Nur Jahan's daughter by Tanushree Podder

"Nur Jahan's daughter" by Tanushree Podder. This book is published by Rupa in 2005 and has 360 pages.

Mehrunnisa was the waiting lady of queen Bilquees Begum. She was beautiful, intelligent, witty, an artist and ambitious. Prince Salim was in love with her but his father Akbar arranged her marriage with his loyal soldier Sher Afghan. They were married for 13 years and had a daughter, Ladli Bano. When Salim became king and took the title of Jahangir, he engineered the assassination of Sher Afghan and braught Mehrunnisa to his harem. There she prospered as fashion designer. Jahangir wanted to marry Meherunnisa, but she kept him at bay for 4 years and then married him on her own conditions.

Ladli was nature loving simple kid. She did not like the atmosphere of harem and shallow ladies in it. She hated Jahangir, the murderer of her father and adored her mother for refusing to marry Jahangir. She was heart broken when her mother finally agreed to the marriage. Her lack of self assurance and over sensitive nature did not help either. She was a simple girl unfit for royal harem.

Nur Jahan, a title given by Jahangir to Mehrunnisa after marriage,  was a fashion designer, creative in planning gardens and architecture, excellent marksman and an able and ruthless ruler. She ruled the empire by proxy because Jahangir was deeply in love with her, acknowledged that she was better than him and because he was busy in appraising paintings, writing memoir, drinking & smoking. Nur Jahan's philosophy is summarized in one sentence in the book "You can do whatever you want, provided you want it enough".

Ladli adores and worships her mother but could not decide if she loved her for what she was or hated her for marrying the killer of her father and then killing Ladli's lover, leaving no stone unearthed to make Ladli an empress; trampling her emotions.

Every one knows Nur Jahan but no one knows Ladli. She always lived under the shadow of her illustrious mother and went unnoticed. No one paid attention to her wishes, what she liked, what she wanted. She was like a beautiful bird in a golden cage. Despite her ambitious mother trying to shape her life, she remained loyal to her till end.

Narration is interesting. The book provides glimpses of Mughal period for readers. Atmosphere of harem is created very well. The splurging of wealth by Mughal's while common man did not have food to eat causes revulsion. Character of Ladli is a classic character of the child of larger than life personality. She was a mousy daughter of illustrious mother. The book ends with death if Mehrunnisa and remaining life of Ladli is covered in epilogue.

Reader is amazed by Nur Jahan and feels sorry for Ladli. Reader is also intrigued how Ladli could love her mother after what had happened. This is the success of the book.

While reading the book, reader is more interested in Nur Jahan than Ladli. The book  is more about Nur Jahan than her daughter, Ladli. This I believe is the shortcoming of this book.

A very good book. If you are interested in Mughal period, you will like this novel.