Illuminating the Life of the Light of the World: Indu Sundaresan’s portrayal of Nur Jahan in The Twentieth Wife

Abstract

As Virginia Woolf has rightly observed women are absent in history books and are mentioned only as queens or relatives of ruling monarchs. Literature has always given them space but only as much as society allows. Any woman who oversteps the limit is subjected to severe criticism, ostracism, and punishment. They have been marginalised and neglected, and whenever they have been given significance it is only as ideal, domesticated, obedient submissive creatures readily acceptable to the patriarchal setup all over the world. This has remained constant throughout various centuries. However, in the wake of feminism and with writing becoming a tool for women for self-expression there has been a spread of fiction that depicts the strength of women and re-writes history from a new perspective. Culturally speaking the Mughal Era was very orthodox and restrictive about women’s behaviour. The purdah system and other customs made women even more housebound than they were before. They were controlled and monitored even in the harems. But, there is writing that has re-created history based on some scanty accounts that are available to authors like Indu Sundaresan. She made full use of this material to write her Taj Trilogy and to show that the Mughal Queens like Nur Jahan were not mere puppets in the hands of their husbands and masters. They were capable of exercising their wills and creating space in a closed world for themselves as wives but also assumed powerful roles as administrators and queens. They reflect women’s empowerment at a time when it could not be expected or granted. This paper studies The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan to assess the character of Nur Jahan who was an extraordinary woman in a world that generally was oppressed.