#The Begum's Fortune

[wishesofeternity]

“Nothing about the calamitous circumstances of Noor Jahan’s birth ... could have predicted the extraordinary and glorious career she was to have in the most glittering court in the world.

Noor Jahan is born in a caravan, outside the town of Kandahar, as her parents flee poverty and persecution in Tehran to seek their fortune in the rising Mughal court of Akbar in Hindustan. Her parents, Asmat Begum and Mirza Ghiyas Beg, are from a noble Persian family and the child Mehr-un-Nisa is given a thorough education in the Persian arts and letters. The educated, cultured Ghiyas Beg obtains a modest mansab of 300 horse at Akbar’s court at Fatehpur Sikri, which already counts numerous other Persian immigrants in attendance. At seventeen, Mehr-un-Nisa is given in marriage to Ali Quli, a Persian mercenary, who obtains some measure of fame as an excellent shot at the court of Salim Mirza, the future Jahangir, and is given the title Sher Afghan, killer of tigers. Mehr-un-Nisa learns how to hunt and shoot with her husband and gives birth to a daughter, Ladli, in 1605. Three years later, at the age of thirty, Mehr-un-Nisa is widowed. Mehr-un-Nisa and Ladli are taken into the household of the Mughal court, where Jahangir is now padshah. Her father has been awarded the title Itimad-ud-Daulah, ‘Pillar of Government’, and is Jahangir’s revenue minister while her brother, Asaf Khan, is an increasingly influential nobleman of the court. Mehr-un-Nisa is taken into the entourage of Ruqayya Begum, Akbar’s senior-most surviving widow, a childless woman, to whom she is a steady and cherished companion. ‘This Begam,’ writes a Dutch cloth merchant, Van den Broecke, about Ruqayya, ‘conceived a great affection for Mehr-un-Nisa; she loved her more than others and always kept her in her company.’ It is an established custom at the Mughal court that the padshah must protect all the widows and dependent members of those who have served him, and this tradition adds to the ever-growing number of women, children, and retainers in the Mughal zenana. In the imperial zenana, Mehr-un-Nisa has the close companionship of her family, especially her beloved parents, and the enormous network of zenana women.

“...it is in the meena bazaar in 1611 that Jahangir, now a respectable forty-two years old, sees Mehr-un-Nisa with Ruqayya Begum. Jahangir would have known who she was, since Mehr-un-Nisa’s father and brother are already valued members of his entourage, so the circumstances of her family and widowhood are known to him. Speaking to her, Jahangir is now seduced by the beauty, grace and charm of this thirty-four-year-old widow and within two months Jahangir has married her and Mehr-un-Nisa has become Noor Mahal, ‘Light of the Palace’, in a mirroring of Noor-ud-Din, Jahangir’s own title, ‘Light of the Faith’.

Noor Mahal will be Jahangir’s last legal wife and by 1616, she has become Noor Jahan, ‘Light of the World’. They never have any children together and, indeed, by the standards of the day, Noor Jahan is a mature woman, but for the next sixteen years of his life Jahangir will never again search for distraction in a younger wife’s charms. He has always been nurtured and cherished by a coterie of older women—Gulbadan, Haji Begum, Salima Sultan, Hamida Banu and his own milk mother—and in Noor Jahan Jahangir finds a felicitous blend of comforting, reassuring care and a woman with enormous talent, charisma and ability. Noor Jahan shares Jahangir’s aesthetic sense and contributes in many ways to the expansion of his imperial vision and legacy. Within a few years, Noor Jahan is issuing royal farmans signed with her own seal, having gold coins struck in her name, engaging in trade and has a series of magnificent buildings constructed through the breadth of the empire. Exceptionally for a woman, drums are beaten before her advance and ‘sometimes she would sit in the balcony of her palace, while the nobles would present themselves and listen to her dictates’. Noor Jahan’s family, already influential, further prospers as she becomes more powerful. Itimad-ud-Daulah, temporarily disgraced because of charges of embezzlement, which a contemporary writer sarcastically notes when he says that ‘in the taking of bribes he certainly was most uncompromising and fearless’, is reinstated. Asaf Khan, Noor Jahan’s brother, is honoured with the gift of one of Jahangir’s special swords, the Sarandaz, ‘Thrower of Head’, and the atmosphere at the Mughal court becomes conducive to an increasing influx of Persian talent. Where once the Atka Khail and Chagatai reigned supreme, and then the Rajputs, the Persians now are increasingly powerful. But it is in conducting international trade that Noor Jahan is exceptionally successful and the quantum of wealth this creates for her gives Noor Jahan the financial reach to sponsor buildings, offer gifts, organize marriages and entertainments, and sponsor charity, on a scale rarely seen before in a Mughal woman. 

“...As for Noor Jahan, her trade with the English is only a small part of her commercial activity. She owns and rents trade ships and trades with the Dutch and the Portuguese, in addition to the English. She collects duties at Sikandarabad on goods coming from Bhutan and Bengal, raw silk, spikenard, borax, verdigris, ginger and fennel, and invests specifically in the commerce of indigo and embroidered cloths. ‘The officers of Noor Jahan Begum, who built their Sarai there,’ clarifies a Dutch merchant, Francisco Pelsaert, ‘collect duties on all these goods before they can be shipped across the river, and also on innumerable kinds of grain, butter, and other provisions, which are produced in the eastern provinces.’ She begins her construction activities as early as 1616, when she spends 200,000 rupees on the Noor Manzil gardens in Agra. She also invests in infrastructure which helps in the smooth functioning of her trade routes. In 1620, following a proclamation from Jahangir for mileage towers, kos minars, to be built along all major highways in a bid to ensure safe travel in the empire, Noor Jahan builds a monumental caravanserai outside Agra called the Serai Noor Mahal. While many caravanserai were built during the reign of Jahangir, the Serai Noor Mahal is particularly magnificent, reflecting the wealth and splendour of its patron. It has large carved gateways, compartments for travellers, a bathhouse and a mosque. Two thousand travellers at a time, along with their camels and horses, can camp inside the serai at no expense. In the serai there are ‘servants, entrusted with the preparation of the food for guests, as well as doing all the other duties essential to comfort within the house, even to providing hot water for washing the feet’. All one has to do, specifies Manucci, is send for food from the nearby bazaar, since all other needs are met. ‘If the guests have horses,’ moreover, the servants ‘are required also to cook mung or chick pea, which is given instead of the barley we feed such animals in Europe.’ All this is done for just a small coin, which Manucci marvels at, admiring the servants’ work ethic when he says that ‘uncivilized and heathens though they are, they surpass our stable men and innkeepers of Europe’ who apparently are much more voracious in their fees. At night, the huge gates to the serai are slammed shut and bolted, to guard against thieves and brigands. The guard shouts out a warning to all the travellers, to guard their belongings, picket their horses by the leg and stay vigilant against wild dogs ‘for the dogs of Hindustan are very cunning and great thieves’. While most of the serais in the Punjab are relatively pedestrian, made from bricks, the Serai Noor Mahal is made from red sandstone, brought at great expense from the quarries at Fatehpur Sikri more than 300 miles away. The serai is decorated with traditional Islamic arabesques, but also with the Tree of Life and the flower pot of Persian iconography and elephants, peacocks and human figures reflecting the influence of Hindu art. There is also an inscription on the serai that proudly announces the name of the patron, the ‘angel-like Noor Jahan Begum’ so that all the traders and travellers on this lucrative trade route between Agra and Lahore are reminded of the power and compassion of the Mughal shahzaadi.

The trade, revenues collected and exorbitant gifts offered to the queen make Noor Jahan an exceedingly wealthy woman. In 1622, upon the death of her father Itimad-ud-Daulah, Jahangir awards the entire estate of this fabulously wealthy man to Noor Jahan, completely bypassing the dead man’s son, Asaf Khan. Noor Jahan is now the wealthiest woman in the Mughal empire and, arguably, in the world. Indeed Pieter van den Broecke, a Dutch cloth merchant, remarks that at the time of Jahangir’s death in 1627, Noor Jahan had amassed wealth ‘more than that left by the King’ himself. Jahangir himself had dazzling amounts of wealth which Hawkins estimated at half a billion rupees, a clearly inflated figure, but nonetheless a reflection of the visible opulence of the Mughal empire.

