The Feast of Roses (Taj Mahal Trilogy #2)
"The love story of Emperor Jahangir and Mehrunnisa, begun in the critically praised debut novel The Twentieth Wife, continues in Indu Sundaresan's The Feast of Roses. This lush new novel tells the story behind one of the great tributes to romantic love and one of the seven wonders of the world -- the Taj Mahal."
My Review:
| With the first book, which was essentially about the love blooming between Jahangir and Mehrunissa; I saw the glimpses of what Begum Nur Jahan was more famous for. A lady with an opinion and not scared to express them. Her character was beautifully sketched in the first book; as a girl who was never a calm or subdued as females of that era are thought of to be. She was outspoken even in from of her Abba (Father) and had a very relate-able relationship with her elder brother Abul Hasan. I was apprehensive of the second book. Thinking will the author take the same approach as most of the historical retelling have taken about Begum Nur Jahan. To ridicule of making the Padshah a mere puppet in her hands. In these historical accounts, what I have found most annoying is the perception about Jahangir. Why a man who is consulting a woman, his wife, in governance matter any less a man? What was wrong in it? A man can only lean on another man for support in such matters? This is where I found this book so satisfying. While in the book it is time and again told that most men and women found Jahangir to be a puppet in the hands of his beloved wife; Jahangir himself had just found her more worthy of his trust in such matters. Very beautifully it is shown that how Jahangir never cared about what others thought and gave Mehrunissa the power only because she had the mettle to handle it. The other aspect I found very interesting was how in the second book the relationship between Abul and Mehrunissa fluctuates. It is so real that you will almost be assured that it happened exactly how the author has written it. These two book have been extremely satiating experience in the genre of Mughal era. |
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