Nurjahan's Daughter (29 page)

Amidst all the revelry, no one noticed Laadli and Benazir slipping away to the public park where Imraan waited. They had decided to meet away from the palace, to escape the spies and the vigilant eunuchs. The moon played hide-and-seek behind the woolly clouds as the princess walked stealthily towards the palace gate. The girls had no difficulty in passing the guards who assumed them to be maidservants from the royal harem as they were dressed up in a cotton lehengas and thick veils like the Rajput women. Since the royal palace gates were kept open for visitors during the Nauroz festivities, passing through the portals was an easy task.

Laadli did not know where she was getting the courage to do this. Getting caught by the guards would mean severe punishment for her and for Imraan–he could even lose his life. But, at that moment, all she wanted was to meet him. Clutching Benazir’s hand, she walked swiftly till she reached the massive gates of the park.

An acrobat was walking on a rope near the gate. The crowd cheered him on as he balanced himself with the help of a long bamboo pole. For a moment, Laadli halted, her feet arrested by the entertainers. Across the park, a fire-eater was swallowing flames from a torch. His tongue licked the trembling flames drawing appreciation from the crowd. As a child, she had read stories from the
Arabian Nights
and the scene seemed no different from the ones described in the classic. A flock of peasants stood around a snake charmer who was making a cobra sway, dazedly, drawn to the movement of his been. Nearby, a monkey performed tricks, much to the delight of the observers who provoked it with loud cries.

This was such a different world from the cloistered one in the harem. She breathed in the air greedily, exulting in her new-found freedom. For the first time in her life, she had stepped out of the harem without the protection of the eunuchs. It was an exhilarating experience.

‘Laadli, don’t loiter around. It could be dangerous if we are recognised,’ Benazir gave her a push.

They entered the far end of the garden and made their way towards the fountain in the centre. Imraan was lounging on a marble bench at one corner of the garden. As soon as he saw them, he hurried forward and greeted them with a bow. The three of them moved into the shadows of the trees to escape notice.

An uncomfortable silence hung like a thick curtain between them.

‘I hope you did not have much trouble arriving here,’ Imraan finally said.

It had been Laadli’s idea to meet him in the park. He had been appalled at the idea. ‘It is dangerous for you to move out of the harem.’

‘We all have to die some day. If the fear of death binds our feet, we will never live anyway,’ Laadli had commented philosophically.

Living a life of seclusion could not be a very happy thing for a young girl,
thought Imraan.

‘Shehzadi, as promised, 1 have brought your portrait.’ He handed her the painting and stood back to watch her reaction.

Benazir moved closer and peered over Laadli’s shoulders as she unwrapped the portrait.

‘Yah Allah, it is an exact copy of you,’ she exclaimed.

‘Do I really look so beautiful?’ Laadli whispered. The artist had captured the startled look in her grey eyes and given them a mysterious depth. The rosebud mouth seemed to quiver with some secret passion. She seemed like a hunted gazelle poised for flight. There was naivete and purity in the eyes.

‘You must have seen her face!’ Benazir exclaimed. ‘It is not possible to create such likeness without having seen someone. But where and how did you catch a glimpse of the princess?’

‘I have a confession to make: I have seen the princess.’

‘How? When?’ There was incredulity in the girls’ voices.

‘It is not possible to make a portrait without seeing someone, so I made arrangements to catch sight of the shehzadi.’

Imraan went on to relate how he had placed the mirror near the paintings and observed her, surreptitiously.

‘You would have been executed if any of the eunuchs had seen you looking at the princess.’

‘That was a risk I was prepared to take for the sake of a glimpse of her beautiful face.’

He risked his life to see me,
she thought, trembling with excitement. It was just as she had dreamt. He was the lover she had craved for, seated at Roopmati’s pavilion at Mandu. After a moment’s hesitation, she threw back her veil and gazed into Imraan’s eyes.

‘You can look at me without any fear now,’ she announced bravely.

They looked into each other’s eyes, drinking deeply. The artist could not help falling in love with the nubile girl. She was so eager and so undemanding. The saint’s words of caution were thrown to the winds as he gazed into those fathomless and yielding grey eyes. Fired by passion, they were more beautiful than he remembered.

‘We must go now,’ Benazir’s voice seemed to come from a distance.

‘You haven’t kept your part of the wager, princess. Where is my portrait?’ Imraan asked huskily.

She withdrew a canvas from under her bodice and gave it to him.

‘Not bad,’ commented the artist.

The portrait bore a close likeness to the artist although it was far from perfect. ‘Some day, I will teach you to draw better,’ he murmured, kissing her hands.

Laadli withdrew her hands as though live charcoals had singed them. His lips were hot with passion. Without e backward glance, she ran out of the garden followed by Benazir, her heart thumping dangerously.

‘Oh Benazir, I had never imagined I could be so happy!’ Laadli said when they were within the safety of her chamber. The journey back to the palace had been uneventful: the inebriated guards had taken no notice of them.

‘You are treading on dangerous grounds, princess,’ she warned.

‘I cannot live my life wondering what could have been, Benazir,’ Laadli told her friend earnestly. ‘I am truly happy for the first time in so many years. How can I let it go?’

Days turned into weeks and weeks into months as the two lovers stole moments in the niches and corners of the garden. Laadli’s faithful eunuch, Nissar Khan, arranged the meetings. The eunuch had been the emperor’s personal valet till he entered into Laadli services after she rescued him from the emperor’s wrath. The incident had taken place a year ago when, one evening, the emperor was seated in the royal harem near his beloved Nur Jahan. Inebriated with wine, Jahangir ordered for a bowl of dry fruits. The eunuch ran to obey his bidding and in his haste tripped on the edge of a carpet. The emperor was beside himself with rage–his favourite crystal bowl had slipped out of Nissar’s fingers as he fell down. The incensed emperor swore at the eunuch and ordered that he be imprisoned. Jahangir was known to declare severe punishments like lashing and even death sentences to his attendants for such petty mistakes. The eunuch stood trembling with fear and there was silence as the entire assembly waited for the emperor’s pronouncement. No one dared intervene. Even Nur Jahan remained silent.

Laadli suddenly rushed to the emperor and fell at his feet to beg for clemency. ‘Jahanpanah, I beg you for forgiveness. Please pardon the hapless fellow,’ she cried. Her heart tore at the sight of the trembling eunuch. ‘You had asked me to name a reward on your birthday. I remind you of that promise, Sir. Grant me this eunuch as the reward and I shall remain ever grateful.’

The emperor was trembling with rage. His intoxicated brain, clouded with opium, could hardly comprehend much of her garble. Grunting with anger, he brushed her away. Laadli clung to the emperor’s feet without flinching as he tried to kick her away.

‘Stupid child, why do you want to waste away a precious reward for the sake of a eunuch? Have you gone crazy?’ he shouted.

Nur Jahan tried to intervene. ‘Laadli, what foolishness is this? Get up and go to your chamber immediately,’ she ordered.

But the princess was determined to have her way. ‘Don’t let your ideals of justice be tarnished, merciful emperor. I am asking for this eunuch’s life in exchange of a reward you granted me a few months ago. Surely, His Majesty has not forgotten his promise.’

The Mughals were proud of their reputation as people who kept their promises. Jahangir vacillated, unable to deny her the custody of Nissar Khan’s life. ‘All right, he is yours from this moment. Let his cursed face never appear before me, for then I shall not be responsible for his life.’

Everyone sighed with relief and the eunuch collapsed in a heap at Laadli’s feet. He was dragged away by the other attendants. From that day, Nissar became a constant shadow of the young princess. He proved to be a valuable attendant as he provided her with all the gossip and spied for her. It was the grateful eunuch who became the main channel of communication between Laadli and Imraan. Nissar ensured that they could meet clandestinely. He carried missives between the two lovers and warned them of any imminent dangers that may arrive in the form of spies or guards.

It was dangerous for the lovers to meet in the palace gardens so they met outside the fort, in the commoner’s gardens. Laadli and Benazir, clad in coarse cotton lehengas to pass off as Hindu maids who worked in the harem, travelled on foot to meet the artist. Sometimes, Ratnavali would go in a palanquin on the pretext of visiting some temple and Laadli would accompany her as a maid, her face hidden behind a veil. Although they met almost every day, the lovers were not content with the stolen hours. They craved for the togetherness of a lifetime.