...Noor Jahan continues to be a dominant player in court politics and is also capable of being a talented and constant companion to Jahangir in all his activities. She is by his side in Ajmer when he participates at the urs at Moinuddin Chishti’s shrine. Jahangir has a large cauldron made in Agra and brought to Ajmer during the saint’s death celebrations. The padshah ‘ordered them to cook food for the poor in that pot, and collect together the poor of Amir to feed them whilst I was there’, Thomas Coryat, an English traveller, is surprised to note. He also observes Jahangir ‘kindling a fire with his own hands and his Normahal under that immense…brasse-pot, and made kitcherie for 5000 poor, taking out the first platter with his own hands and serving one; Normahal the second; and so his ladies all the rest’. Noor Jahan often accompanies him on the hunt, which Jahangir is very fond of, and excels at it. She understands his flamboyant need for entertainment as distraction from his many ills and occasional bad humour and organizes the most resplendent feasts. Even to the details of her involvement in embroidery design, clothing and jewellery, she demonstrates a fine taste which reflects Jahangir’s. Noor Jahan loves the colour white, and favours clothes in paler colours, as opposed to the more riotous tastes of the Rajput and other Hindu wives. She invents the farsh-e-chandani, a spreading of snow-white sheets instead of carpets in a room. She also invents the dodamni, a light cloth weighing two dams, and the pachtoliya, a cloth weighing five tolas, as a head covering for women, the high Turkish hats having long disappeared from the Mughal court. Jahangir too is an aesthete and passionately interested in the clothes and jewellery worn at the court. All his clothes are designed expressly only for him, and he wears them just once. Certain textiles and garments are reserved solely for his use and no courtier may use them. He introduces the fashion of embroidery on the collar and the hems of the long sleeves of the qaba. He also starts the fashion for earrings for men when in 1615, after a recovery which he believes he owes to Moinuddin Chishti, he has pearl earrings made which signified that he was a slave of Moinuddin. All the nobles and courtiers immediately do the same and now it is de rigueur for the elegant men of the Mughal court to wear earrings. Even Asmat Begum, Noor Jahan’s mother, contributes to the elegance of the courtly life by making perfumes. The Mughals love perfumes, having a visceral hate for the sweat that is provoked by the intolerably hot climate of Agra and Delhi. They bathe frequently and change their clothes every day, casting off their day-old clothes, handing them on to their servants. Incense is burned throughout the day through the rooms of the zenana and fresh flowers are brought in from the flower gardens to perfume the rooms. Chameli, mogra, champa, nargis, harsinghar gulab, kamal and malti are some of the flowers grown in the palace gardens and scent is also extracted from these flowers. One day, while Asmat Begum is making rose water, she finds that a scum is formed on the top of this hot concoction and that by collecting the scum bit by bit, she is able to gather a potent oil of such strength ‘that if one drop be rubbed on the palm of the hand it scents a whole assembly and it appears as if many red rosebuds had bloomed at once’. Jahangir is delighted by this perfume, which Salima Sultan tactfully names Itr-e-Jahangiri. ‘It restores hearts that have gone,’ exclaims the jaded padshah, ‘and brings back withered souls’. Noor Jahan and her talented family surround the emperor with beauty and elegance and it is not surprising that according to the eighteenth-century biographer Shah Nawaz Khan ‘the emperor used to say that until she came to his house, he had not understood domestic pleasures or the spirituality of marriage’.

... Noor Jahan is now at the height of her power and influence at the Mughal court. Her family have also become immensely successful, marrying into the Persian nobility and gaining steady promotions under Jahangir, none more so than Itimad-ud-Daulah. As early as 1617, Jahangir honours him ‘as an intimate friend by directing the ladies of the harem not to veil their faces before him’. There are very few men, apart from the padshah, his young sons and the eunuchs, who are allowed to visit the women of the zenana when they are without their veils so this is a high honour indeed. Itimad-ud-Daulah is appointed prime minister and granted a flag and a drum and, as a special favour, is permitted to sound his drums in the royal presence. In 1619, as part of elaborate Navroz celebrations, Itimad-ud-Daulah presents to Jahangir a magnificent throne, made by a Frenchman and erstwhile counterfeiter of precious stones. Augustin Hiriart is hired by Jahangir for his skill in making beautiful, jewelled objects, and at the Mughal court he is renamed Hunarmand from the Persian hunarmandi or skilful. The throne that Hunarmand has created takes three years to build and costs a staggering 450,000 rupees and Jahangir is well pleased. Jahangir is able to delegate most matters to his talented wife while he occupies himself with the matters that interest him the most: the beauty of the natural world, his ateliers with their painters of miniatures and the aggrandizement of the imperial image through the visual arts. Jahangir consults Noor Jahan, Itimad-ud-Daulah or Asaf Khan on most matters and the biographer Shah Nawaz Khan agrees that ‘the disposal of the affairs of the kingdom were in her hands’. Such is her power that ‘except for the khutba not having been read in her name, she exercised all the prerogatives of royalty’. The farmans she issues are wide ranging and numerous, similar in scope to Jahangir’s edicts. Moreover, whereas the earlier Mughal women such as Hamida Banu and Harkha Bai had simply had their names written on their seals, Noor Jahan’s seal on her farmans reads; ‘By the light of the sun of the emperor Jahangir, the bezel of the seal of Noor Jahan the Empress of the age has become resplendent like the moon.’

In 1621, Asmat Begum, Noor Jahan’s mother, dies and Itimad-ud-Daulah is devastated. Within three months of his wife’s death, Itimad-ud-Daulah dies too and for Noor Jahan, this is a shattering loss. She inherits all of her father’s riches and becomes fabulously wealthy but she acquires two powerful new enemies. In the next few years, as Jahangir becomes increasingly ill, his body faltering under the years of assault from wine and opium, various factions across the empire swirl and coalesce together to stake a claim for the Mughal throne. Asaf Khan’s daughter, the young Arjumand Banu has been married for ten years to Khurram Mirza, now Shah Jahan. Disinherited from his own father’s fortunes and wary of his sister’s ambition for her daughter Ladli Begum, Asaf Khan aligns himself with his son-in-law. Noor Jahan, meanwhile, has married Ladli Begum to the youngest of Jahangir’s sons, the handsome but imbecilic Shahriyar. The unfortunate Khusrau is given over to the uncertain care of Shah Jahan, who soon has him murdered, for the Mughal empire has now become worth killing for. The days when Babur encouraged his sons to get along with each other are long gone. There are betrayals and alliances and flickering violence. Noor Jahan enters the fray gallantly, at one point riding on elephant-back to rescue her beleaguered husband, who is practically being held prisoner by his erstwhile faithful retainer, Mahabat Khan, and his army of 5,000 Rajputs, because of the high-stakes intrigues surrounding Jahangir’s sons. But Shah Jahan has gathered a huge following during his years on campaigns for his father and upon Jahangir’s death, in 1627, he becomes Padshah Ghazi of the Mughal empire. Noor Jahan, vanquished, retires to Lahore with Ladli Begum, who is soon widowed when Shahriyar is murdered upon the orders of Shah Jahan. Mother and daughter live in quiet retirement and Shah Jahan decrees a generous yearly allowance of 200,000 rupees for Noor Jahan. All other signs of Noor Jahan’s influence and power, however, are meticulously erased. He bans the use of Noor Jahan’s gold coins, under pain of death, and has all her coins melted. Her royal drums fall silent and the imperial elephants are no longer hers to command. Noor Jahan displays the same grace and dignity in retirement as she did when she was Padshah Begum of Hindustan. She dies eighteen years later, and steps into immortality as the most charismatic and influential of the Mughal queens. But before her death, Noor Jahan creates one last piece of art—the ultimate reflection of her flawless aesthetics and her visionary and unique artistic expression. She builds a tomb, from her own funds, for her parents at Agra called Itimad-ud-Daulah’s tomb, which is so beautiful it will be used as an inspiration for a later, more famous, monument to love.

... Noor Jahan owed her meteoric rise to power to her status as the wife of the padshah. From the time that Jahangir dies, her powerful charisma vanishes, like dew on the misty mornings in her flower gardens at Agra. It is poignant that the most ephemerally beautiful and enduring monument Noor Jahan builds is not to the memory of Jahangir, but to her beloved parents, whose warm abiding presence was the bedrock upon which she built her legacy. Noor Jahan will spend eighteen years in charmless obscurity in Lahore, and it will be a galling reality to a woman who once commanded ships and ambassadors. As Shah Jahan settles into Agra and makes it the imperial capital, Noor Jahan may have taken some comfort from the fact that he was circled by a luminescent series of buildings, the Noormahal Serai, the Noor Afza gardens with their pleasure pavilion and, further away, Itimad-ud-Daulah’s tomb, all built through the wealth and the grace of her patronage.”

