Download or read book Empress of the TAJ written by Timeri N. Murari and published by . This book was released on 2019-05-10 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An extraordinary book that combines travel- and history-writing with brilliant storytelling to give us a portrait of Mumtaz Mahal, in whose memory Shah Jahan built the Taj, and also a portrait of India before it was changed by liberalization. In the early 1980s, researching for his bestselling novel Taj, author Timeri--Tim--Murari began the first of his journeys in the footsteps of Arjumand Bano, the precocious daughter of a Mughal nobleman. Arjumand went on to become Mumtaz Mahal, chief consort of Emperor Shah Jahan, and empress of the Mughal kingdom until her death in 1631, giving birth to their fourteenth child. Over the next two decades, the grieving emperor had the Taj Mahal built in her memory--their final resting place, and the world's most enduring symbol of love. Tim went on his journeys at a time before air travel was common in India, when they were protracted affairs undertaken mostly by train. In these travels of discovery--in Delhi; in Agra, the centre of Mughal power and site of the Taj Mahal; in the desert cities of Rajasthan, where Shah Jahan waged ceaseless campaigns, Mumtaz Mahal at his side; and in Burhanpur in the Deccan, where the empress breathed her last--the author found fascinating glimpses of an empire at its zenith, and of a consuming love. Intertwined with these insights were the shabby realities of modern India--the obstinacies of the bureaucracy that controls monuments, the industries which deface them, and a citizenry that remains unaware of its own history. A brilliant meld of travel and history writing, Empress of the Taj is not only the story of a fabled queen, and the magnificent obsessions of royalty; it is also an invaluable record of a lost era in India.
Download or read book Empress of the Taj written by Timeri Murari and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Beloved Empress Mumtaz Mahal written by Nina Epton and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A book on the life of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan's dear wife, the Empress Mumtaz Mahal, immortalized by the world famous monument to love-the Taj Mahal.
Download or read book TAJ written by Timeri N. Murari and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When his queen, Arjumand Banu - Mumtaz-i-Mahal, the Chosen One of the Palace - died, Shah Jahan wanted to build a monument that was the image of his perfect love for her. For twenty-two years, twenty thousand men laboured day and night to fulfil the emperors obsession. The result was the Taj Mahal, a marble mausoleum lined with gold, silver and precious jewels. This powerful novel narrates the story of the Taj on two parallel levels. The first one tells the passionate love story of Shah Jahan and Arjumand till her death through the voices of three main characters - Arjumand, Shah Jahan and Isa, Arjumands favourite eunuch. The second recounts the later years of Shah Jahans reign, the building of the Taj Mahal and the bloody pursuit of the fabled Peacock Throne by his sons. Intertwined with the narrative about the building of the Taj is the story of Murthi, the Hindu craftsman sent as a gift to the emperor to carve the famous marble jali around Arjumands sarcophagus. In this complex and fascinating book, Murari has written much more than a historical romance. He has skillfully recreated the period against which the story is set: the opulence of the palace and the grinding poverty of seventeenth-century India, the vicissitudes of Shah Jahans reign and the often bitter conflict between men of different faiths
Download or read book Empress The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan written by Ruby Lal and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2018-07-03 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finalist for the 2018 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in History "A luminous biography." —Rafia Zakaria, Guardian Four centuries ago, a Muslim woman ruled an empire. Nur Jahan, daughter of a Persian noble and widow of a subversive official, became the twentieth and most cherished wife of the Emperor Jahangir. Nur ruled the vast Mughal Empire alongside her husband, leading troops into battle, signing imperial orders, and astutely handling matters of the state. Acclaimed historian Ruby Lal uncovers the rich life and world of Nur Jahan, rescuing this dazzling figure from patriarchal and Orientalist clichés of romance and intrigue, and giving new insight into the lives of women and girls in the Mughal Empire. In Empress, Nur Jahan finally receives her due in a deeply researched and evocative biography that awakens us to a fascinating history.
Download or read book Shadow Princess written by Indu Sundaresan and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-03-09 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Critically acclaimed author Indu Sundaresan picks up where she left off in The Twentieth Wife and The Feast of Roses, returning to seventeenth-century India as two princesses struggle for supremacy of their father’s kingdom. Trapped in the shadow of the magnificent tomb their grief-stricken father is building for his beloved deceased wife, the emperor’s daughters compete for everything: control over the imperial harem, their father’s affection, and the future of their country. They are forbidden to marry and instead choose to back different brothers in the fight for ultimate power over the throne. But only one of the sisters will succeed. With an enthusiasm for history and a flair for rich detail, Indu Sundaresan brings readers deep into the complicated lives of Indian women of the time period and highlights the profound history of one of the most celebrated works of architecture in the world, the Taj Mahal.
