What do you think?
Rate this book
MAHAL: Power and Pageantry in the Mughal Harem
‘Despite what we would like to believe, the Mahal was not an exotic sexual playground; it was a family space. And the stories of these women, from queens and princesses to foster mothers and female officers, deserve to be heard.’ In every citadel of the Mughal Empire, there existed a luxurious fortress that housed the women of the court. Known as the ‘Mahal’, this closely-guarded space that few men could enter has intrigued the world for centuries.
Uncovering the little-known lives of the remarkable women who inhabited the Mahal, this commanding narrative introduces us to Ehsan Daulat Begum, Babur’s grandmother, without whose enterprise there would have been no Mughal Empire; the Padshah Begums who ran the vast establishment of the Mahal with an all-women team; the female scholars and poets – like Zeb-un-Nissa, Salima Sultan Begum, Zeenat-un-Nissa – who influenced the emperor in matters of diplomacy and state policy; and the queens and princesses who ran vast estates and oversaw fleets of trading vessels, among others.
Mahal is a rare peek into life behind the veil, and an illuminating account of the role women played in the courts of the Mughal Empire.
Uncovering the little-known lives of the remarkable women who inhabited the Mahal, this commanding narrative introduces us to Ehsan Daulat Begum, Babur’s grandmother, without whose enterprise there would have been no Mughal Empire; the Padshah Begums who ran the vast establishment of the Mahal with an all-women team; the female scholars and poets – like Zeb-un-Nissa, Salima Sultan Begum, Zeenat-un-Nissa – who influenced the emperor in matters of diplomacy and state policy; and the queens and princesses who ran vast estates and oversaw fleets of trading vessels, among others.
Mahal is a rare peek into life behind the veil, and an illuminating account of the role women played in the courts of the Mughal Empire.
- GenresHistory
217 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 20, 2019
5 people are currently reading
63 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 29, 2020
When I read that Dara Shikoh had a proper Baraat and sat on a horse for his wedding, I thought I have found a book that's going to give me some significant insights and details of the Mughal household. Alas, I was wrong. Open Wikipedia page of Dara Shikoh and you’d see the paintings depicting his baraat.
Almost all of the matter present in the book is out there available on the web. Agreed, when it comes to drawing family trees one might face a lot of difficulty and it is drawn properly in this book. Nevertheless, the information is not in-depth; there’s a lot of redundancy and there are also conflicting details given just pages apart.
We are told that Shah Jehan was devastated by death of Mumtaj Mahal. He didn’t father another child after her death – an indication of him choosing celibacy. To my utter surprise, just a couple of pages ahead, we read that Shah Jehan was picking up women from Meena Bazaar and was having fun, left right and centre.
Also, it is stated that Rajputs were much more particular about purdah and about their women’s honour. It is from them that the Mughals learnt to segregate women. Excuse me? Is it really so? Ganga ulti beh rahi hai!
The same things are said again and again. In next paragraph. In next page. In next chapter! Phew!
All in all, not a good book! I wasted my money on this one.
Almost all of the matter present in the book is out there available on the web. Agreed, when it comes to drawing family trees one might face a lot of difficulty and it is drawn properly in this book. Nevertheless, the information is not in-depth; there’s a lot of redundancy and there are also conflicting details given just pages apart.
We are told that Shah Jehan was devastated by death of Mumtaj Mahal. He didn’t father another child after her death – an indication of him choosing celibacy. To my utter surprise, just a couple of pages ahead, we read that Shah Jehan was picking up women from Meena Bazaar and was having fun, left right and centre.
Also, it is stated that Rajputs were much more particular about purdah and about their women’s honour. It is from them that the Mughals learnt to segregate women. Excuse me? Is it really so? Ganga ulti beh rahi hai!
The same things are said again and again. In next paragraph. In next page. In next chapter! Phew!
All in all, not a good book! I wasted my money on this one.
April 15, 2024
Had I not read several books on the Mughal Empire before and had a rudimentary knowledge of the main personages at the height of its power I would probably have floundered and got lost in the jungle of characters who often not only had several names but also all kinds of titles.
Giving an account of the lives of women in the Mahal (harem, zenana, etc.) was not an easy task as there was very little information, personal or official, on the females behind the elaborately carved screens or brocade curtains. A lot of this information was based on bazaar gossip enthusiastically picked up and spread by foreigners, either travellers or residents at the Mughal court. The only voice that speaks to us directly is that of Gulbadan, the Rose Princess, who lived through the reigns of the first three Mughal Emperors. She was the daughter of Babur, sister of Humayun and aunt of Akbar who requested her to write the Humayun-Nama. The only other outstanding women were Nur-Jahan, Mumtaz Mahal and Jahanara.
Nur-Jahan, a Shia and the 20th wife of Jehangir, despite being in purdah, practically ran the empire while her husband slowly succumbed to alcohol and opium to which most of the Mughal emperors, apart from ascetic Aurangzeb, were addicted.
Mumtaz Mahal’s only claim to fame is that her inconsolable widower Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal in her memory.
Shah Jahan’s daughter Shahanara was a rich, brilliant and very capable woman who, among other things, founded Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi) and who chose to accompany her father when Aurangzeb imprisoned him for life in the Red Fort in Agra.
We learn that under Babur and Humayun, in Ferghana and Kabul, life for the women had been so much freer and easier than later in Delhi, Agra and Fatehpur Sikri when Akbar adopted the traditions of the Rajputs who were obsessed with their women’s purity. At least, under the Mughals, widows were allowed to remarry and Sati and child marriage were disapproved of. Unfortunately, princesses were prevented from marrying as any son-in-law might harbour aspirations to the throne, the Mughals being famous for eliminating fathers, brothers, sons, cousins or any male remotely perceived as a threat.
