Daughters of the Sun

Daughters of the Sun
Author: Ira Mukhoty
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9789386021120

In 1526, when the nomadic Timurid warrior-scholar Babur rode into Hindustan, his wives, sisters, daughters, aunts and distant female relatives travelled with him. These women would help establish a dynasty and empire that would rule India for the next 200 years and become a byword for opulence and grandeur. By the second half of the seventeenth century, the Mughal empire was one of the largest and richest in the world. The Mughal women-unmarried daughters, eccentric sisters, fiery milk mothers and powerful wives-often worked behind the scenes and from within the zenana, but there were some notable exceptions among them who rode into battle with their men, built stunning monuments, engaged in diplomacy, traded with foreigners and minted coins in their own names. Others wrote biographies and patronised the arts. In Daughters of the Sun, we meet remarkable characters like Khanzada Begum who, at sixty-five, rode on horseback through 750 kilometres of icy passes and unforgiving terrain to parley on behalf of her nephew, Humayun; Gulbadan Begum, who gave us the only document written by a woman of the Mughal royal court, a rare glimpse into the harem, as well as a chronicle of the trials and tribulations of three emperors-Babur, Humayun and Akbar-her father, brother and nephew; Akbar's milk mothers or foster-mothers, Jiji Anaga and Maham Anaga, who shielded and guided the thirteen-year-old emperor until he came of age; Noor Jahan, 'Light of the World', a widow and mother who would become Jahangir's last and favourite wife, acquiring an imperial legacy of her own; and the fabulously wealthy Begum Sahib (Princess of Princesses) Jahanara, Shah Jahan's favourite child, owner of the most lucrative port in medieval India and patron of one of its finest cities, Shahjahanabad. The very first attempt to chronicle the women who played a vital role in building the Mughal empire, Daughters of the Sun is an illuminating and gripping history of a little known aspect of the most magnificent dynasty the world has ever known.

Daughter of Empire

Daughter of Empire
Author: Pamela Hicks
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2014-09-23
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1476733821

A memoir of a singular childhood in England and India by the daughter of Lord Louis and Edwina Mountbatten. Pamela Mountbatten entered a remarkable family when she was born in 1929. As the younger daughter of a glamorous heiress and a British earl, Pamela spent much of her early life with her sister, nannies, and servants-- and a menagerie that included, at different times, a bear, two wallabies, a mongoose, and a lion. Her parents each had lovers who lived openly with the family. The house was full of guests like Sir Winston Churchill, Noël Coward, Douglas Fairbanks, and the Duchess of Windsor. When World War II broke out, Pamela and her sister were sent to live in New York City with Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt. In 1947, her father was appointed to oversee the independence of India. Amid the turmoil, Pamela worked with student leaders, developed warm friendships with Gandhi and Nehru, and witnessed both the joy of Independence Day and its terrible aftermath. Soon afterwards, she was a bridesmaid in Princess Elizabeth's wedding to Prince Philip, and was at the young princess's side when she learned her father had died and she was queen. This witty, intimate memoir is an enchanting lens through which to view the early part of the twentieth century--From publisher description.

The Virgin Queen's Daughter

The Virgin Queen's Daughter
Author: Ella March Chase
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 386
Release: 2012-01-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1448117348

The court of the Queen Elizabeth is a hot-bed of intrigue and ambition... It is a place where reputations can stand or fall on the merest hint of scandal. Lingering rumours even surround the Virgin Queen herself, despite the fate of those foolish enough to besmirch her reputation. Recently arrived in court, Nell de Lacey is surprised to discover that many think she bears more than a passing resemblance to the younger queen. That, coupled with an old mystery about a missing portion of the Queen's past some years prior, is enough to set tongues wagging. And wherever the truth lies, even the rumour is sufficient to place Nell on a dangerous path that could all so easily end with her head on a block...

The Secret History of the Mongol Queens

The Secret History of the Mongol Queens
Author: Jack Weatherford
Publisher: Crown
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2011-03-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0307407160

“A fascinating romp through the feminine side of the infamous Khan clan” (Booklist) by the author featured in Echoes of the Empire: Beyond Genghis Khan “Enticing . . . hard to put down.”—Associated Press The Mongol queens of the thirteenth century ruled the largest empire the world has ever known. The daughters of the Silk Route turned their father’s conquests into the first truly international empire, fostering trade, education, and religion throughout their territories and creating an economic system that stretched from the Pacific to the Mediterranean. Yet sometime near the end of the century, censors cut a section about the queens from the Secret History of the Mongols, and, with that one act, the dynasty of these royals had seemingly been extinguished forever, as even their names were erased from the historical record. With The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, a groundbreaking and magnificently researched narrative, Jack Weatherford restores the queens’ missing chapter to the annals of history.

Wisdom's Daughter

Wisdom's Daughter
Author: India Edghill
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2004-10-11
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0312289375

The author of "Queenmaker" penned this vivid and richly-textured rendition of the biblical tale of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

Rebel Queen

Rebel Queen
Author: Michelle Moran
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2016-01-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1476716366

When the British Empire sets its sights on India in the mid-nineteenth century, it expects a quick and easy conquest ... But when they arrive in the Kingdom of Jhansi, the British army is met with a surprising challenge. Instead of surrendering, Queen Lakshmi raises two armies--one male and one female--and rides into battle, determined to protect her country and her people. Although her soldiers may not appear at first to be formidable against superior British weaponry and training, Lakshmi refuses to back down from the empire determined to take away the land she loves.

Maharanis

Maharanis
Author: Lucy Moore
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 407
Release: 2006-06-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 1101174838

Until the 1920s, to be a Maharani, wife to the Maharajah, was to be tantalizingly close to the power and glamour of the Raj, but locked away in purdah as near chattel. Even the educated, progressive Maharani of Baroda, Chimnabai—born into the aftermath of the 1857 Indian Mutiny—began her marriage this way, but her ravishing daughter, Indira, had other ideas. She became the Regent of Cooch Behar, one of the wealthiest regions of India while her daughter, Ayesha, was elected to the Indian Parliament. The lives of these influential women embodied the delicate interplay between rulers and ruled, race and culture, subservience and independence, Eastern and Western ideas, and ancient and modern ways of life in the bejeweled exuberance of Indian aristocratic life in the final days both of the Raj, and the British Empire. Tracing these larger than life characters as they bust every known stereotype, Lucy Moore creates a vivid picture of an emerging modern, democratic society in India and the tumultous period of Imperialism from which it arose. Through the sumptuous, adventurous lives of three generations of Indian queens—from the period following the Indian Mutiny of 1857 to the present, Lucy Moore traces the cultural and political changes that transformed their world.