3. Why did you choose to portray Mehrunnisa as a sympathetic character as opposed to a “mean-spirited and ruthless” woman?
Most of the accounts of Mehrunnisa’s personality swing from one extreme to another, depending on when they were written. If during Emperor Jahangir’s reign, they tend to be flattering and obsequious, because she was empress then. If written during Emperor Shah Jahan’s reign (he was Jahangir’s son), Mehrunnisa is portrayed as mean-spirited and ruthless. This last was because Mehrunnisa fought very hard to keep Shah Jahan from the throne, so neither he nor his court historians were inclined to be sympathetic toward her.
I tried to find the woman between these two extremes, and I think that in the early half of her life, before Mehrunnisa married Emperor Jahangir (the story told in The Twentieth Wife), she had little control over her life, and no wealth to exercise that control.
She must, though, have possessed some slyness and cunning to have risen so swiftly to power in the imperial zenana and at court, and Mehrunnisa shows this through flashes of obstinacy, stubbornness, and thoughtfulness in The Twentieth Wife. Her cunning and ruthlessness find full expression when Mehrunnisa becomes empress of Mughal India in the sequel titled The Feast of Roses (Atria Books, May 2003).
At the other extreme, I do believe that Mehrunnisa also possessed some charm that went beyond her physical beauty, else Jahangir, who had over three hundred women in his harem, would not have been attracted to her.
4. Emperor Jahangir had an interesting fascination with tigers. Why is this? What do tigers represent?
Jahangir was fascinated with all aspects of the natural world around him. In his memoirs, he writes with an unfailing curiosity and an eye for detail. Jahangir mentions the unusual incident of the first tigress in captivity giving birth to three cubs, and of tigers being so tame in his private menagerie that they would walk about freely and unchained among humans.
He was also an avid hunter and describes his hunts in great detail, like the number of shots it took to down a lion or a tiger or a crocodile. And he could be contrastingly gentle, too, recording an instance when he worried whether the imperial elephants were comfortable in winter while bathing in cold water. (He ordered their water to be heated to lukewarm and thought that the elephants “were delighted” with this!)
5. Tell us about your writing process and how you brought these characters to life on the page—their lives and motivations.
For The Twentieth Wife and The Feast of Roses, both novels on a somewhat epic scale with the strong historical context and larger-than-life figures to begin with, I considered the research to be paramount.
Looking for actual details on Mehrunnisa’s daily life proved to be a somewhat harder task, because she was a woman living in an age when women were consequential only for their physical appearance and their ability to bear children. So when I found gaps in her life where no records existed, I went searching for particulars on the men in her life—her father, if she was unmarried, her first husband, if she was married. I followed their stories, tried to guess what she would have been doing and how these men’s actions would have influenced her life and her decisions.
One point in case: I wondered what her hobbies were; there is, of course, no documentation on that. In reading Sir Thomas Roe’s memoirs (the first ambassador from England to the court of Emperor Jahangir, who had vast dealings with Mehrunnisa), I discovered a small mention of when her father goes to Roe with muskmelons as a gift and says that she grew them herself. That seemingly trivial gift was a sign of imperial favor from Mehrunnisa to Roe, which is why he refers to it, but reading between the lines, I saw how Mehrunnisa spent her free time. This formed the basis for the scene in The Twentieth Wife where Mehrunnisa is digging around the melon patch in the imperial zenana’s gardens!
6. Why do you think Ruqayya took such a liking to Mehrunnisa? What were Ruqayya’s motives for making her such an important part of her entourage?
Historical sources state that Mehrunnisa became Ruqayya’s lady-in-waiting around 1607, when she traveled back to Agra as a widow after Ali Quli’s death. Over the next few years, until Ruqayya’s death, Mehrunnisa and she remained very close, with Ruqayya playing a nurturing and mothering role in Mehrunnisa’s life.
I chose to expand their relationship back a few more years, when Mehrunnisa was eight, and Ruqayya chanced upon her at Jahangir’s first marriage and brought her into the imperial harem as a constant visitor. I also chose to believe that Jahangir and Mehrunnisa’s courtship spanned seventeen years, beginning when she was seventeen and betrothed to Ali Quli (see the Afterword). If this second instance is true, then the first must be, too, since both relationships were enormously significant to Mehrunnisa and could only have been fostered over a length of many years.
Ruqayya saw in Mehrunnisa an enchanting and unquestioning child, a protégée she could rear in her own likeness, since she had no children herself. Ruqayya was an unusual woman, able to maintain her position as Padshah Begam in Akbar’s zenana, despite bearing no heirs.
In the end, Mehrunnisa and Ruqayya were both extraordinary women (which could have well posed a struggle between them) but they were of different generations, had common enemies within the zenana, and a friendship that began before any discord could arise.
7. Mehrunnisa spent her life making sure that her actions never brought shame to her family. Why do you think that the men surrounding her—her father, her husband, and her brother—all betrayed the Emperor?
This is an interesting question. Mehrunnisa is not the twenty-first-century ideal of an emancipated woman, though she certainly caused some trouble in her times. Given her limitations, she pushed the boundaries of expected roles women were supposed to play, yet she did not step beyond them. I found little credible documentation that she ever took off the veil or revealed her face to men not connected to her family.
Strictures governed the actions of the men, too—in Mughal India, the Emperor was sovereign; he had absolute control over the livings and even lives of the millions in the empire. Jahangir was the empire. Yet Mehrunnisa’s father gave in to his weakness for greed, her brother plotted Jahangir’s assassination, and her husband rebelled against the idea of being safely tucked away in Bengal, away from the imperial court.
