A new book gives a glimpse into the Mughal world through a fictionalised account of Nur Jahan's teenage life
Illustration by Debasmita Dasgupta
It is hard to say whom I love more — my mother or my father," a 13-year-old Mehr-un-nissa ponders. It's a thought that has crossed many teenage minds. And a secret diary is perhaps the best place to pen it down. But that thought becomes a fitting introduction to Mehr-un-nissa's life itself, in the book The Teenage Diary of Nur Jahan (Speaking Tiger) by Deepa Agarwal, the name she earned after marrying Mughal Emperor Jahangir as his 12th wife.
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A fictionalised account, Agarwal, a poet, and translator, paints a vivid portrait of a girl who had a vision and a keen sense of observation. This is brought out by diary entries where she writes of impressing her tutor with her knowledge of foreign languages and eventually losing interest in the Meena Bazaars that were set-up regularly in the Mughal Court as a source of entertainment for women in the harem. The book, that releases today, is part of the publisher's ongoing teenage diary series. Two titles on Jahanara and Jodh Bai authored by Subadhra Sen will release next month. Edited excerpts from an interview with Agarwal.
Deepa Agarwal
What were your initial thoughts on weaving history into the medium of a diary?
There are a lot of popular books written using the medium of a diary. Take, for instance, The Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Bridget Jones's Diary. It gives you a personal perspective. So, the reader immerses himself or herself into the narrative and identifies with the characters. It's fictional because we don't know much about her teenage life. Of course, we do know the dramatic incident of her birth, and that she was ambitious, creative and fond of embroidery. So, I tried to construct her personality.
Was it a challenge to condense secondary information into fiction?
I took under a year to complete the book. I referred to the works of historians like Ruby Lal and Ellison Banks Findly and even Ira Mukhoty's Daughters of the Sun, which gives you a glimpse into the lives of Mughal women. I also read Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri and Ain-i-Akbari. So, I didn't really have to condense information, but being selective was a challenge.
What would you like readers to know about Nur Jahan?
I would like the reader to take away an image of a strong girl who despite all the restrictions Mughal women had at that time, didn't give up. She was ambitious — she didn't want to be behind the walls as a begum. She wanted to be in power, and we all know she eventually was.
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