The Widow Who Became the Empress of India
Book: Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan
Author: Ruby Lal
Publisher: Penguin-Viking
Pages: 308
Price: Rs 599
For certain generations of Indians, the cinematic fable of Anarkali is perhaps the most celebrated, but cliched, introduction to royal court intrigues of the Mughal era, in which an enraged Emperor Akbar orders the confinement of Shehzada Salim or Jehangir's lover and semi-fictional heroine in a nondescript portion of a wall at the Lahore fort, following an elaborate courtship,…