- Ira Mukhoty, “Daughters of the Sun: Empresses, Queens and Begums of the Mughal Empire”

[tobacconist]

kinlist

ethel the hag (fat pie)

mel b (bo selecta)

yubaba (spirited away)

les dawson as ‘cissy’ from the sketch ‘cissy and ada’

this bitch, whatever the fuck she is

mumtaz begum, the fortune telling fox woman

franny craddock, the cuntiest

auntie whispers, otgw

the old boot

[247reader]

Day 14: Zeynab Begum!

Zeynab Begum was the daughter of Shah Tahmasp I of Safavid Iran and Huri-Khan Khanum, a Georgian princess. She came of age in a tumultuous era for the Safavids. After her father’s death the empire fell into turmoil, and the neighboring Ottomans took advantage of the chaos to declare war. In a bid to shore up support, Zeynab’s brother married her to a prominent general, Ali-Qoli Khan Shamlu, but the marriage was on paper only - the couple never lived together and may well have never touched. 

Nevertheless, Zeynab Begum and her husband did have one thing in common: determined support for the same claimant, her young nephew Prince Abbas. Ali-Qoli defied orders to have the child executed, instead raising a rebellion, while she rallied support among court officials. When Abbas took the throne, Zeynab Begum (whose husband was soon killed in battle) was not only the matriarch of the harem (home to the Shah’s consorts and his other female relatives) but also one of her nephew’s closest advisors. She governed her own lands, built trading posts, and survived a temporary exile when her faction was ousted from power.  She maintained her influence during the early reign of Abbas’ grandson and heir, Safi; indeed, for a period of time she essential ruled the empire. In adulthood, however, an increasingly autocratic Safi purged the government. Many ministers were executed, and Zeynab Begum was banished from court once more; this time, there would be no return.  Exile, however, treated her more like retirement. She maintained control of her personal fortune, and, for the last decade of her life, settled down in peace away from the court.  She died in 1640, and is buried in the famous Imam Rena shrine. 

[wankerwatch]

Commons Vote

On: Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations 2024 (SI, 2024, No. 869): motion to annul

Ayes: 228 (49.3% Con, 31.7% LD, 4.4% Ind, 4.0% SNP, 2.2% DUP, 2.2% RUK, 1.8% PC, 1.8% Green, 0.9% SDLP, 0.4% Lab, 0.4% APNI, 0.4% UUP, 0.4% TUV) Noes: 348 (100.0% Lab) Absent: ~74

Day's business papers: 2024-09-10

Individual Votes:

Ayes

Conservative (112 votes)

Alan Mak Alberto Costa Alec Shelbrooke Alicia Kearns Alison Griffiths Andrew Bowie Andrew Griffith Andrew Mitchell Andrew Murrison Andrew Snowden Aphra Brandreth Ashley Fox Ben Obese-Jecty Ben Spencer Bernard Jenkin Blake Stephenson Bob Blackman Bradley Thomas Caroline Dinenage Caroline Johnson Charlie Dewhirst Chris Philp Christopher Chope Claire Coutinho Damian Hinds Danny Kruger David Davis David Mundell David Reed David Simmonds Desmond Swayne Edward Argar Edward Leigh Esther McVey Gagan Mohindra Gareth Bacon Gareth Davies Gavin Williamson Geoffrey Clifton-Brown George Freeman Graham Stuart Greg Smith Gregory Stafford Harriet Cross Harriett Baldwin Helen Grant Helen Whately Iain Duncan Smith Jack Rankin James Cartlidge James Cleverly James Wild Jeremy Hunt Jeremy Wright Jerome Mayhew Jesse Norman Joe Robertson John Cooper John Glen John Hayes John Lamont John Whittingdale Joy Morrissey Julia Lopez Julian Lewis Julian Smith Karen Bradley Katie Lam Kemi Badenoch Kevin Hollinrake Kieran Mullan Kit Malthouse Laura Trott Lewis Cocking Lincoln Jopp Luke Evans Mark Francois Mark Garnier Matt Vickers Mel Stride Mike Wood Mims Davies Neil Hudson Neil O'Brien Neil Shastri-Hurst Nick Timothy Nigel Huddleston Oliver Dowden Patrick Spencer Paul Holmes Peter Bedford Peter Fortune Priti Patel Rebecca Paul Rebecca Smith Richard Fuller Richard Holden Rishi Sunak Robbie Moore Robert Jenrick Roger Gale Saqib Bhatti Sarah Bool Shivani Raja Simon Hoare Steve Barclay Stuart Anderson Stuart Andrew Suella Braverman Tom Tugendhat Victoria Atkins Wendy Morton

Liberal Democrat (72 votes)

Adam Dance Al Pinkerton Alex Brewer Alison Bennett Alistair Carmichael Andrew George Angus MacDonald Anna Sabine Ben Maguire Bobby Dean Brian Mathew Calum Miller Cameron Thomas Caroline Voaden Charlie Maynard Charlotte Cane Chris Coghlan Christine Jardine Claire Young Clive Jones Daisy Cooper Danny Chambers David Chadwick Ed Davey Edward Morello Freddie van Mierlo Gideon Amos Helen Maguire Helen Morgan Ian Roome Ian Sollom James MacCleary Jamie Stone Jess Brown-Fuller John Milne Josh Babarinde Joshua Reynolds Layla Moran Lee Dillon Lisa Smart Liz Jarvis Luke Taylor Manuela Perteghella Marie Goldman Martin Wrigley Max Wilkinson Mike Martin Monica Harding Munira Wilson Olly Glover Paul Kohler Pippa Heylings Rachel Gilmour Richard Foord Roz Savage Sarah Dyke Sarah Gibson Sarah Green Sarah Olney Steff Aquarone Steve Darling Susan Murray Tessa Munt Tim Farron Tom Gordon Tom Morrison Victoria Collins Vikki Slade Wendy Chamberlain Wera Hobhouse Will Forster Zöe Franklin

Independent (10 votes)

Adnan Hussain Apsana Begum Ayoub Khan Ian Byrne Iqbal Mohamed Jeremy Corbyn John McDonnell Richard Burgon Shockat Adam Zarah Sultana

Scottish National Party (9 votes)

Brendan O'Hara Chris Law Dave Doogan Graham Leadbitter Kirsty Blackman Pete Wishart Seamus Logan Stephen Flynn Stephen Gethins

Democratic Unionist Party (5 votes)

Carla Lockhart Gavin Robinson Gregory Campbell Jim Shannon Sammy Wilson

Reform UK (5 votes)

James McMurdock Lee Anderson Nigel Farage Richard Tice Rupert Lowe

Plaid Cymru (4 votes)

Ann Davies Ben Lake Liz Saville Roberts Llinos Medi

Green Party (4 votes)

Adrian Ramsay Carla Denyer Ellie Chowns Siân Berry

Social Democratic & Labour Party (2 votes)

Claire Hanna Colum Eastwood

Labour (1 vote)

Jon Trickett

Alliance (1 vote)

Sorcha Eastwood

Ulster Unionist Party (1 vote)

Robin Swann

Traditional Unionist Voice (1 vote)

Jim Allister

Noes

Labour (348 votes)