Through the centuries, most Westerners apparently pictured the Mahal as a place where beautiful, seductively-dressed women languidly lounged on silk cushions waiting for their lord and master to take them to bed. Partly, of course, that was true but by the end of Akbar’s reign there were supposedly around 5.000 women in the zenana which was more like a small town, a world in itself, with a very strict hierarchy, bureaucracy and security. There were his various queens, wives, concubines (who were possessions and could be transferred), mothers (who were most highly regarded as were foster mothers), grandmothers, sisters, cousins, adopted mothers, princesses, ladies-in-waiting, wet nurses, teachers, spiritual guides, astrologers, maids, slave girls, cooks, gardeners, tailors, entertainers, singers, dancers, magicians, etc. They all were jealously guarded by eunuchs or female warders and anyone discovered trying to enter the Mahal could be sure of a cruel death. Small boys were kept with their mothers or given to a favourite queen.
Several times in the book the author raises the obvious question of what exactly all those women did all day. The ones higher up in the hierarchy were often intellectual and highly educated, they were accomplished poets, business women, administrators, advisors, even mathematicians. To keep themselves entertained they organised all kinds of festivities and as Akbar was very tolerant and also had Hindu wives who were not forced to convert to Islam, festivals of both religions were celebrated. Also, there were of course endless beauty rituals, endless gossip and endless intrigues. Only Mumtaz Mahal and Nur-Jahan managed to have a close relationship with their husbands.
This short, poignant quote well sums up the book : “The Mughals ruled for three centuries and we know about a minuscule number of royal women, thousands are forgotten.”
Giving an account of the lives of women in the Mahal (harem, zenana, etc.) was not an easy task as there was very little information, personal or official, on the females behind the elaborately carved screens or brocade curtains. A lot of this information was based on bazaar gossip enthusiastically picked up and spread by foreigners, either travellers or residents at the Mughal court. The only voice that speaks to us directly is that of Gulbadan, the Rose Princess, who lived through the reigns of the first three Mughal Emperors. She was the daughter of Babur, sister of Humayun and aunt of Akbar who requested her to write the Humayun-Nama. The only other outstanding women were Nur-Jahan, Mumtaz Mahal and Jahanara.
Nur-Jahan, a Shia and the 20th wife of Jehangir, despite being in purdah, practically ran the empire while her husband slowly succumbed to alcohol and opium to which most of the Mughal emperors, apart from ascetic Aurangzeb, were addicted.
Mumtaz Mahal’s only claim to fame is that her inconsolable widower Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal in her memory.
Shah Jahan’s daughter Shahanara was a rich, brilliant and very capable woman who, among other things, founded Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi) and who chose to accompany her father when Aurangzeb imprisoned him for life in the Red Fort in Agra.
We learn that under Babur and Humayun, in Ferghana and Kabul, life for the women had been so much freer and easier than later in Delhi, Agra and Fatehpur Sikri when Akbar adopted the traditions of the Rajputs who were obsessed with their women’s purity. At least, under the Mughals, widows were allowed to remarry and Sati and child marriage were disapproved of. Unfortunately, princesses were prevented from marrying as any son-in-law might harbour aspirations to the throne, the Mughals being famous for eliminating fathers, brothers, sons, cousins or any male remotely perceived as a threat.
Through the centuries, most Westerners apparently pictured the Mahal as a place where beautiful, seductively-dressed women languidly lounged on silk cushions waiting for their lord and master to take them to bed. Partly, of course, that was true but by the end of Akbar’s reign there were supposedly around 5.000 women in the zenana which was more like a small town, a world in itself, with a very strict hierarchy, bureaucracy and security. There were his various queens, wives, concubines (who were possessions and could be transferred), mothers (who were most highly regarded as were foster mothers), grandmothers, sisters, cousins, adopted mothers, princesses, ladies-in-waiting, wet nurses, teachers, spiritual guides, astrologers, maids, slave girls, cooks, gardeners, tailors, entertainers, singers, dancers, magicians, etc. They all were jealously guarded by eunuchs or female warders and anyone discovered trying to enter the Mahal could be sure of a cruel death. Small boys were kept with their mothers or given to a favourite queen.
Several times in the book the author raises the obvious question of what exactly all those women did all day. The ones higher up in the hierarchy were often intellectual and highly educated, they were accomplished poets, business women, administrators, advisors, even mathematicians. To keep themselves entertained they organised all kinds of festivities and as Akbar was very tolerant and also had Hindu wives who were not forced to convert to Islam, festivals of both religions were celebrated. Also, there were of course endless beauty rituals, endless gossip and endless intrigues. Only Mumtaz Mahal and Nur-Jahan managed to have a close relationship with their husbands.
This short, poignant quote well sums up the book : “The Mughals ruled for three centuries and we know about a minuscule number of royal women, thousands are forgotten.”
November 17, 2019
This book provides a comprehensive narration of the lives of the women who were an intrinsic part of the Great Moghuls, from Babur to Aurangzeb and even after. Written in simple lucid language, the book offers us an insight into the lives of the women then - from their political ideations to their personal arenas, some of whom were pretty influential and wise. An excellent read.
August 4, 2022
2.5, I was so excited to read this but so much of it feels like opinions based on very little fact
July 2, 2023
Maha is a captivating historical novel that combines romance, intrigue, and rich cultural heritage. Subhadra Sen Gupta's storytelling prowess brings to life the grandeur and challenges of the Mughal era, while highlighting the remarkable journey of women who defied societal norms to leave their indelible mark on history
September 30, 2024
Read out more like a repetitive research article. The book actually got to the point in the last few chapters. Either way it was a quick read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews