Feast of Roses by Indu Sundaresan - Essay Example

We have to deepen our look find Nur Jahan to have been a woman of essence, power and strength. The sequel to the appealing The Twentieth Wife, The Feast of Roses seems to be an insightful glare at the royal court of India in the seventeenth century; it is a rich novel that tells the history behind one of the greatest tributes to romance and one of the Seven Wonders of the World - the Taj Mahal. The story line is loaded with historical poignancies that lead readers to conclusion that Indu Sundaresan magically took the readers back in time.

Through courage and luck, Mehrunnisa, a Persian refuge from Afghanistan, became the twentieth wife of Jahangir, the emperor of the Mughal Empire from 1605 to 1627. Marriages in Mughal India during the 1600's were more about lucrative unions and were far from love. But a few were fortunate enough to marry for love, so was in the case of Jahangir and Mehrunnisa. This union of love turned Mehrunnisa into Empress Nur Jahan. The Feast of Roses is the story of this woman's reign. Mehrunnisa was the first woman whom Jahangir marries for love, at her "old" age of thirty-four.

He loved her so much that he eventually transfers his sovereignty powers to her. Mehrunnisa has ambitions beyond the veiled quietness behind the zenana (harem) rooms. In Chapter One, the narrator unfolds: "All her life she had wanted the life of a man, with the freedom to go where he wished, to do what he wanted, to say what came to his mind without worry for consequences" (p. 5). In the seventeenth century, everyone in India, that is those who would care about the emperor's harem, expected that Jahangir's twentieth wife, the last one of the twenty, would be much lower than an Untouchable.

Nevertheless, the Empress Nur Jahan does not rest in her role as she breaks the tradition of imperial life and the accepted behavior of women in this country. In India marriage was obligatory for all females except for those opted for asceticism in that epoch. Girls were to get married between ages 8 and 10. Mehrunnisa was once married and widowed before she got to the harem, she had a daughter. Destiny of a widow in India was also miserable. It was extremely important for her to get married so that she may feel secured.

"For the first time in many, many years Mehrunnisa woke to an absence of feeling. There was no fear, no apprehension, no sense that something was amiss in her life. She knew thather daughter was fine." (p.3)As the Empress, Mehrunnisa ran the show. It wasn't easy at all. When a man, such as Emperor Jahangir, has twenty wives, there are inevitably jealousies, rivalries and hierarchies amongst the women of harem. "Nur Jahan was a name for the world, for other people to call her. It was a name that commanded, that inspired respect and demanded attention." (p.4).

Mehrunnisa, who constantly reflects that she desires as she were a man, forms a junta with her father, her brother, and Jahangir's son Prince Khurram. She demonstrateed great strength of character and craftiness to get what she wants, sometimes at a cost of personal sorrow when she almost loses the love of her daughter. She was certain that "her father and brother, could always be trusted. Their blood was hers" (p. 89). Nur Jahan ruthlessly exploits Jahangir's love to