Abena Oppong-Asare Abtisam Mohamed Adam Jogee Adam Thompson Afzal Khan Al Carns Alan Campbell Alan Gemmell Alan Strickland Alex Baker Alex Ballinger Alex Barros-Curtis Alex Davies-Jones Alex Mayer Alex McIntyre Alex Norris Alex Sobel Alice Macdonald Alison Hume Alison McGovern Alison Taylor Alistair Strathern Allison Gardner Amanda Hack Andrew Cooper Andrew Gwynne Andrew Lewin Andrew Pakes Andrew Ranger Andrew Western Andy MacNae Andy Slaughter Angela Eagle Angela Rayner Anna Dixon Anna Gelderd Anna Turley Anneliese Dodds Anneliese Midgley Antonia Bance Ashley Dalton Baggy Shanker Bambos Charalambous Barry Gardiner Bayo Alaba Becky Gittins Ben Coleman Ben Goldsborough Bill Esterson Blair McDougall Brian Leishman Bridget Phillipson Callum Anderson Calvin Bailey Carolyn Harris Catherine Atkinson Catherine Fookes Catherine McKinnell Catherine West Charlotte Nichols Chi Onwurah Chris Bloore Chris Bryant Chris Curtis Chris Elmore Chris Evans Chris Hinchliff Chris Kane Chris McDonald Chris Murray Chris Vince Chris Ward Claire Hazelgrove Claire Hughes Clive Betts Connor Naismith Connor Rand Damien Egan Dan Aldridge Dan Carden Dan Jarvis Dan Norris Dan Tomlinson Daniel Francis Danny Beales Darren Jones Darren Paffey Dave Robertson David Baines David Burton-Sampson David Lammy David Pinto-Duschinsky David Smith David Taylor David Williams Debbie Abrahams Deirdre Costigan Derek Twigg Douglas Alexander Douglas McAllister Ed Miliband Elaine Stewart Ellie Reeves Emily Darlington Emily Thornberry Emma Foody Emma Hardy Emma Reynolds Fabian Hamilton Feryal Clark Florence Eshalomi Frank McNally Fred Thomas Gareth Snell Gareth Thomas Gen Kitchen Georgia Gould Gerald Jones Gill German Gordon McKee Graeme Downie Graham Stringer Gregor Poynton Gurinder Singh Josan Hamish Falconer Harpreet Uppal Heidi Alexander Helen Hayes Helena Dollimore Henry Tufnell Ian Murray Imogen Walker Irene Campbell Jack Abbott Jacob Collier Jade Botterill Jake Richards James Asser James Frith James Murray James Naish Janet Daby Jas Athwal Jayne Kirkham Jeevun Sandher Jeff Smith Jen Craft Jess Asato Jess Phillips Jessica Morden Jessica Toale Jim Dickson Jim McMahon Jo Platt Jo Stevens Jo White Joani Reid Jodie Gosling Joe Morris Joe Powell Johanna Baxter John Grady John Healey John Slinger John Whitby Jon Pearce Jonathan Brash Jonathan Davies Jonathan Hinder Jonathan Reynolds Josh Dean Josh Fenton-Glynn Josh MacAlister Josh Newbury Josh Simons Julie Minns Juliet Campbell Justin Madders Kanishka Narayan Karin Smyth Karl Turner Kate Dearden Katie White Katrina Murray Keir Mather Keir Starmer Kerry McCarthy Kevin Bonavia Kevin McKenna Kim Leadbeater Kirith Entwistle Kirsteen Sullivan Kirsty McNeill Laura Kyrke-Smith Lauren Edwards Lauren Sullivan Laurence Turner Lee Barron Lee Pitcher Lewis Atkinson Liam Byrne Liam Conlon Lilian Greenwood Lillian Jones Linsey Farnsworth Lisa Nandy Liz Kendall Liz Twist Lizzi Collinge Lloyd Hatton Lola McEvoy Louise Haigh Louise Jones Lucy Powell Lucy Rigby Luke Akehurst Luke Charters Luke Murphy Luke Myer Luke Pollard Margaret Mullane Marie Tidball Mark Ferguson Mark Hendrick Mark Sewards Mark Tami Markus Campbell-Savours Martin McCluskey Martin Rhodes Mary Creagh Mary Glindon Matt Rodda Matt Turmaine Matt Western Matthew Patrick Matthew Pennycook Maureen Burke Maya Ellis Meg Hillier Melanie Onn Melanie Ward Miatta Fahnbulleh Michael Payne Michael Shanks Michael Wheeler Michelle Scrogham Michelle Welsh Mike Amesbury Mike Kane Mike Reader Mike Tapp Natalie Fleet Natasha Irons Navendu Mishra Neil Coyle Nesil Caliskan Nia Griffith Nicholas Dakin Nick Smith Noah Law Oliver Ryan Olivia Bailey Olivia Blake Pam Cox Pamela Nash Pat McFadden Patricia Ferguson Patrick Hurley Paul Davies Paul Foster Paul Waugh Perran Moon Peter Dowd Peter Kyle Peter Lamb Peter Prinsley Peter Swallow Polly Billington Preet Kaur Gill Rachel Blake Rachel Hopkins Rachel Reeves Rachel Taylor Richard Baker Richard Quigley Rosie Wrighting Rupa Huq Rushanara Ali Ruth Cadbury Ruth Jones Sadik Al-Hassan Sally Jameson Sam Carling Sam Rushworth Samantha Dixon

Samantha Niblett Sarah Champion Sarah Coombes Sarah Hall Sarah Jones Sarah Owen Sarah Russell Sarah Sackman Satvir Kaur Scott Arthur Sean Woodcock Seema Malhotra Shabana Mahmood Shaun Davies Simon Lightwood Simon Opher Siobhain McDonagh Sojan Joseph Sonia Kumar Stella Creasy Stephanie Peacock Stephen Kinnock Stephen Morgan Stephen Timms Steve Race Steve Reed Steve Witherden Steve Yemm Sureena Brackenridge Taiwo Owatemi Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Terry Jermy Tim Roca Toby Perkins Tom Collins Tom Hayes Tom Rutland Tony Vaughan Torcuil Crichton Torsten Bell Tracy Gilbert Tristan Osborne Tulip Siddiq Uma Kumaran Valerie Vaz Vicky Foxcroft Warinder Juss Wes Streeting Will Stone Yasmin Qureshi Yuan Yang Yvette Cooper Zubir Ahmed

[valkyries-things]

BEGUM SAMRU // MERCENARY

“She was ruler of Sardhana in Uttar Pradesh, India. She began life as a nautch, an Indian dancing girl. She was just four foot eight but led a professionally trained mercenary army of 3,000 including at least 100 European mercenaries. Said to be a brilliant leader, she wore a turban, smoked a hookah and called herself Joanna, after Joan of Arc. When she died, she left a fortune equivalent to an almost unimaginable 40 billion dollars in today’s currency.”

[suprimofashionbangles]

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[tomorrowlandinformationkiosk]

1952 Box Exhibit 12 - Utopia?

Left to right:

The Begum’s Fortune: French Edition

Model Research Volume 1

Our Friend the Atom

Classics Illustrated No. 133: The Time Machine

Strange Adventures No. 162

[universitybookstore]

Another stack of wonderful discoveries to come across the Used Book Desk, 10 lesser known Jules Verne titles, the “Fitzroy” editions, edited by I.O. Evans and published by Ace Books. A serendipitous arrival as today, February 8, marks the author's birthday. Here's the complete list of titles:

Master of the World, featuring Vincent Price from the AIP film adaptation

The Demon of Cawnpore

For the Flag

Into the Niger Bend

The Village in the Treetops

Yesterday and Tomorrow

Carpathian Castle

The Begum's Fortune

The City in the Sahara

The Hunt for the Meteor

[bohemainread]

Rana safvi.

Finally, turn your glance at me,

O wealth of the rich and yearning of the poor

-Hafiz

Khwaja Hasan Nizami wrote numerous books on the events that unfolded in 1857, all based on eyewitness accounts of the survivors. Begamat ke Aansu: Tears of the Begums are stories collected by Khwaja Hasan Nizami from the survivors of the Mughal family after the fall of Delhi in September 1857, when they had to flee from the Red Fort. It describes Kulsum Zamani Begum’s escape from the Red Fort.

In vivid and tragic stories drawn from the recollection of true events, Nizami paints a picture of a crumbling historical era and another charging forward to take its place.

With the reminiscence of past glory contrasted against the drudgery of everyday survival, Tears of the Begums – the first ever English translation of Nizami's invaluable Urdu book Begumat ke Aansoo – chronicles the turning of the wheel of fortune in the aftermath of India's first war of independence.

Grab a copy from the given link.

[ginazmemeoir]

Mughal Women

Ok while I was scrolling through tumblr today on women’s history, one thing struck me odd - there wasn’t a single post regarding the women of one of the richest, most powerful empires in the history of the world. So here’s to you ladies - icons, role models and most of all - badass queens.

