be remembered for the grandeur and beauty of the buildings commissioned during his reign, especially the Taj Mahal in Agra and Red Fort at Delhi. His love for his wife Mumtaz Mahal is etched eternally within the fabulously crafted walls of her mausoleum, the Taj Mahal.
The Mughals brought with them a whole new culture and way of life. The beautiful gardens landscaped with great care were a gift of the first Mughal ruler, Babar. Persian architecture synthesized with the Hindu style to form a perfect balance of beauty. Poetry, literature and paintings; the Mughals left an indelible mark of their rule in Hindustan.
The Mughal rulers were not just lovers of art and architecture; they loved beautiful women, too. Most of them maintained large harems, within which resided hundreds of women brought from different places. With each conquest, came more women. There were wives, concubines, their attendants, nautch girls, and eunuchs who loved, lived, quarrelled and shared the joys and sorrows of their lives within the cloistered environment of the harem.
Most Mughal emperors had many wives and many more concubines. For instance Jahangir had no less than twenty wedded wives and hundreds of concubines. During Akbar’s rule the harem contained no less than five thousand women and by the time Aurangzeb ascended the throne, the number increased manifold, as the numerical strength of the servants alone amounted to about two thousand.
The Mughal princesses were not allowed to marry and had to spend their entire lives within the confines of the harem. Unlike the popular notion that the Mughal women spent a life of ennui and worthless existence behind veils, many of them had a powerful influence in many spheres of the empire. Nurjahan, Mumtaz Mahal and Jahanara were strong women who brought about significant changes in the social and political scenario. During their times, the harems buzzed with new ideas and creative activity.
Harem is an Arabic word meaning prohibited or a sacred enclosure. It was the secluded part of the royal household where all the female relatives of the emperor lived along with entertainers, maidservants, attendants, and concubines. During the Mughal rule, the harem had developed into a highly complex but organized domestic institution. Francois Bernier, a European traveller who stayed at the Mughal capital during the reign of Shahjahan, provides a vivid description of harem administration in his travel account, Travels in the Mogal Empire (1656–68).
The harem observed a strict hierarchy in which seniority was accorded the highest importance. Although the Padshah Begum, or the Chief Queen, was the most significant figure in the harem, the status of the dowager queens was accepted as more important. The residences, amenities, monies were allotted according to the pecking order. The grandeur of their palaces and lifestyle varied according to their influence upon the emperor.
The mahals or palaces of the Mughal queens were grand and luxurious with splendid apartments in keeping with their rank and income. Every chamber had its reservoir of running water and the apartments were surrounded by beautiful gardens, delightful alleys, shady retreats, streams, fountains and pavilions. There were lofty divans and terraces on which the women could sleep comfortably on sultry nights.
According to Abul Fazl, the noted historian in Akbar’s court, the harems were run in an efficient and highly structured manner. With hundreds of women living in them, these