Daughters of the Sun: Empresses, Queens and Begums of the Mughal Empire

by Ira Mukhoty

India was ruled for over 200 years by the Gurkani, a clan that established an empire of such magnificence, size and wealth, that it became a byword for glory around the world. But the name by which the Gurkani became rightly famous was an aberration.

The explanation usually given for the general dearth of information about Indian women is multi-layered: women were usually uneducated, so they did not transmit written histories; India, in general, tended not to emphasize written histories, preferring the oral tradition; moreover, physical evidence is fragile in India, subject to the tempestuous weather, eroded by time and the negligence of historians. But in the case of the Mughals, none of this holds true. The women were all, right from the beginning, some of the most educated of their age. Timurid girls were given the same rigorous education, in mathematics, history, physics, poetry, astronomy etc., as boys because the Timurids placed a very high value on calligraphy, writing and erudition.

The last Mughal padshah, Bahadur Shah Zafar, his wives and sons, were sent to exile in Burma where they lived lives of wretched destitution shackled by alcohol and opium addiction and a haunted nostalgia for the things of the past.