1. Isaan Daulat (lit. Good fortune) : Grandmother of Zahiruddin Khan or as he is famous, Babur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty, Isaan Daulat regularly advised her son on statecraft and warfare, and carried out most of his diplomatic missions. According to a source, Isaan Daulat’s husband was once killed in a war against the Shah of Persia. The Shah thereafter proceeded to “gift” Isaan Daulat to one of his generals. However, the same night, Isaan Daulat had her retinue murder him in the courtyard, “while she sipped wine reclining in the moonlight courtyard” as a witness claimed. When the Shah arrived, he questioned her about this action, to which she replied, “Islam gives me a right as a widow to marry by my convenience. You just handed me to him like cattle, and therefore his killing is perfectly justified by Islamic Sharia. You should consider yourself lucky.” The Shah of Persia then sent back Isaan Daulat with the wealth and assets he gained from that war, and declared her and her lineage as his sister and nephews. This later helped to back the Mughals’ legitimacy. Sadly, Isaan Daulat could never enjoy the land her descendants called home.

2. Gulbadan (lit. she with a rose like body) : Gulbadan was Babur’s eldest daughter, and was quite adventurous. She had famously chronicled the lives of her father and her brother Humayun, the second Mughal emperor. She looked after administration while her brother fled from place to place. She had also embarked on a seven-year voyage to Mecca and Medina for The Hajj, encountering the malicious Portuguese (she had to bribe them with a fricking town for guarantee of safe passage), pirates, kings, sufis and many more, and was thus also called Hajji Begum. She held a special place in Akbar’s zenana as his aunt.

3. Hamida Banu : Princess of Sindh, she was married off at the age of 15 to a much older Humayun at the age of 15. She had accompanied Humayun in all his wars and also on his journey to Persia, for asking the Safavid Shahs to help them recapture Hindustan. She was Akbar’s mother.

4. Maham Anagah and Jiji Anagah : Akbar’s wet nurses, they had raised up Akbar while his parents tried to win their empire back. Maham Anagah was Akbar’s chief advisor and head of his zenana, before a failed coup by his son, after which he was killed and later on she was relieved of her post, despite still holding Akbar’s favour. Jiji Anagah’s children extensively married into the Mughal family, and her husband Mirza Aziz Koka was Akbar’s head of finance. Her family, wealth and power grew so much, as the Emperor’s favourites, that they were collectively known as the Atka Khail.

5. Ruqaiyya Begum : Akbar’s first cousin, and also his first wife, Ruqaiyya Begum was Akbar’s chief queen and Padshah Begum of the zenana. Though she remained childless, she reigned supreme in the zenana and commanded her husband’s respect in a society where a woman’s existence was through her children. She was the main force behind Noor Jahan and Jahangir’s wedding, and was also the person who raised Shah Jahan.

6. Salima Sultana Begum : Wife of Akbar’s general Bairam Khan, she was later married to Akbar after Bairam Khan’s assassination. Her son Abdur Rahim was later made Khan-i-Khanan or Commander of the Mughal Army. She was the one who had brought up Jahangir, and thus he was also called Salim. An erudite scholar, she managed Akbar’s library along with her own private collection, commissioning new works and translations of others. She later protected Jahangir from Akbar’s wrath after Jahangir had him poisoned in a bid for the throne.

7. Harkha Bai : Bollywood knows her as Jodhaa, while history knows her as Maryam-uz-Zamani, Harkha Bai was the Rajput Princess of Amer and the daughter of Raja Bharmal. She was married to Akbar as part of a political alliance, and later became Jahangir’s mother. She was the richest woman of her time, her wealth being more than Akbar’s, and she also had one of the most valuable lands (jagirs). There are 2 famous anecdotes on her - 

Once, an English merchant had bought her indigo farms at Bayana, Rajasthan. When she got to know of this, she practically destroyed that merchant, bought back that farm, and later had it burnt.

Another time, the Portuguese had captured and set fire to her ship the Rahimi, one of the largest and finest ships in that time, in a last bid to maintain their hold in India and the Arabian Sea against the increasingly powerful English. In retaliation, Jodhaa had all of their ships burnt, snatched their powers and wealth, and basically made paupers out of them. She died as the richest woman in Mughal history, before Noor Jahan.

8. Anarkali : A courtesan, with whom Jahangir (then Prince Salim) fell madly in love, many historians now consider the very real possibility that she never existed and was instead “invented” by the Mughal family as someone to blame for the tension between Akbar and Jahangir. According to the folklore, Akbar didn’t approve of Salim and Anarkali’s relation, and after she and Salim refused to end things, he had her entombed alive in a wall.

9. Maan Bai : Harkha Bai’s niece, she was Jahangir’s first wife. She later committed suicide by an overdose of opium when Jahangir had her son Khusrau blinded and imprisoned in a bitter war of succession. Her brother Man Singh was one of the Nine Gems (navaratna) of Akbar’s court, and had defeated Rana Pratap in the famous Battle of Haldighati.

10. Jagat Gosini : Princess of Jodhpur, she was the Padshah Begum of Jahangir’s zenana before Noor Jahan, and also the mother of Shah Jahan. She was the biggest obstruction in Noor Jahan’s historic rise to power. She was not on good terms with then Dowager Empress Ruqaiyya Begum (see above) and hence, Ruqaiyya Begum demanded that Shah Jahan be handed over to her so that she could raise him up, and also helped Noor Jahan against her. A local folklore also suggests that she had been the one behind the miscarriage of Noor Jahan after she had come into the zenana. She faded after Noor Jahan’s rise, but still held respect and power.

11. Noor Jahan (lit. Light of the World): The most famous and powerful woman in the history of the Mughals, Noor Jahan was born as Mehr-un-Nisa (lit. Sun amongst Women) to Persian immigrant parents. Brought up in Agra alongside Akbar’s court, Noor Jahan was an intelligent woman full of talent and potential. She was married off at 19 to Sher Afghan, a commander in Akbar’s army. The marriage was a failure, and moreover Noor Jahan suffered through 8 miscarriages with him, before the birth of her daughter, Ladli (lit. Darling or Beloved). After her husband was murdered in a coup, Ruqaiyya brought her to the Imperial Palace as part of her retinue, and later helped her and Jahangir get married, with she being Jahangir’s twentieth and final wife. Her rise to power was quick, owing to her own ambition and intellect, and some help from her father Itimad-ad-Daulah (Royal Treasurer of the Mughals), brother Asaf Khan (a prominent minister in Jahangir’s court) and Ruqaiyya Begum. Her seal as the Padshah Begum became second only to that of Jahangir, and later even surpassed his own. She brought great innovations to fashion, cosmetics, administration, architecture and gardening, city planning, and many more. She was the one who had arranged the marriage between her niece Arjumand Banu and Shah Jahan. Her marriage with Jahangir was a success – both of them were tempestuous and cared and loved each other deeply. Later, as Jahangir’s health started failing due to asthma and alcoholism, she took over the reigns and took the Mughal empire to great heights. The first British ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe, arrived in her time. However, she gave the British no rights or privileges till the Rahimi incident, and extracted a great many gifts from him, including a carriage made entirely of silver. She had designed her parents’ tomb near the Yamuna river in Agra (it was later copied by Shah Jahan), and she also designed Jahangir’s tomb in Lahore (modern day Punjab, Pakistan). She had tried to get Shah Jahan to marry her own daughter, but he refused and so she completely withdrew her support from making him the emperor, and instead opposed him. Shah Jahan thus had to flee to Burhanpur, with his eldest children Dara Shukoh, Jahanara, Aurangzeb and Roshanara in Noor Jahan’s custody. Later, he waged war against Noor Jahan with help from her brother Asaf Khan. Noor Jahan was ultimately defeated in Kashmir. She was deprived of her wealth, status and power and exiled to Lahore with her daughter and granddaughter. Her influence still remained, with Shah Jahan keeping her legacy alive by copying the Taj Mahal from the tomb she designed for her parents.

12. Mumtaz Mahal : Born as Arjumand Banu, she was Noor Jahan’s niece and Shah Jahan’s most beloved. She died in childbirth while giving birth to her fourteenth child – a girl called Gauhar.

13. Jahanara : Eldest daughter of Shah Jahan, she was the one who headed the empire after Shah Jahan was left heartbroken following Mumtaz’s death, and became active in the construction of the Taj Mahal. Noor Jahan is often described as being fond of her, taking care of her education personally. She was known as Padshah Mallika, and her flower-shaped seal was the most powerful. She was an accomplished dancer, poet and a patron of the arts. She conducted the most expensive wedding ever, between her brother Dara Shukoh and Nadira Banu Begum, valued at 2 lakh rupees then, approximately 2 billion USD in today’s time.  She supported Dara Shukoh in his bid to become emperor. Later, she was imprisoned by Aurangzeb after he imprisoned Shah Jahan and killed all his remaining brothers.