I can only imagine, given Mehrunnisa’s enormous influence in her later years, that she was a woman who exercised more self-control and thought than the men, because, being a woman and a girl child, she was taught this. She realized her restrictions and sought to work around them rather than attempt to destroy them.
8. What types of traditions described in The Twentieth Wife are still practiced today?
There exists a strong sense of familial loyalty and societal responsibility in The Twentieth Wife, both of which still find expression in Indian society today. When Mehrunnisa decides to marry Ali Quli, even though her inclinations lie with Jahangir, she acts from a sense of obligation to the pledge her father made to her first husband.
Even Jahangir as a prince is swamped with guilt at his rebellion against his father. He has little restraint over his actions then, is easily mislead into ideas of grandeur and of his own importance, and is restive and hungry for a crown that already belongs to him—all of which shatter the love and respect between Jahangir and his father. Despite this, both Akbar and he try over and again to reconcile, bowing to the unsaid tradition that family comes before all else, even the empire.
Arranged marriages also form a strong part of contemporary Indian society. And marriages are arranged between couples today (as in Mehrunnisa’s time), not so much on the basis of the individuals’ compatibility to each other, but more on whether the families come from the same or similar social class, caste, and backgrounds. As a consequence, the so-called love marriages that break class and caste barriers can often create quite a ruckus.
Another instance of a surviving tradition is the veil. Women of many communities still wear the veil (or some form of it that covers just the upper ha
lf of the face). This practice cuts through social class and religion—some women cover their faces in front of only men of the family, some in public only. Interestingly enough, in Mughal India, the veil was not a symbol of subjugation, but of social status; this idea still persists in some communities in India—as in the veil provides protection, respect, status, and is not oppressive.
READING GROUP QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Mehrunnisa is only eight years old when she first encounters Prince Salim, and yet upon meeting him she is certain that one day she will be married to him. What is it about Prince Salim that draws her to him? In the ensuing years, what obstacles must Mehrunnisa overcome before becoming Prince Salim’s twentieth wife?
2. How is the history and culture of India and the Mughal empire illuminated through the telling of Mehrunnisa’s story? How much of Mehrunnisa’s life is dependent on the circumstances of the place and time in which she lives?
3. Mehrunnisa is thirty-four when she marries the Emperor, which is considered old for a woman during this time. If Mehrunnisa had been made Empress when she was younger, do you think she would have wielded as much power as she did when she was older? Why or why not?
4. “Though she was behind the veil, she was still a voice to reckon with.” This quote describes Ruqayya, but it can be applied to the many women in the novel. How do Ruqayya, Asmat, Jagat Gosini, and especially Mehrunnisa all work—and many times succeed—to have their opinions and advice heard by the men in their lives? How did they use the power they had over men to their own gain?
5. In a recent interview, Indu Sundaresan said, “I don’t think the veil was considered a symbol of oppression as it is today.” Is the veil a symbol of oppression in The Twentieth Wife? In your opinion, is the veil viewed as a symbol of oppression today? How do Mehrunnisa and the other women in the story use the “power of the veil” to their own advantage?
6. Discuss the inner workings of the zenana and its members’ influence on the everyday life of the court. How is the power structure of the zenana determined? Why does the Emperor never interfere with what is happening in his harem?
7. Jagat Gosini is afraid of the love that Jahangir has for Mehrunnisa, and at one point the narrative states, “Because Jahangir wanted her not for the title she bore—she was no princess—and not for her family connections—her father was, after all, and always would be, just a Persian refugee—but for herself.” Why is Jahangir’s love for Mehrunnisa threatening to the other women in the zenana? What advantages does this afford Mehrunnisa?
8. The connection between parent and child is a central theme in this book. Discuss the relationship that Mehrunnisa has with her father and her own daughter, as well as the relationship that Ruqayya has with Prince Khurram. How do these relationships influence the actions that these characters take, some of which have powerful consequences for the empire?
9. One reviewer said that The Twentieth Wife “is above all a tale of ambition. . . . Mehrunnisa is not our culture’s idea of a feminist; she does not struggle to change the laws of her society, only to fulfill her ambition within them.” Do you agree with this? How did Mehrunnisa’s influence help shape the course of the Mughal empire?
10. As Empress Nur Jahan, Mehrunnisa wields much of the power behind her husband’s throne. Compare her to other strong women rulers in history such as Catherine the Great. Why do you think history has overshadowed Empress Nur Jahan and her accomplishments?
11. The land that made up the Mughal empire is what we know today as Pakistan, parts of Iran, and most of Afghanistan, and The Twentieth Wife details the complex history of this region. What in the story is relevant in the present day? Did reading this book provide you with insight into current events and the culture of the Middle East? What did you learn about the role of women in particular in this region of the world?
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Mehrunnisa’s story continues in The Feast of Roses, coming from Atria Books in May 2003.
Visit Indu Sundaresan’s Website at www.indusundaresan.com.
INDU SUNDARESAN, born and raised in India, came to the United States for graduate school. The Twentieth Wife is her first novel. She continues Mehrunnisa’s tale in The Feast of Roses, forthcoming from Atria Books. She lives in Bellevue, Washington.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A Washington Square Press Publication
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Copyright © 2002 by Indu Sundaresan
Cover design by Honi Werner
Author photograph by Jerry Bauer
Originally published in hardcover in 2002 by Pocket Books
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 0-7434-2818-8
ISBN 13: 978-0-7434-3697-7 (eBook)
First Washington Square Press trade paperback printing February 2003
WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Map and Family Tree
Principal Characters
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Afterword
Glossary
‘Mountain of Light’ Excerpt
Reading Group Guide
About Indu Sundaresan
The Twentieth Wife Page 44