Author: Bilkees I Latif
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2010
Language: English
Pages: 200
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9780143064541
Description
A glimpse into the lives of remarkable women whose names are lost in the mists of time…
Forgotten tells the stories of women who transcended great tribulation to bring strength and succour to others.
We meet Donna Juliana, a devout Catholic of Portuguese descent, whose influence in the court of the Mughal prince Shah Alam—later Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar I—was so strong, that the Dutch, Portuguese and the British frequently sought her help to get an audience with the ruler.
Similarly, the poetry of the beautiful court poet, singer, song writer and warrior Mahlaqa Bai Chanda was largely ignored by critics for nearly two centuries after her death.
At a time when few women could read and write, Mahlaqa received an elaborate education, compiling her first collection of poetry when legendary Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib was just a year old.
The author also draws vivid portraits of Chand Sultana, the Ismaili Muslim warrior-princess who defended Ahmadnagar against the Mughal forces of Emperor Akbar, and of two queens of the Deccan, Rudramma Devi and Hayat Bakshi Begum, who exemplified the ability of women rulers to govern well.
The author also remembers Radha Bai, a courageous Brahmin child-widow whose lifelong search to call someone her own touched all those she encountered.
Bilkees Latif Skilfully merges real and imagined events from the lives and times of these extraordinary but forgotten women, to restore to them their place in the annals of history.
Contents
Donna Juliana
1. The Lady who Crowned a Mughal Emperor
2. Juliana at the Mughal Court
3. Off to Jail
4. Bahadur Shah Dies
5. Juliana and the Portuguese
6. The Debacle
The Queens and the Ganga-Jumni ‘Tehzeeb’ of The Deccan
7. Rudramma Devi and Hayat Bakshi Begum
Mahlaqa Chanda
8. Mahlaqa Letters
9. Who was Chanda?
10. Terrible Times
11. Happy Days
12. The Asaf Jahi Nizams
13. A Many-Splendoured Girl
14. Daily Routine
15. She Had The Courage to Be Herself
Chand BIBI
16. A Caring Warrior Princess
17. Chand Bibi’s Ancestry
18. Ahmadnagar and the Deccan Kingdoms
19. Bijapur
20. Chand Bibi and Ibrahim II
21. Return to Ahmadnagar
Rahim BI
22. The Story of the Brahmin Ayah