The Secret of Jahanara Begum (Exclusive extract from 'The Ministry of Utmost Happiness') | With Biography

By Arundhati Roy 
(One of the most anticipated novels of 2017, “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness” will hit the bookstands across India on Tuesday, June 6. The novel comes 20 years after the author’s “The God of Small Things”, which won the Booker Prize in 1997 and was a bestseller in more than 30 languages worldwide.)
The first time she made her way past the crowd — the sellers of ittars and amulets, the custodians of pilgrims’ shoes, the cripples, the beggars, the homeless, the goats being fattened for slaughter on Eid and the knot of quiet, elderly eunuchs who had taken up residence under a tarpaulin outside the shrine – and entered the tiny red chamber, Jahanara Begum became calm. The street sounds grew faint and seemed to come from far away. She sat in a corner with her baby asleep on her lap, watching people, Muslim as well as Hindu, come in ones and twos, and tie red threads, red bangles and chits of paper to the grille around the tomb, beseeching Sarmad to bless them. It was only after she noticed a translucent old man with dry, papery skin and a wispy beard of spun light sitting in a corner, rocking back and forth, weeping silently as though his heart was broken, that Jahanara Begum allowed her own tears to fall. This is my son, Aftab, she whispered to Hazrat Sarmad. I’ve brought him here to you. Look after him. And teach me how to love him.
Hazrat Sarmad did.
For the first few years of Aftab’s life, Jahanara Begum’s secret remained safe. While she waited for his girl-part to heal, she kept him close and was fiercely protective of him. Even after her younger son, Saqib, was born she would not allow Aftab to stray very far from her on his own. It was not seen as unusual behaviour for a woman who had waited so long and so anxiously for a son.
When Aftab was five he began to attend the Urdu-Hindi madrassa for boys in Chooriwali Gali (the bangle-seller’s lane). Within a year he could recite a good part of the Quran in Arabic, although it wasn’t clear how much of it he understood – that was true of all the other children too. Aftab was a better than average student, but even from the time he was very young it became clear that his real gift was music. He had a sweet, true singing voice and could pick up a tune after hearing it just once. His parents decided to send him to Ustad Hameed Khan, an outstanding young musician who taught Hindustani classical music to groups of children in his cramped quarters in Chandni Mahal. Little Aftab never missed a single class. By the time he was nine he could sing a good twenty minutes of bada khayal in Raag Yaman, Durga and Bhairav and make his voice skim shyly off the flat rekhab in Raag Pooriya Dhanashree like a stone skipping over the surface of a lake. He could sing Chaiti and Thumri with the accomplishment and poise of a Lucknow courtesan. At first people were amused and even encouraging, but soon the snick ering and teasing from other children began: He’s a She. He’s not a He or a She. He’s a He and a She. She He, He She Hee! Hee! Hee!
When the teasing became unbearable Aftab stopped going to his music classes. But Ustad Hameed, who doted on him, offered to teach him separately, on his own. So the music classes continued, but Aftab refused to go to school any more. By then Jahanara Begum’s hopes had more or less faded. There was no sign of healing anywhere on the horizon. She had managed to put off his circumcision for some years with a series of inventive excuses. But young Saqib was waiting in line for his, and she knew she had run out of time. Eventually she did what she had to. She mustered her courage and told her husband, breaking down and weeping with grief as well as relief that she finally had someone else to share her nightmare with.
Her husband, Mulaqat Ali, was a hakim, a doctor of herbal medicine, and a lover of Urdu and Persian poetry. All his life he had worked for the family of another hakim – Hakim Abdul Majid, who founded a popular brand of sherbet called Rooh Afza (Persian for ‘Elixir of the Soul’). Rooh Afza, made of khurfa seeds (purslane), grapes, oranges, watermelon, mint, carrots, a touch of spinach, khus khus, lotus, two kinds of lilies and a distillate of damask roses, was meant to be a tonic. But people found that two tablespoons of the sparkling ruby-coloured syrup in a glass of cold milk or even just plain water not only tasted delicious, but was also an effective defence against Delhi’s scorching summers and the strange fevers that blew in on desert winds. Soon what had started out as medicine became the most popular summer drink in the region. Rooh Afza became a prosperous enterprise and a household name. For forty years it ruled the market, sending its produce from its headquarters in the old city as far south as Hyderabad and as far west as Afghanistan. Then came Partition. God’s carotid burst open on the new bor der between India and Pakistan and a million people died of hatred. Neighbours turned on each other as though they’d never known each other, never been to each other’s weddings, never sung each other’s songs. The walled city broke open. Old families fled (Muslim). New ones arrived (Hindu) and settled around the city walls. Rooh Afza had a serious setback, but soon re covered and opened a branch in Pakistan. A quarter of a century later, after the holocaust in East Pakistan, it opened another branch in the brand-new country of Bangladesh. But eventually, the Elixir of the Soul that had survived wars and the bloody birth of three new countries, was, like most things in the world, trumped by Coca-Cola.
Although Mulaqat Ali was a trusted and valued employee of Hakim Abdul Majid, the salary he earned was not enough to make ends meet. So outside his working hours he saw patients at his home. Jahanara Begum supplemented the family income with what she earned from the white cotton Gandhi caps she made and supplied in bulk to Hindu shopkeepers in Chandni Chowk.
(Extracted from “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness” by Arundhati Roy, with permission from Penguin India.)
–IANS
Jahanara Begum

