Shadow Princess

Once again Indu Sundaresan brings the splendor and shame of 17th century India and the opulent Mughal empire to life in this engaging novel based on historical facts as well as her understanding of human nature and romance. Opening this book brought me right into this very special world and I was immediately caught up in the story, the outlines of which I was slightly familiar with as I have deeply enjoyed her other two books depicting this period, "The Twentieth Wife" and "The Feast of the Roses". We have all heard of the Taj Mahal, built in 1632 by Shah Jahan for his favorite wife Mumtaz who died while giving birth to her 14th child. This is just the beginning of the book though. The real story is that of the life of her eldest daughter, Jahanara, who was 17 at the time of her mother's death and whose four living brothers competed for the throne. Neither she nor her sister were ever allowed to marry but, as her father's favorite, she held a place of honor and was able to subtly influence him in matters of court. There is a also the story of her forbidden love, several wars and a sorrowful end of her father's life. It's a fine story well told. I found the book fascinating although it took me a while to get all the relationships between the people straight and some of the descriptions of the construction of the Taj Mahal were just a little too detailed for my taste. However, it set the tone of the book and made the era seem very real. The opulence of the lives of the few were contrasted with those of the millions of slaves, eunuchs, soldiers and common people who served the empire. What a joy, however, for the author to bring me right there, into the court and let me share the beauty, the horrors and the constantly swirling intrigues of the court. I really enjoyed the experience of reading this book. It brought me into another world, made me identify with Jahanara and also taught me a bit of history.

This beautifully written and emotionally engaging historical fiction transports the reader to the court of the Mughal Empire in 17th century India. The vivid descriptions, the emotional depth of the characters, and the interwoven story lines, make the building of the Taj Mahal an emotionally charged reality for the reader. The historical structural foundation of Shadow Princess does follow The Twentieth Wife and The Feast of Roses, but it is not necessary to have read the privious books to enjoy Shadow Princess, as each book stands on its own merit. As in the previous novels, Sundaresan weaves storylines of intrigue, unfulfilled love, unbridled ambition, and the whole gamut of the human condition amidst the fabulous wealth and power of the mughal court. Wonderfully engaging, it is a pleasure to read, and very much highly recommended.

This was an excellent book for me on several levels. First, there is a love story which lasts a lifetime even though the principals can't marry. Her father, who is Emperor, has ordained that she not ever marry as she is his most favored daughter and is taking the place of her deceased mother who was the Emperor's Shadow Counselor as his advisor. This is the Emperor who built the Taj Mahal for his wife who had died in childbirth, and he never remarried. Remarried is a misleading word here as these men had harems, but he never again created the kind of relationship he had with his wife with any other woman. The Princess' lover is an Amir which seems to mean he was a highly placed noble and soldier. These two people somehow manage to remain a couple through all the machinations of their homeland. As for the homeland, the reader will see many names with which we, here in the United States, have become familiar. Among them are Quandahar, Lahore, Kashmir and more. They are of the Mughal people and the history which is in this book is very enlightening. I, for instance, didn't know that the Mughal people are Persians who left Persia after a massive revolution made them unwelcome in their homeland. As with the Persians, they are Muslims. There is a map in the front of the book and a glossary in the back. I found that the glossary was not really needed, but the map is very interesting because it shows that this people ruled over most of the subcontinent of India. What we now call India was known as the Deccant and was a very small portion of that country which was mostly, Hindu. The timing on this book is the early to mid 17th Century. The Raj is not yet in place but the men of the British and Dutch East India Companies have visited. Sir Thomas Roe is mentioned as a not very well regarding visitor. I am not that familiar with the history which took place after this time except that the Hindu population seems to have grown in power so that by 1945 and Independence from British rule, the Muslims, who had been such great conquerors were given a very small portion of the subcontinent in what we know as Pakistan. This book is not all love and romance, the innerworkings of succession to the throne among the Emperor's children make Richard III and Henry Tudor look like pikers. The wars and confusion which these battles bring may have been what made it so easy for the British to take power from the Mughals and give it over to the Hindus. I loved this book and have already requested the author's other books from the library. By the way, she tells of an incident which may make the land in Afghanistan very valuable in telling of the loss of half of the Treasury from Lahore which was lost down a snow filled mountain crevice during a retreat and has never been recovered. The level of riches and power which these people held will amaze you. This is a fun read, both entertaining and educating.

