Nur Jahan: Empress of Mughal India

by Ellison Banks Findly

Overview

Nur Jahan was one of the most powerful and influential women in Indian history. Born on a caravan traveling from Teheran to India, she became the last (eighteenth) wife of the Mughal emperor Jahangir and effectively took control of the government as he bowed to the effects of alcohol and opium. Her reign (1611-1627) marked the highpoint of the Mughal empire, in the course of which she made great contributions to the arts, religion, and the nascent trade with Europe. An intriguing, elegantly written account of Nur Jahan's life and times, this book not only revises the legends that portray her as a power-hungry and malicious woman, but also investigates the paths to power available to women in Islam and Hinduism providing a fascinating picture of life inside the mahal (harem).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195360608
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/25/1993
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	6 MB

Table of Contents

	Prologue: Standing in the Legend	3
1.	The Immigrant Persians	8
2.	Death of Sher Afgan and Marriage to Jahangir	19
3.	Rise of the Junta (1611-1620)	43
4.	"The World Conqueror,"	62
5.	Life in the Women's Palaces	88
6.	The English Embassy	128
7.	Breakup of the Junta (1620-1627)	161
8.	Nur Jahan and Religious Policy	184
9.	Arts and Architecture of Nur Jahan	218
10.	In the Gardens of Eternal Spring	244
11.	The Rebellion of Mahabat Khan	260
12.	Death of Jahangir and Retirement to Lahore	275
Appendix I	Selected Members of Jahangir's Family	288
Appendix II	Selected Members of Nur Jahan's Family	289
Appendix III	Brief Chronology of the Jahangir Era	290
	Notes	292
	Abbreviations and Selected Annotated Bibliography	371
	Index	391