The Strong Women Of The Mughal Empire

Empress: Nur Jahan and the Women of the Mughal Empire-

“Jealousy and other petty emotions, were an old trope caste onto women,” as Ruby Lal puts it. Lack of sources written by women were not given nearly enough emphasis, which made most of them get discarded with time. Most male texts depict women through a blurry lens. As opposed to our image of women idly basking in sun-lit gardens, these women have carved the stones of history as much as the men.

Gulbadan – daughter of Babur, sister of Humayun, and aunt of Akbar happens to have written a memoir, uncommon of women of that era. “This was a nomadic princess, a migrant who was always on thego.”( Ruby Lal)

Nur Jahan, protagonist of the books, personifies migration. A powerful image of her loading a musket was displayed on a slide, she hunted man –eating tigers and was a benchmark in the tradition of matriarchal power. She posed openly in front of Jarokhas, in a time when the emperor had stated that all women must veil their faces at all times, in perhaps an act of raw rebellion.

Shah Jahan’s daughter, Jahanara, who by the way, preffered to stay single, helped build Old Delhi, which is another heritage that cannot be ignored.

Let go of whatever Bollywood might say, women were not solely the objects of men’s affection, they were planners and executors with personalities strong enough to inspire monuments such as the glorious Taj Mahal.