The death of Mumtaz Muhal, Emperor Shah Jahan's Exalted One of the Palace, after the birth of her fourteenth child is the foundation for Sundaresan's beautifully crafted and detailed novel of the Mughal Empire in 1631. With attention to historical detail and compassion for those caught in the great drama of the succession, the author captures the emotional tenor of the aftermath of the death of the empress and the political machinations of the four sons who are heirs to the throne. The man who will eventually erect the Taj Mahal to honor his dead wife, ruthless though he may have been in gaining his throne, is devastated by the enormity of his loss. Suddenly plans to marry his favorite daughter, Jahanara to Mizra Najabat Khan are put on indefinite hold, although the younger sister, Roshanana, covets this particular man for herself. It is Jahanara who is the star of this piece, a young woman denied the man she loves to serve her father in his time of need. His need will absorb her future; Jahan pays a heavy price for accepting that burden, one she embraces with conviction. At odds with her older and more powerful sister, Roshanara slips easily into her role as Jahan's adversary, secretly aligning herself with a younger brother, Aurangzeb in lieu of the emperor's obvious choice for succession, Dara. While Dara takes his position and his place in his father's affections for granted, Aurangzeb nurtures his own ambitions, active where Dara is lazy and spoiled. Meanwhile, the emperor ignores affairs of state in his obsession with building a monument to his beloved wife. As she did in The Twentieth Wife, Sundaresan imbues her characters with emotional depth, creating in Jahanara a protagonist of exceptional strength and loyalty, a woman forced to make painful decisions, to choose duty to her father over personal fulfillment, marriage and children. The demands on this woman are extraordinary, called to refute ugly rumors begun in spite by her sister, carving a few stolen moments of happiness into a life rigidly defined by obligation. The political realities of the evolution of the Mughal Empire are significant and thoughtfully explored, the author keeping her finger on the pulse of the kingdom and the yearning in Jahanara's heart, a melding of historical fact and the difficult emotional terrain of a woman trapped forever behind the walls of convention. Intricate and exquisite as the trappings of royalty, the world of the zenana is exposed, its luxury and demands, Jahanara bridging the past and an uncertain future. Luan Gaines/2010.

Readers will find this a stylish novel, giving a fascinating description of how the Taj Mahal was built. Ms. Sundaresan cleverly fills her paragraphs with many vivid descriptions so that when you turn a page you will have experienced sights, smells, tastes, colors, sizzling heat and cooling breezes as she takes you back in time. You are there. You see firsthand the bazaars, the cloistered zenana, the opulence of the palace the lifestyle and indulgence of the emperors. Her writing style is like a beautiful art piece. She "paints" with bold, confident strokes, pulling you in, so that you get the feeling that if you turn around you will be face to face with the characters, close enough to touch them. The story begins with the untimely death of Empress Arjumand leaving behind her young children and inconsolable husband, Emperor Shah Jahan. They had shared a deep bond of passionate love and after her death he was never the same. The death of the empress left a great deal of responsibility on her oldest daughter, Jahanara who was only nineteen. Princess Jahanara's character and the stresses of her life are well-developed and beautifully intertwined in the story. In fact, this is not revealed until after the first fifty pages or so, giving the reader plenty of time to get to know all the characters and their individual personalities. Ms. Sundaresan's writing is downright elegant; she has taken the time to carefully develop every single character and bring them to life - from the mighty emperors, the young princes and princesses right down to the humble servants who run to obey their every command. Each character in the book is impeccably and cleverly fleshed out so that you are given a look into their minds and hearts to discover who they really are. Even though the story took place hundreds of years ago, Sundaresan brings it to life and you will find yourself on a breathless journey to see how the story ends. You will "see" for yourself how the glorious Luminous Tomb was built. Lined with gold, silver, and rare jewels, twenty thousand men labored for twenty-two years to build the marble mausoleum, to fulfill Shah Jahan's obsession, to demonstrate his perfect love for Arjumand. Am I recommending this book? Absolutely and wholeheartedly. Please get yourself a copy and then get another to give to a friend. Don't rush through it. Take your time. Take a day off. Then sit back and savor the story, the romance, the treacherous conspiring and scheming of the royal siblings in their struggle for power, but most of all Ms. Sundaresan's powerful writing.