1st Tenure 17 June 1631 – 31 July 1658
2nd Tenure until 16 September 1681
Died September 16, 1681, Delhi, New Delhi
Buried Nizamuddin Dargah, New Delhi
Similar People Shah Jahan, Mumtaz Mahal, Roshanara Begum, Dara Shikoh, Aurangzeb
Jahanara Begum Sahib (Urdu: شاهزادی جہاں آرا بیگم صاحب‎) (April 2, 1614 – September 16, 1681) was Shahzadi (Imperial Princess) of Mughal as the eldest surviving daughter of Emperor Shah Jahan and Empress Mumtaz Mahal. She was also the older sister of her father’s successor and the sixth Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. After Empress Mumtaz Mahal died from complications of giving birth to her fourteenth child, she became Padshah Begum of the Mughal Empire.

Allah is the Living, the Sustaining.
Let no one cover my grave except with greenery,
For this very grass suffices as a tomb cover for the poor.
The mortal simplistic Princess Jahanara,
Disciple of the Khwaja Moin-ud-Din Chishti,
Daughter of Shah Jahan the Conqueror
May Allah illuminate his proof.
1092 [1681 AD]

Biography

Upon the death of Mumtaz in 1631, Jahanara, aged 17, took the place of her mother as First Lady of the Empire, despite her father having three other wives. As well as caring for her younger brothers and sisters, she is also credited with bringing her father out of mourning and restoring normality to a court darkened by her mother’s death and her father’s grief.
One of her tasks after the death of her mother was to oversee the betrothal and wedding of her brother, Dara Shikoh to Begum Nadira Banu, which had been originally planned by Mumtaz Mahal, but postponed by her death. Jahanara’s mother, Arjumand Banu Begum, Empress Mumtaz Mahal died from complications of giving birth to her fourteenth child, some time after the birth.
Mumtaz Mahal’s personal fortune valued at 10,000,000 rupees, was divided by Shah Jahan between Jahanara Begum (who received half) and the rest of her surviving children.
Her father frequently took her advice and entrusted her with charge of the Imperial Seal. Shah Jahan’s fondness for his daughter was reflected in the multiple titles that he bestowed upon her, which included: Sahibat al-Zamani (Lady of the Age) and Padishah Begum (Lady Emperor), or Begum Sahib (Princess of Princesses). Her power was such that, unlike the other imperial princesses, she was allowed to live in her own palace, outside the confines of the Agra Fort.
In 1644, just days after her thirtieth birthday, Jahanara’s garments, doused in fragrant perfume oils, caught fire, leaving Jahanara seriously injured. Shah Jahan, so concerned for the welfare of his favourite daughter, nursed her back to health himself. After the accident, the princess went on a pilgrimage to Moinuddin Chishti’s shrine in Ajmer.
After her recovery, Shah Jahan gave her rare gems and jewellery and bestowed upon her the revenues of the port of Surat. She later visited Ajmer, following the example set by her great-grandfather Akbar.

Relations with family

There is record of disagreements between Jahanara and her younger brother Aurangzeb whom she had referred to as the “white serpent” (presumably due to Aurangzeb’s fair complexion) also referring to him as a tiger and panther. There also seemed to be some sort of tension with her younger sister, Roshanara Begum, three years her junior who seemingly, resented her elder sister’s position as First Lady of the Empire. Jahanara took the side of Dara Shikoh in the struggle for the throne (Whilst Roshanara sided with Aurangzeb). Dara had promised her to lift the ban on marriage for Mughal princesses, which Akbar had introduced. Had he triumphed, her power would likely have continued. On Aurangzeb’s ascent to the throne, Jahanara joined her father in imprisonment at the Agra Fort, where she devoted herself to his care until his death.
After the death of their father, Jahanara and Aurangzeb were reconciled. He gave her the title, Empress of Princesses and she replaced Roshanara as First Lady.
Jahanara was soon secure enough in her position to occasionally argue with Aurangzeb and have certain special privileges which other women did not possess. She argued against Aurangzeb’s strict regulation of public life in accordance with his conservative religious beliefs and his decision in 1679 to restore the poll tax on non-Muslims, which she said would alienate his Hindu subjects.