14. Roshanara : Shah Jahan’s younger daughter, she was also an accomplished poet, but always at loggerheads with Jahanara. She later supported Aurangzeb as emperor.

15. Dilras Banu Begum : Aurangzeb’s first wife and Padshah Begum of his zenana, Dilras Banu belonged to the Safavid dynasty of Persia. She was mother of all of Aurangzeb’s children. However, she died an year before Aurangzeb’s succession. The Bibi ka Maqbara (Tomb of the Lady) in Aurangabad, which bears a striking resemblance to the Taj Mahal, was constructed by Aurangzeb in her honour.

16. Zeenat-un-Nisa : Aurangzeb’s eldest daughter, she was the Padshah Mallika after her mother’s death. She survived Aurangzeb by a great many years, and was respected by his successors as a remnant of a magnificent past. She was known for her charity, and was buried in the Zeenat-ul-Masjid built by her in Dlehi.

17. Zeb-un-Nisa : Aurangzeb’s favourite daughter, Zeb-un-Nisa was the most accomplished poet in Mughal history, with her works still surviving and enjoyed. She was an atheist, but later converted to Sufism. She led a secret society, and lead a rebellion against the oppressive and harsh rule of her father. She was subsequently imprisoned by Aurangzeb, where she died. She was buried in the Tees Hazari Bagh (Garden of 30,000 Trees) near the Kashmiri Darwaza (Kashmir Gate) in North Delhi. Her tomb was later shifted at Akbar’s Mausoleum in Sikandra, Agra when Delhi was expanded following Independence.

Well people, this has been an informative post. You’re welcome.

Sources : Daughters of the Sun by Ira Mukhoty, Empress : the Astonishing reign of Noor Jahan by Ruby Lal.

[wishesofeternity]

Zeb-un-Nisa, Aurangzeb’s eldest daughter, is born in Daulatabad in 1638 when Aurangzeb is governor of the Deccan. While Daulatabad fort dominates the horizon from a hilltop, Aurangzeb is building a new capital at Khadki town, stronghold of Jahangir’s old nemesis, Malik Ambar the ‘rebel of black fortune’. Malik Ambar is now long dead, having never allowed the Mughals to claim the Deccan while he lived. Zeb-un-Nisa, daughter of the Persian noblewoman Dilras Banu Begum, grows up in this provincial capital, far from the intrigues of the Mughal court. In the Deccan, the supremacy of her father is unchallenged and Zeb-un-Nisa is given a rigorous education under the supervision of Hafiza Mariam, a scholar from a Khurasani family. Zeb-un-Nisa is an excellent student and excels in the Arabic and Persian languages. Her father is so delighted when she recites the entire Quran from memory as a child that he gifts her 30,000 gold mohurs. In her erudition and her quick wit she is very like her aunt, Shahzaadi Jahanara, whom her father respects above all the other women of the court. When she is fifteen years old, she visits Shahjahanabad with Aurangzeb’s zenana as they return from the doomed Kandahar campaign. She is enchanted with the sparkling new city, the elegant women with their refined tehzeeb, their every gesture studied and full of grace. In the travelling court of her father, in these wildering years, it is a more pragmatic and pared down zenana but in 1658, when Zeb-un-Nisa is twenty years old, Aurangzeb deposes Shah Jahan and his household moves to Shahjahanabad.

Dilras Banu Begum, the somewhat haughty senior wife of Aurangzeb, is now dead. Even Aurangzeb, when giving marital advice to a grandson, will later admit that ‘in the season of youth’, he ‘too had this relation with a wife who had extreme imperiousness’. Since the other wives of Aurangzeb have less illustrious backgrounds, the senior women of the royal zenana are Roshanara and her eldest niece, Zeb-un-Nisa.

For twenty years Zeb-un-Nisa will be one of the most influential women of the zenana at Shahjahanabad. Her particular area of interest is poetry and literature. She collects valuable manuscripts and books and her library is one of the most extensive in the country. When Aurangzeb begins to retrench imperial patronage towards music and poetry, it is the royal women, the shahzaadas, the noblemen and then, later still, the wealthy middle class of Shahjahanabad who will continue the patronage of the arts. The governor of Shahjahanabad, Aqil Khan, is himself a poet and writes under the pen name Razi. Indeed, despite Aurangzeb’s later disfavour, Shahjahanabad fairly pulses with music. It tumbles from the kothis of the courtesans, the women thoroughly trained singers themselves, who bring Delhi Qawwali singing to mainstream attention. It vaults out of the large mansions of the newly wealthy, who prefer the lighter Khayaal and Thumri styles. In the gloaming of a tropical evening, it throbs out of the immense havelis of the princes and the noblemen, in the tenuous hold that Dhrupad still has amongst the elite of the Mughal court. And the poets keep gathering at Shahjahanabad, despite Aurangzeb’s dismissal of them as ‘idle flatterers’. They come from very far, like Abd-al-Qader Bidel, whose family is Chagatai Turkic but whose poetry so defines a phase of Shahjahanabadi poetry that he becomes Abd-al-Qader Dehlvi. Some will come from the Deccan, like Wali Dakhni, and some are born in the narrow, winding galis (lanes) of Shahjahanabad itself. They will write in Persian, in Urdu, in Braj and later in Rekhti. They will write in obscure philosophical quatrains, in flamboyant ghazals or in erotic riti styles but many will glow with the high-voltage mysticism of Sufi thought, for the ghosts of Shahjahanabad’s Sufi saints will enchant all the poets of the city.

Zeb-un-Nisa, like Jahanara who returns to court as padshah begum in 1666, is instrumental in supporting the work of writers and poets through her patronage. She supports the scholar Mulla Safiuddin Adbeli when he translates the Arabic Tafsir-i-Kabir (Great Commentary) into Persian and he dedicates the book to the shahzaadi—Zeb-ut-Tafasir. She also sponsors the Hajj pilgrimage of Muhammad Safi Qazwini. Qazwini will write an extraordinary account of his voyage, the Pilgrims’ Confidant, unique in its genre and magnificently illustrated and will dedicate it to Zeb-un-Nisa. For a few years, the courts of Jahanara and Zeb-un-Nisa will nurture this eclectic maelstrom of a culture, which has much more in common with Babur and Humayun’s camaraderie of artists than it has with Aurangzeb’s increasingly austere one. When Aurangzeb bans opium and alcohol, the easy complicity that the noblemen and padshahs shared in the ghusal khaana or the Deewan-e-khaas while drinking wine, is now forbidden. The imperial women, however, continue to drink wine, often made from grapes in their own gardens, flavoured with spices.

In 1669, Zeb-un-Nisa attends the lavish marriage ceremony of her cousin, Jaani Begum, to her brother, Muhammad Azam, at the haveli of Jahanara. There will be other weddings too: her sister Zubdat-un-Nisa will marry Dara Shikoh’s youngest son Siphir Shikoh and Mehr-un-Nisa will marry Murad Baksh’s son Izad Baksh. But for Aurangzeb’s oldest daughters, there are no more cousins to marry. There is an understanding, also, that these oldest daughters, like their aunts, possess a powerful charisma as Timurid shahzaadis and must be kept within the controlling orbit of the imperial zenana. The decades pass and still Aurangzeb rules, as resolute and restless as a young man. His sons, meanwhile, are growing old and impatient. Muhammad Akbar is Zeb-un-Nisa’s youngest brother and she is particularly close to him, as their mother Dilras Banu died soon after giving birth to him, when Zeb-un-Nisa was nineteen. The other sons are middle-aged men, and there have been skirmishes, the shahzaadas jostling for power, always subdued immediately by their unforgiving father. In 1681, when Muhammad Akbar decides to challenge his father, with the support of a Rajput alliance including the Rathors of Jodhpur, Zeb-un-Nisa is in a particularly vulnerable position.

In 1681, Jahanara dies. The imperial zenana has glowed with her ambition and talent for more than half a century. If the shahzaadas are uncertain about the future leadership of the Mughal empire, then the stakes are almost as high in the imperial zenana. Zeb-un-Nisa believes she may become the next padshah begum. She is a woman of letters, like Jahanara, with the same Sufi inclinations too. She is the eldest of the Timurid shahzaadis and presides over an astonishingly talented salon. It is time, surely, for a shahzaada to ascend the Peacock Throne as Aurangzeb is already an old man, sixty-three years old. So Zeb-un-Nisa sides with the young prince Muhammad Akbar, hoping to ensure her legacy in the next court.

