In writing this book, I have had to transport myself back four centuries to explore what tormented Shehzada Prince Salim (later Emperor Jahangir) and what enraptured his heart with the mystery that still perfumes India with the word of Anarkali. History tells us that the Persian influence on Hindustan, now India, continued....in culture, literature, language, food, the arts, mores, and architecture. It still prevails today.
For Jahangir, was this a requiem to a lost love, or was it a tombstone to a strangled love that never was realized because of his great father Akbar's obsession with the same woman? Did his later wife, Nur Jahan, play any role in awakening his feelings?
Was the Anarkali rapture that committed him to wine and opium a nasha- intoxication that gave the rule of his empire to a surrogate- his wife, Nur Jahan? What was the intoxication of Anarkali's lips? What offering was it that got Salim addicted to wine throughout his life? What was he trying to escape from, and why did he, in essence, abdicate his empire to Nur Jahan?
According to legend, Anarkali was rescued at the last moment and relegated to live elsewhere in the remaining six years of Akbar's reign. Where? How did Salim find her again when he became Emperor?
Who was this woman, Anarkali, that enraptured him? Where did she come from? Is she really the concubine that was entombed live in the now disrespected Anarkali Muqbara in Lahore? Did she consort with any others while she was in exile? Does she have any living descendants?
This book is not about lost love, unrequited love, or unanswered love. It explores some questions which still remain unanswered after over four centuries.
Many clues remain buried in the Chambers of the Turkish Sultana at Fatehpur Sikri, to the destroyed remains of Akbar's living quarters at Agra Fort and Chittorgarh Fort...
