My rediscovery of Zeb-un-Nisa

I always liked historical novels and in childhood, my absolute favourite was “Rajsingha”, in which Bankimchandra Chattopadhay pits a brave Rajput King against Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and the former emerges victorious.

I first read the name of Zeb-un-Nisa, Aurangzeb’s eldest daughter, in that book, which depicted her as like her father – cruel and tyrannical. It said she had considerable influence in power corridors and has been a rich and spoilt princess.

Somehow, that depiction stuck in my mind despite knowing that a historical novel is not history itself, even if it gets some of the events, dates, or incidents correct.

I forgot about Zeb-un-Nisa until recently, when I chanced upon her name as I was surfing the net for information on Salimgarh Fort in Delhi. I had visited Salimgarh a few months back and was writing a blog post on it (link given at the end of the post). Several articles mentioned that Zeb-un-Nisa was imprisoned by Aurangzeb in Salimgarh for 20 years, till her death (There are quite a few stories about how some people believe that her ghost still haunts Salimgarh, roaming around in moonlight). I probed further and found information which offers a completely different view of the princess. May be many people know this, but for me, it was a surprise to read that she was a scholar of Persian and Arabic, a Sufi poet and a bibliophile.

She also learned philosophy, mathematics and astronomy, was a calligrapher, and a collector of manuscripts and books. Her library was “one of the most extensive in the country,” writes Ira Mukhoty in her “Daughters of the Sun: Empresses, Queens and Begums of the Mughal Empire”. She wrote poetry under the pen-name “Makhfi” (“the hidden one” in Persian). The majority view of historians is that her ties with Aurangzeb soured because the ambitious princess backed her brother Muhammad Akbar in his plan to de-throne the emperor. After discovering some of her letters to Akbar, the furious emperor had her property confiscated, and put her in prison. She wrote poetry even during her long years of confinement, and years after her death, over 400 of her verses were compiled in a book named “diwan-i- Makhfi”. Its translation is available online.

Zeb-un-Nissa was buried in a garden outside Kabuli Gate, (though her remains were later shifted to Agra by the British), which is said to have been gifted to her by her aunt Jahanara, who also believed in Sufism. Jahanara, the princess who commissioned Chandni Chowk, lies in rest in a small enclosure In the courtyard of the tomb of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya.

Among the tombs of women Sufis in Delhi, the dargah of Hazrat Mai Saheba in Adhchini and the tomb of Bibi Fatima in Kaka Nagar are well-known. The former was the mother of Nizamuddin Auliya, while the latter was also a contemporary of the Sufi saint. Women are allowed upto the inner sanctum in both of these tombs. 

UPDATE: After I uploaded this post in Facebook, heritage enthusiast and photographer Praveen Kumar jee told me about a scheduled event on May 26 on "The Sufi Daughter of Aurangzeb" by storytelling organization "Darwesh", which holds performative walks on history in lesser-visited monuments of Delhi. I had attended an excellent performance by Darwesh in Roshanara Bagh a few months back, which brought alive the Mughal game of thrones involving Dara Sikoh, Aurangzeb, Jahanara and Roshanara with a combination of elements such as storytelling, theatre and narration of history. So, I eagerly registered for this one too. And I was not disappointed at all. The walk in Red Fort and Salimgarh, led by Nitika Arora, nicely set up the context with accounts of the life and times of influential Mughal queens and princesses, topping it up with theatrical rendition of the poems of Zeb-un-Nisa, bringing out different facets of her life, love, poetry, and her long years of isolation at the Salimgarh prisons. What I found interesting in these  performative walks by the group is that how easily the performers/walk leaders switch between narration of history and theatre/drama. As if you are being transported to another time and back within seconds.

Quite a few poems of Zeb-in-Nisa were shared/performed, but I liked this one the best.

"Were an artist to choose me for his model -

How could he draw the form of a sigh."

Salimgarh ruins