But Aurangzeb is able to defeat Muhammad Akbar, using a mixture of duplicity and treachery. In the process, he discovers letters which incriminate Zeb-un-Nisa, demonstrating her ardent support for her brother. ‘What belongs to you is as good as mine,’ Muhammad Akbar writes in a letter to Zeb-un-Nisa, ‘and whatever I own is at your disposal.’ And in another letter he writes: ‘The dismissal or appointment of the sons-in-law of Daulat and Sagar Mal is at your discretion. I have dismissed them at your bidding. I consider your orders in all affairs as sacred like the Quran and Traditions of the Prophet, and obedience to them is proper.’ Muhammad Akbar is exiled to Persia, and Zeb-un-Nisa is imprisoned at the Salimgarh fort in Delhi. Her pension of four lakhs rupees a year is discontinued and her property is seized.

Very soon after this rebellion, Aurangzeb leaves Shahjahanabad for the Deccan with an entourage of tens of thousands, all of his sons and his zenana. He will never return to Shahjahanabad, which will slowly be leached of all of its nobility, craftsmen, soldiers and traders. Zeb-un-Nisa will live more than twenty years imprisoned in Salimgarh fort. She will grow old here as Shahjahanabad empties of its people and becomes a shadow of its former self. But the poets and the singers do not desert Shahjahanabad, their fortunes and their hearts are too inextricably linked to the great city, to this paradise on earth. Other patrons take over the role of the nobility, humbler people, so that a critical poet will later write:

Those who once rode elephants now go barefooted; (while) those who longed for parched grains once are today owners of property mansions, elephants and banners, (and now) the rank of the lions has gone to the jackals.

Not only do the poets remain but their poetry becomes saturated with the haunted longing and nostalgia which becomes the calling card of all the great poets of Delhi. This city of beauty and splendour, abandoned and then desecrated, and then bloodied, will inspire reams of poetry on the twin themes of grief and remembrance. In the future, one of these poets will court eternity when he writes:

Dil ki basti bhi Sheher Dilli hai;

Jo bhi guzra usi ne loota

As for Zeb-un-Nisa, she waits for Muhammad Akbar to claim the Peacock Throne but he dies, in 1703, outlived by his father. From her lonely prison on the Yamuna, the shahzaadi can see Shah Jahan’s magnificent fort. The Qila-e-Mubaarak remains locked up for decades and the dust and ghosts move in. The bats make their home in the crenelated awnings and sleep as the relentless sun arcs through the lattice windows. Bees cluster drunkenly around the fruit trees in the Hayat Baksh, the overripe fruit crushed on the marble walkways like blood. Moss skims over the canals and the pools, though the waterfall still whispers its secrets to itself in the teh khana (underground chamber) as Zeb-un-Nisa waits. Zeb-un-Nisa writes poetry while she waits for a deliverance that will never come. She is a poet of some repute, and writes under the pseudonym Makhvi, the Concealed One. This is a popular pseudonym, however, and it is difficult to establish which lines are truly written by the shahzaadi but it is likely that the following wistful and delicate lines are hers, written in the grim solitude of Salimgarh fort:

Were an artist to choose me for his model—

How could he draw the form of a sigh?

She dies in 1702, unforgiven by Aurangzeb, and is buried in the Tees Hazari Garden, gifted to her by Jahanara.

- Ira Mukhoty, “Daughters of the Sun: Empresses, Queens and Begums of the Mughal Empire”

[swamp-gremlin]

Promt 3# fortune teller

Heho i nearly broke my spine doing this onedhjd.

Any way this ones actually based on a irl fortune teller!! Mumtaz Begum is a pakistani fortune tell that supposedly has the body of a fox and I've always found it interesting so I kinda wanted to do something like that!!!

[comrade-meow]

The Jewish Socialists’ Group takes its banner to many protests and marches but, for us, the commemoration of the Battle of Cable Street of October 1936, a pivotal moment in the fight against fascism in Britain, has a special meaning.

Fascism was advancing across Europe. Mussolini had already taken power in Italy, Hitler in Germany, and in many countries fascist movements were growing rapidly. In July 1936, Franco launched his devastating war on other Spanish people who dared to elect a progressive, democratic government, though one of Franco’s generals claimed: “Our war is not a Spanish Civil War but a war of western civilisation against the Jews of the entire world.”

Here in Britain, with nearly 3 million unemployed, hunger and hopelessness, and a loss of faith in conventional politics, a wannabe aristocratic politician, with financial backing from Mussolini in Italy and generous capitalists here, wanted to make a show of strength in East London where his movement – the British Union of Fascists – had its biggest branches. Those East End branches formed a horseshoe around the Jewish enclave, where 60,000 Jewish people, were trying to find enough work to eke out a living, mainly as tailors, shoemakers, cabinetmakers, market traders and shop assistants.

He chose the fourth anniversary of the founding of his movement to try to invade their streets with thousands of uniformed, jackbooted fascists, to abuse, threaten and intimidate them. Mosley sought support especially from the East End’s other large minority – Irish Catholics – but, on the day, the most unionised sectors of the Irish, dockers and railway workers united with the mass of Jewish East Enders and other non-Jewish anti-fascists to blockade the streets. In Cable Street they built barricades together. Seven thousand police could not clear a path for the fascists to march, as they had been ordered to by John Simon, the Liberal Home Secretary of a Tory-dominated National Government.

Earlier that week he had rejected a petition with nearly 100,000 signatures collected in just two days, calling for the march to be banned. It was drawn up by the Jewish People’s Council Against Fascism and Antisemitism (JPC) – a militant local grassroots coalition, formed with the aim of mobilising local Jews and uniting with non-Jewish anti-fascists to build an anti-fascist majority in the area. Within hours of the Home Secretary rejecting their call, the JPC was printing leaflets addressed to “Citizens of London” stating loud and clear: “This march must not take place!”

The formation of the JPC was also a direct response to the abject failure of the Jewish community’s self-proclaimed leaders – the Board of Deputies – to do anything to support the East End Jews under siege. They had told them they were exaggerating and arrogantly brushed aside the local Jewish community’s claims of police partiality towards the fascists.

We will not forget how the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Chronicle told Jews to stay indoors, claiming that any involvement in public demonstrations against Mosley would aid antisemites. It was their aloofness, their complacency, their lack of care towards London’s largest working class Jewish community that was aiding the antisemites.

Neither will we forget how the Board’s Vice-President and leader of the United Synagogue, Robert Waley Cohen, condemned antisemitism at a meeting of Jewish ex-serviceman in the summer of 1936 while telling them that Jews were prospering in Italy under Mussolini’s fascist regime, and that he himself was attracted to aspects of fascist ideology. Fortunately, the Jewish community completely ignored the wisdom and advice of their “leaders”.

The people, though, that the Jewish Socialists’ Group remembers most, and with immense pride and affection, are the parents and grandparents of many of our members who courageously took to the streets that day to defend the East End as a multicultural area where all communities would be able to live in harmony.

And we remember the unity in action of those who did most to mobilise the resistance that day, whether from the JPC, the Communist Party, the Independent Labour Party or the Labour League of Youth, and the local trade unions. We especially honour the 200 or so East Enders who continued their anti-fascist activities after Cable Street by joining the International Brigades fighting against Franco in Spain. Thirty-six of these local volunteers for liberty did not return; they lie buried in the Spanish soil.

While they were fighting in Spain, the movement here cemented the victory on the streets with a brilliant campaign to bring together the very communities that Mosley had tried to divide against each other – the Irish and the Jews. This joint campaign, under the auspices of the Stepney Tenants Defence League, saw more than 20 rent strikes against slum landlords. With both communities working closely together, it was much harder for the fascists to advance their politics of hate.

For us – as Jewish socialists, anti-racists and anti-fascists – this is a living history. Fascism was defeated then but returned to the East End streets in the 1970s through the National Front and the British Movement. Their antisemitism was intact but their principal targets were the Bengali communities that had settled in the same streets and worked in similar conditions in the clothing industry as the Jews had in the 1930s. New grassroots movements, led by Bengali youth, spearheaded the resistance to fascist intimidation and daily institutional racism, and they found allies in a similar way to the JPC in the 1930s.

We are proud that our rally this year, on Sunday 3rd October, will be co-chaired by a Jewish Socialists’ Group member and a Bengali activist – two communities brought together by a history of resistance to racism and fascism and we pledge ourselves to continue the fight against fascism and all racism and bigotry today. Please join us!