‘Let us run away somewhere,’ Laadli proposed one day. ‘We will travel far away to Persia where no one will know our identity. There we will live like ordinary people, far away from the Mughal court and the empress.’

‘Do you think she will let us go? Your mother will hound and follow us till she finds us and then she will execute both of us. She will never allow us to escape. You know that better than me, Laadli.’

‘How long can we live in this manner–hiding and snatching moments together? The tension of being discovered is becoming unbearable. The emperor has decided to move to Kashmir for the summer. Does that mean that we will be separated for the season? I will die without you. You must convince him to allow you to accompany the royal retinue,’ insisted Laadli.

But even before Imraan could ask Jahangir’s permission to accompany the royal party to Kashmir, the emperor summoned him for an interview.

‘Imraan Baksh, we want you to accompany us to Kashmir and paint for us all the beauty and glory of that place so that we can surround ourselves with those beautiful paintings when we return to Agra.’

Laadli was overjoyed when she heard the news.

O
n his way to Kashmir, Jahangir received news that the Deccan was besieged with problems once again. Malik Ambar, the Abyssinian slave who had been subjugated by Shah Jahan, was creating trouble again. The emperor despatched Shah Jahan to take charge of the campaign.

Once more, the harried prince found himself travelling to Burhanpur with his family. Arjumand Bano was pregnant and the journey was difficult, but no amount of coaxing by her husband could convince her to stay back in the palace.

Shah Jahan, frustrated at being made to travel constantly, seethed within. He knew that the crown should rightfully come to him, but the emperor was vacillating and bestowing too much power on Nur Jahan. Realising the uncertainty of his position at court, Shah Jahan decided to get rid of his rivals at opportune moments. As his first move, he insisted on having charge of his elder brother Khusrau, who still languished as a prisoner in the palace. Although the emperor did not trust Shah Jahan with the custody of Khusrau, he had to accede to the prince’s wish because he was the only one who could subdue Malik Ambar.

The two brothers left their father at Lahore for Ahmadnagar where Shah Jahan managed to chalk out a hasty reconciliation with Malik Ambar. The prince was keen on returning to the capital: the Mughal troops were a harassed lot as there was a scarcity of food and material in the camp.

The journey to Kashmir was doomed from the start. Jahangir’s intemperance had now begun to tell seriously on his health and his asthma was getting worse. The royal physicians appealed to him to reduce his dependence on wine and opium. The hazardous journey took several weeks, but the emperor was ecstatic as he sighted the lofty mountains in the distance.

‘At last, I sight peace and happiness for my tormented soul,’ he declared tiredly.

Once they arrived in the vale of Kashmir, Jahangir worked furiously on his journal. He penned descriptions of the meadows, the stately trees, the springs, cascades, and the brooks running down the valley and swelling into majestic rivers. He wrote of the clear rivulets springing from the mountains and escalating into picturesque lakes. At Kashmir, he indulged in his favourite hobby of planning the layouts of new gardens.

And then news of Khusrau’s death arrived from Burhanpur. The blind prince had died, the messenger said, of colic while in Shah Jahan’s custody. No one in the court believed that the death was natural. The body had been hastily interred on the orders of Shah Jahan, denying the emperor the last glimpse of his eldest son’s body. Jahangir was devastated. Although Khusrau had rebelled and caused him a lot of grief, Jahangir had always nursed a soft corner for him. He had hoped that the prince would eventually succeed him to the throne.

‘Nur, how could he have died so suddenly, he left us just the other day with his brother. I can’t believe that this could have happened,’ the emperor wailed.

Nur Jahan knew that the death had been manipulated to clear Shah Jahan’s way to the throne, but she held her tongue.

In the meanwhile, Laadli and Imraan continued to meet secretly in the maze of the innumerable gardens of Kashmir, exchanging vows of love and promises to spend their lives in each other’s arms. It was far easier to romance in secret in the lovely valley than it was in the plains. The strict vigil of the eunuchs and guards had relaxed, lulled by the serene beauty of the surroundings.

Their idyll came to an end when the camp received news that the empress’ mother was seriously ill. Nur Jahan was agitated and insisted that they travel back to Agra in time to see her mother.