Empress
The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan
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- £8.49
Publisher Description
Finalist for the 2018 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in History
"A luminous biography." —Rafia Zakaria, Guardian
Four centuries ago, a Muslim woman ruled an empire. Nur Jahan, daughter of a Persian noble and widow of a subversive official, became the twentieth and most cherished wife of the Emperor Jahangir. Nur ruled the vast Mughal Empire alongside her husband, leading troops into battle, signing imperial orders, and astutely handling matters of the state.
Acclaimed historian Ruby Lal uncovers the rich life and world of Nur Jahan, rescuing this dazzling figure from patriarchal and Orientalist clichés of romance and intrigue, and giving new insight into the lives of women and girls in the Mughal Empire. In Empress, Nur Jahan finally receives her due in a deeply researched and evocative biography that awakens us to a fascinating history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this feminist biography of a strong and independent Muslim woman who, over the intervening centuries, has been reduced to a caricature of wifely devotion in the popular imagination, Lal makes clear her subject's relevance. Lal, a history professor at Emory, goes far beyond the fables to demonstrate that Nur Jahan was a force to be reckoned with: she ruled jointly as co-sovereign of the Mughal Empire with her husband, the emperor Jahangir, from their marriage in 1611 and was recognized by foreign and domestic observers as the true power in the realm. The women of the royal household, including Jahangir's 19 other wives, spent most of their lives sequestered, but "the harem offered women surprising opportunities wide horizons behind high walls." Jahangir was an aesthete who concerned himself primarily with "the grand ritual acts of ideal Mughal kingship," such as "offering his subjects glimpses of his semi-divine person from the imperial balcony." Meanwhile, it was Nur Jahan who commissioned palaces and gardens, issued royal edicts and minted currency, and even defended the realm from usurpers, "sitting atop a war elephant and armed with a musket." Closely researched and vividly written, this telling finds that the truth is as fantastic and fascinating as myth.
