In history, Mumtaz Mahal is an indelible name associated with the queen for whom the Taj Mahal was built. Few, however, know the woman she was, Arjumand Bano, mother of 14 children. Of them, Dara Shikoh and Aurangzeb are prominent for their succession battle won by the latter, but her daughters, Jahanara and Roshanara, have quietly been relegated to the fading family tree.
Indu Sundaresan’s Shadow Princess deals not with the empress but her daughters. It attempts to undo what history’s ruthless editors cut out. The novel is the third work of fiction in the Taj Mahal trilogy by Sundaresan, first two being The Twentieth Wife and The Feast of Roses.
Mumtaz, pregnant with her 14th child, dies in the opening of the book. Fifteen-year-old Jahanara emerges as the woman in charge. It is the lot of the favoured eldest daughter to now head the harem, guide her awkward brothers and stand by an inconsolable father. King Shah Jahan’s two other wives hope to get a hold of the zenana reins. They plan to fight the eldest daughter for what they believe is rightfully theirs only to realise that the battle is already lost. “How could a daughter take the place of a wife?” they think, as does the rest of the kingdom.
Aggrieved Shah Jahan mulls handing over his kingdom to one of his sons. Jahanara’s word assumes great importance as she is closer to the king than any of her siblings. The princess watches the court polarise around two teenaged sons Dara and Aurangzeb. She can’t help siding with Dara while her sister Roshan stands with Aurangzeb.
Roshan resents the status that has come unsought to her elder sister. Jahan, on the other hand, is overwhelmed with the changes in her life and lacks the tact to win Roshan to her side. The wedge so drawn runs deep through their lives and widens over the years.
When a distressed king is unable to stand up during his traditional appearance before the people, Jahanara shoves her brothers to stand by their father’s side and prevents a political disaster. She wins the king’s necklace and trust after the jharoka incident. Order is restored at the court as the king abandons the plan of retirement and the harem gets a new Padshah Begum, Jahanara.
The dead queen had intended her eldest daughter to marry a court amir Mirza Najabat Khan. Unfortunately for Jahan, her mother died before she could convey her desire to the king. The young princess loses her heart to the amir the moment she sees him. While the princess may have all the kingdom at her feet she is unprepared for competition from her own sister for a suitor.
The king, on the other hand, is in no mood to loose either of his daughters to marriage. So while Jahan must organise a grand wedding for her brothers Dara, Shuja and then Aurangzeb, she must also make peace with her own spinsterhood. But the most powerful women in the court are not so easily tamed. A lovelorn Jahan takes her favourite eunuch as her lover after Najabat stops answering her letters. Later, still longing for Najabat, she orders a man from her personal orchestra to teach her how to make love.
Over the years while Jehan stand steadfast by her father’s side, Dara and Aurangzeb emerge as men ready to battle out the throne. Aurangzeb being the more strong-willed and enjoying support of the court, while Dara powered by the blessings of his father and a powerful sister.
As the king begins to take women of the court to his bed, rumours about his liaisons with his daughter are dispelled and Najabat returns to Jahan’s side. Curtailed by the will of the king, a clandestine affair blossoms between the two and an unmarried Jahan is soon pregnant. The king ignores his beloved daug-hter’s defiance and Jahanara sets off to the fort of Ajmer to deliver her child, calling her visit a pilgrimage.
Considerable research has gone into the making of this novel. While Sundaresan has historic facts in order, the story-telling needs much more conviction. The reader, time and again, finds himself disbelieving the author. A dying queen in the middle of the 14th delivery is described as a woman of immeasurable beauty. Similarly, a simple girl of 15 years hidden behind the veil suddenly comes to wield immense power over her father and the court. The story lacks imagination. While the author links the dots of history well, she is unable to breathe life into them. The Taj Mahal, meanwhile, appears now and then, its details sounding dreary and detached from the story.
The story however, has a poignant end. While the princes slay each other for crown, Jahan stays loyal to her father spending nine years with him in prison. As the king breathes his last she steps out of Agra fort to become Padshah Begum of Aurangzeb’s harem, brin-ging the stamp of legitimacy to the crown of the brother whom she so vehemently opposed.