Download or read book The Feast of Roses written by Indu Sundaresan and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2003-05-27 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A rich historical tapestry...Sundaresan colors the life of a fascinating woman whose female wiles inspired the Taj Mahal" (Booklist). The love story of Emperor Jahangir and Mehrunnisa, begun in the critically praised debut novel The Twentieth Wife, continues in Indu Sundaresan's lush second novel, The Feast of Roses. Here, Mehrunnisa comes into Jahangir's harem as his twentieth and last wife. This time Jahangir has married for love, and members of his court are worried that Mehrunnisa could exert control over their futures. Their concerns are well founded. Mehrunnisa soon becomes the most powerful woman in the Mughal Empire in spite of a formidable rival in the imperial harem who has schemed and plotted against her from the start. She rules from behind the veil, securing her status by forming a junta of sorts with her father, brother, and stepson -- and risking it all, even her daughter, to get what she wants. But she never loses the love of the man who bestows this power upon her....
Download or read book Nur Jahan written by Ellison Banks Findly and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1993-03-25 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nur Jahan was one of the most powerful and influential women in Indian history. Born on a caravan traveling from Teheran to India, she became the last (eighteenth) wife of the Mughal emperor Jahangir and effectively took control of the government as he bowed to the effects of alcohol and opium. Her reign (1611-1627) marked the highpoint of the Mughal empire, in the course of which she made great contributions to the arts, religion, and the nascent trade with Europe. An intriguing, elegantly written account of Nur Jahan's life and times, this book not only revises the legends that portray her as a power-hungry and malicious woman, but also investigates the paths to power available to women in Islam and Hinduism providing a fascinating picture of life inside the mahal (harem).
Download or read book Beneath a Marble Sky written by John Shors and published by . This book was released on 2013-05-17 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a princess and a mother, as a sister and a daughter, Jahanara will find herself faced time and again with impossible choices, and will discover the real meaning of her regal birthright. In Beneath a Marble Sky John Shors recreates an historical Hindustan brimming with breathtaking intrigue and containing the secret truth of the Taj Mahal for a world still in awe of its enduring majesty.
Download or read book TAJ MAHAL THE STORY OF A WONDER OF THE WORLD written by Tilottama Shome and published by . This book was released on 2021-12-20 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Description In 1631, the empress Mumtaz Mahal died at childbirth, leaving her husband, the mighty emperor Shah Jahan, soaked in grief. Out of this sadness was born the idea of building a unique mausoleum or resting place for Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj Mahal went on to be considered the most beautiful building in the world. It symbolised Shah Jahan's love for his wife, and was a statement of Mughal power and splendour. In Taj Mahal, Tilottama Shome, an architect herself by training, lucidly narrates the story of the Mughal dynasty and how the Taj Mahal came to be built. Accompanied by detailed plans, maps, illustrations and photographs, it explains how the Taj was designed, the deep symbols that lie hidden everywhere in its plan, and the stories of the people who built it-from a mighty emperor to renowned architects to the humble stoneworkers and masons who worked on it for years. As wonderful as it is moving, this beautifully designed book will educate young readers on their heritage, as well as inspire them to create and appreciate beauty for themselves. Forthcoming in the Magnificent Monuments of India series: The Kailash Temple at Ellora
Download or read book Taj Mahal written by Giles Tillotson and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2012-11-12 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An enduring monument of haunting beauty, the Taj Mahal seems a symbol of stability itself. The familiar view of the glowing marble mausoleum from the gateway entrance offers the very picture of permanence. And yet this extraordinary edifice presents a shifting image to observers across time and cultures. The meaning of the Taj Mahal, the perceptions and responses it prompts, ideas about the building and the history that shape them: these form the subject of Giles Tillotson's book. More than a richly illustrated historyÑthough it is that as wellÑthis book is an eloquent meditation on the place of the Taj Mahal in the cultural imagination of India and the wider world. Since its completion in 1648, the mausoleum commissioned by the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, has come to symbolize many things: the undying love of a man for his wife, the perfection of Mughal architecture, the ideal synthesis of various strands of subcontinental aesthetics, even an icon of modern India itself. Exploring different perspectives brought to the magnificent structureÑby a Mughal court poet, an English Romantic traveler, a colonial administrator, an architectural historian, or a contemporary Bollywood filmmakerÑthis book is an incomparable guide through the varied and changing ideas inspired by the Taj Mahal, from its construction to our day. In Tillotson's expert hands, the story of a seventeenth-century structure in the city of Agra reveals itself as a story about our own place and time.
Download or read book The Twentieth Wife written by Indu Sundaresan and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2003-02-18 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Mehrunnisa, the daughter of servents who became the an empresses of the Mughal empire.