Burial

Upon her death, Aurangzeb gave her the posthumous title: Sahibat-uz-Zamani (Mistress of the Age). Jahanara is buried in a tomb in the Nizamuddin Dargah complex in New Delhi, which is considered “remarkable for its simplicity”. The inscription on the tomb reads as follows: بغیر سبزہ نہ پو شد کسے مزار مرا کہ قبر پوش غریباں ہمیں گیاہ و بس است

Personal attributes

No formally attributed likeness of her is known to exist. She was highly educated and well versed in Persian and Arabic, as well as a writer, painter and poet (of some repute).
Jahanara was known for her active part in looking after the poor and financing the building of mosques and wise.
For example, when the Sahibi (a ship constructed by herself), was going to set sail for its first journey (on 29 October 1643), she ordered that the ship make its voyage to Mecca and Medina and “… that every year fifty koni (One Koni was 4 Muns or 151 pounds) of rice should be sent by the ship for distribution among the destitute and needy of Mecca.”
In Agra she is best known for sponsoring the building of the Jami Masjid in 1648 in the heart of the old city.
She also made a significant impact on the landscape of the capital city of Shahjahanabad. Of the eighteen buildings in the city of Shahjahanabad commissioned by women, Jahanara commissioned five of them. All of Jahanara’s building projects were completed around the year 1650, inside the city walls of Shahjahanabad. The best known of her projects was Chandni Chowk, the main street in the walled city of Old Delhi.
She constructed an elegent caravanserai on the East side of the street with gardens in the back. Herbert Charles Fanshawe, in 1902, mentions about the serai:
“Proceeding up the Chandni Chauk and passing many shops of the principal dealers in jewels, embroideries, and other products of Delhi handicrafts, the Northbrook Clock Tower and the principal entrance to the Queen’s Gardens are reached. The former is situated at the site of the Karavan Sarai of the Princess Jahanara Begam (p. 239), known by the title of Shah Begam. The Sarai, the square in front of which projected across the street, was considered by Bernier one of the finest buildings in Delhi, and was compared by him with the Palais Royal, because of its arcades below and rooms with a gallery in front above.”
The serai was later replaced by building now known as the Town Hall, and the pool in the middle of the square was replaced by a grand clock tower (Ghantaghar).

Sufism

Together with her brother Dara Shikoh, she was a disciple of Mullah Shah Badakhshi, who initiated her into the Qadiriyya Sufi order in 1641. Jahanara Begum made such progress on the Sufi path that Mullah Shah would have named her his successor in the Qadiriyya, but the rules of the order did not allow this.
She wrote a biography of Moinuddin Chishti, the founder of the Chishtiyah order, titled Mu’nis al-Arwah, as well as a biography of Mullah Shah, titled Risalah-i Sahibiyah, in which she also described her initiation by him. Her biography of Moinuddin Chishti is highly regarded for its judgment and literary quality. In it she regarded him as having initiated her spiritually four centuries after his death, described her pilgrimage to Ajmer and spoke of herself as a faqirah to signify her vocation as a Sufi woman.
Jahanara Begum stated that she and her brother Dara were the only descendants of Timur to embrace Sufism. However, Aurangzeb was spiritually trained as a follower of Sufism as well. As a patron of Sufi literature, she commissioned translations of and commentaries on many works of classical literature.

In popular culture

Her early life is depicted in The Royal Diaries book series as Jahanara: Princess of Princesses, India – 1627 by Kathryn Lasky. Jahanara is the protagonist of the novel Beneath a Marble Sky, by John Shors. She is the main character in the novel Shadow Princess by Indu Sundaresan, published on 23 March 2010. She is also the main character in Jean Bothwell’s An Omen for a Princess (1963). Actresses Mala Sinha and Manisha Koirala have portrayed the role of Jahanara in their respective films, namely Jahan Ara (1964) and Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story (2005).

Literature

• Eraly, Abraham (2004). The Mughal Throne (paperback) (First ed.). London: Phoenix. pp. 555 pages. ISBN 978-0-7538-1758-2. 
• Preston, Diana & Michael (2007). A Teardrop on the Cheek of Time (Hardback) (First ed.). London: Doubleday. pp. 354 pages. ISBN 978-0-385-60947-0. 
• Lasky, Kathryn (2002). The Royal Diaries: Jahanara, Princess Of Princesses (Hardback) (First ed.). New York: Scholastic Corporation. pp. 186 pages. ISBN 978-0439223508.