DR RUBY LAL
Q. WHO WAS NŪR JAHĀN AND WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO WRITE A BIOGRAPHY ABOUT HER?
A. Nūr Jahān (1577-1645) was the only woman ruler among the Great Mughals of India. Emperor Jahāngīr’s 20th and final wife, she was an incredible figure – an alliance builder who famously saved Jahāngīr from captivity and struck political compromises. That’s her life story as co-sovereign, which was erased from history. Scholars have acknowledged her power, but not demonstrated what it means to be a ruling Mughal woman sovereign. There is still the tendency in scholarly and other writings to lock her power in a romantic story with Jahāngīr: in fact, romance.