Download or read book The Emperor Who Never Was written by Supriya Gandhi and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-07 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive biography of the eldest son of Emperor Shah Jahan, whose death at the hands of his younger brother Aurangzeb changed the course of South Asian history. Dara Shukoh was the eldest son of Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor, best known for commissioning the Taj Mahal as a mausoleum for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. Although the Mughals did not practice primogeniture, Dara, a Sufi who studied Hindu thought, was the presumed heir to the throne and prepared himself to be India’s next ruler. In this exquisite narrative biography, the most comprehensive ever written, Supriya Gandhi draws on archival sources to tell the story of the four brothers—Dara, Shuja, Murad, and Aurangzeb—who with their older sister Jahanara Begum clashed during a war of succession. Emerging victorious, Aurangzeb executed his brothers, jailed his father, and became the sixth and last great Mughal. After Aurangzeb’s reign, the Mughal Empire began to disintegrate. Endless battles with rival rulers depleted the royal coffers, until by the end of the seventeenth century Europeans would start gaining a foothold along the edges of the subcontinent. Historians have long wondered whether the Mughal Empire would have crumbled when it did, allowing European traders to seize control of India, if Dara Shukoh had ascended the throne. To many in South Asia, Aurangzeb is the scholastic bigot who imposed a strict form of Islam and alienated his non-Muslim subjects. Dara, by contrast, is mythologized as a poet and mystic. Gandhi’s nuanced biography gives us a more complex and revealing portrait of this Mughal prince than we have ever had.
Download or read book The Taj Mahal written by Rik Hoskin and published by Campfire. This book was released on 2019-10-08 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Taj Mahal in India has been called a 'teardrop on the cheek of time'. This grand monument that was raised to house the mortal remains of Mumtaz Mahal, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan's beloved wife, today draws millions of visitors from across the globe. One of more than 85 titles Campfire has published since their introduction to North America in 2010. This is the story behind the Taj Mahal - of the incredible love story of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, how they met and fell in love, and how Shah Jahan was to lose her as she died while giving birth. This is also the story of how the Taj Mahal was built, and how the great Mughal emperor spent his last days imprisoned in his fort, pining for his beloved Mumtaz, as he gazed over the river for a view of the magnificent edifice, a monumental reminder of his love and loss.
Download or read book Jahanara Princess of Princesses written by Kathryn Lasky and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2002 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by a Newbery Honor-winning author, this is the story of a princess who longs for freedom. Jahanara is the daughter of a rich emperor in India. While she is showered with many riches, she is also confined by her strict religion and the rules of the palace.
Download or read book Taj a Story of Mughal India written by Timeri Murari and published by Penguin Global. This book was released on 2004 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When His Queen Arjumand Banu-Mumtaz-I-Mahal, The Chosen One Of The Palace-Died, Shah Jahan Wanted To Build A Monument That Was The Image Of His Perfect Love For Her. For Twenty-Two Years, Twenty Thousand Men Laboured Day And Night To Fulfil The Emperor S Obsession. The Result Was The Taj Mahal, A Marble Mausoleum Lined With Gold, Silver And Precious Jewels. This Powerful Novel Narrates The Story Of The Taj On Two Parallel Levels. The First One Tells The Passionate Love Story Of Shah Jahan And Arjumand Till Her Death Through The Voices Of Three Main Characters-Arjumand, Shah Jahan And Isa, Arjumand S Favourite Eunuch. The Second Recounts The Later Years Of Shah Jahan S Reign, The Building Of The Taj Mahal And The Bloody Pursuit Of The Fabulous Peacock Throne By His Sons. Intertwined In The Building Is The Story Of Murthi, The Hindu Master Craftsman Sent As A Gift To The Emperor To Carve The Famous Marble Jail Around Arjumand S Sarcophagus. Complex And Fascinating, Murari Has Written More Than A Historical Romance. He Has Skilfully Recreated The Period Against Which The Story Is Set, The Sensual Opulence Of The Palace, The Grinding Poverty Of Seventeenth Century India, The Vicissitudes Of Shah Jahan S Reign And The Historical Background Of The Conflict Between Men Of Different Faiths.
Download or read book DOA Detective Files written by Sonja Chandrachud and published by Penguin Books India. This book was released on 2011-09-08 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natural or supernatural No mystery is out of this world for us . . . Travel back in time with the DOA gang as they solve out-of-this-world mysteries using their wits, will and Tuk Tuk, their auto rickshaw with attitude, which also happens to be a time machine! DOA Case File 1 Agra, India, 1636: There's some serious trouble at the Taj! Chief architect of the Taj Mahal, Ustad Ahmed Lahauri, has been kidnapped, leaving work on the construction unfinished. Emperor Shah Jahan now has to find a new architect for his dream project. But the ghost of his dead empress, Mumtaz Mahal, is determined to not let any other architect work on her mausoleum. She summons the DOA detectives and commands them to find the missing architect before it's too late and she's saddled with a hideous tomb for eternity. Soon the detectives discover that there is much more to the Ustad's disappearance than a mere kidnapping. There is a traitor in the imperial court who will stop at nothing till he fulfils his evil designs! Who could it be? Will the detectives be able to stop his wicked plans? Will they be able to ensure that the magnificent Taj Mahal gets built?