Cable Street 85th Anniversary march and rally

Assemble 1pm Junction of Cable Street, Leman Street and Dock Street.

Marching to the Cable Street Mural/St George’s Gardens.

Speakers include:

Apsana Begum MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP (Project for Peace and Justice), Rabbi Herschel Gluck, Mick Lynch Gen Sec RMT, Amina Patel (Unison), Abdul Chowdhury (NEU), Noorahmed Uddin (Altab Ali Foundation) Joginder Bains (Indian Workers Association-GB) Julia Bard (Jewish Socialists’ Group), Rob Griffiths, (Communist Party), Weyman Bennet (Stand Up To Racism) Marlene Sidaway (International Brigades Memorial Trust), and relatives of the activists of 1936: Michael Rosen, Ruth Levitas, June Legg and JVL member Tony Booth.

Co-chairs: Julie Begum (Swadhinata Trust), David Rosenberg (JSG)

[wankerwatch]

Commons Vote

On: King's Speech (Motion for an Address): Amendment (l)

Ayes: 117 (92.1% Con, 3.5% RUK, 2.6% DUP, 0.9% Ind, 0.9% UUP) Noes: 384 (97.1% Lab, 1.3% Ind, 1.0% Green, 0.5% SDLP) Absent: ~149

Individual Votes:

Ayes

Conservative (105 votes)

Alan Mak Alberto Costa Alec Shelbrooke Alex Burghart Alicia Kearns Alison Griffiths Andrew Bowie Andrew Griffith Andrew Mitchell Andrew Murrison Andrew Rosindell Andrew Snowden Aphra Brandreth Ashley Fox Ben Obese-Jecty Ben Spencer Blake Stephenson Bob Blackman Bradley Thomas Caroline Dinenage Caroline Johnson Charlie Dewhirst Chris Philp Claire Coutinho Damian Hinds Danny Kruger David Davis David Reed David Simmonds Desmond Swayne Edward Argar Gagan Mohindra Gareth Bacon Gareth Davies Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Geoffrey Cox George Freeman Graham Stuart Greg Smith Gregory Stafford Harriet Cross Harriett Baldwin Iain Duncan Smith Jack Rankin James Cartlidge James Cleverly James Wild Jeremy Hunt Jeremy Wright Joe Robertson John Cooper John Glen John Hayes John Lamont John Whittingdale Julia Lopez Julian Lewis Julian Smith Karen Bradley Katie Lam Kemi Badenoch Kieran Mullan Kit Malthouse Laura Trott Lewis Cocking Lincoln Jopp Louie French Luke Evans Mark Francois Mark Garnier Mark Pritchard Martin Vickers Matt Vickers Mel Stride Mims Davies Neil Hudson Neil O'Brien Neil Shastri-Hurst Nick Timothy Nigel Huddleston Oliver Dowden Patrick Spencer Paul Holmes Peter Bedford Peter Fortune Priti Patel Rebecca Harris Rebecca Paul Rebecca Smith Richard Fuller Richard Holden Rishi Sunak Robbie Moore Roger Gale Saqib Bhatti Sarah Bool Shivani Raja Simon Hoare Steve Barclay Stuart Anderson Stuart Andrew Suella Braverman Tom Tugendhat Victoria Atkins Wendy Morton

Reform UK (4 votes)

James McMurdock Lee Anderson Richard Tice Rupert Lowe

Democratic Unionist Party (3 votes)

Carla Lockhart Gavin Robinson Jim Shannon

Independent (1 vote)

Alex Easton

Ulster Unionist Party (1 vote)

Robin Swann

Noes

Labour (374 votes)

Abena Oppong-Asare Abtisam Mohamed Adam Jogee Adam Thompson Afzal Khan Alan Campbell Alan Gemmell Alan Strickland Alex Baker Alex Ballinger Alex Barros-Curtis Alex Davies-Jones Alex Mayer Alex McIntyre Alex Norris Alice Macdonald Alison Hume Alison McGovern Alison Taylor Alistair Strathern Allison Gardner Amanda Hack Amanda Martin Andrew Cooper Andrew Gwynne Andrew Lewin Andrew Pakes Andrew Ranger Andrew Western Andy MacNae Andy Slaughter Angela Eagle Angela Rayner Anna Dixon Anna Gelderd Anna McMorrin Anna Turley Anneliese Midgley Apsana Begum Baggy Shanker Bambos Charalambous Barry Gardiner Bayo Alaba Beccy Cooper Becky Gittins Bell Ribeiro-Addy Ben Coleman Ben Goldsborough Bill Esterson Blair McDougall Brian Leishman Bridget Phillipson Callum Anderson Calvin Bailey Carolyn Harris Cat Eccles Cat Smith Catherine Atkinson Catherine Fookes Catherine McKinnell Catherine West Charlotte Nichols Chi Onwurah Chris Bloore Chris Bryant Chris Curtis Chris Elmore Chris Evans Chris Hinchliff Chris Kane Chris McDonald Chris Murray Chris Vince Chris Webb Claire Hazelgrove Claire Hughes Clive Betts Clive Lewis Connor Naismith Connor Rand Damien Egan Dan Aldridge Dan Jarvis Dan Tomlinson Daniel Francis Daniel Zeichner Danny Beales Darren Jones Darren Paffey Dave Robertson David Baines David Burton-Sampson David Pinto-Duschinsky David Smith David Taylor David Williams Dawn Butler Debbie Abrahams Deirdre Costigan Derek Twigg Diana Johnson Douglas Alexander Douglas McAllister Ed Miliband Elaine Stewart Ellie Reeves Elsie Blundell Emily Darlington Emily Thornberry Emma Foody Emma Hardy Emma Lewell-Buck Emma Reynolds Euan Stainbank Feryal Clark Fleur Anderson Florence Eshalomi Frank McNally Gareth Snell Gen Kitchen Georgia Gould Gerald Jones Gill German Gordon McKee Graeme Downie Graham Stringer Grahame Morris Gregor Poynton Gurinder Josan Hamish Falconer Harpreet Uppal Heidi Alexander Helen Hayes Helena Dollimore Henry Tufnell Hilary Benn Ian Byrne Ian Lavery Ian Murray Imogen Walker Imran Hussain Irene Campbell Jack Abbott Jacob Collier Jade Botterill Jake Richards James Asser James Frith James Murray James Naish Janet Daby Jas Athwal Jayne Kirkham Jeevun Sandher Jeff Smith Jen Craft Jenny Riddell-Carpenter Jess Asato Jess Phillips Jessica Morden Jessica Toale Jim Dickson Jim McMahon Jo Platt Jo Stevens Jo White Joani Reid Jodie Gosling Joe Morris Joe Powell Johanna Baxter John Grady John McDonnell John Slinger John Whitby Jon Pearce Jon Trickett Jonathan Brash Jonathan Davies Jonathan Hinder Jonathan Reynolds Josh Dean Josh Fenton-Glynn Josh MacAlister Josh Newbury Josh Simons Julia Buckley Julie Minns Juliet Campbell Justin Madders Kanishka Narayan Karin Smyth Karl Turner Kate Dearden Kate Osamor Kate Osborne Katie White Keir Mather Kenneth Stevenson Kerry McCarthy Kevin Bonavia Kevin McKenna Kim Johnson Kim Leadbeater Kirith Entwistle Kirsteen Sullivan Kirsty McNeill Laura Kyrke-Smith Lauren Edwards Lauren Sullivan Lee Barron Lee Pitcher Leigh Ingham Lewis Atkinson Liam Byrne Liam Conlon Lilian Greenwood Lillian Jones Linsey Farnsworth Lisa Nandy Liz Kendall Liz Twist Lizzi Collinge Lloyd Hatton Lola McEvoy Lorraine Beavers Louise Haigh Louise Jones Lucy Powell Lucy Rigby Luke Akehurst Luke Charters Luke Murphy Luke Myer Luke Pollard Margaret Mullane Maria Eagle Marie Rimmer Marie Tidball Mark Ferguson Mark Hendrick Mark Sewards Mark Tami Markus Campbell-Savours Marsha De Cordova Martin McCluskey Martin Rhodes Mary Creagh Mary Glindon Matt Bishop Matt Rodda Matt Turmaine Matt Western Matthew Patrick Matthew Pennycook Maureen Burke Maya Ellis Meg Hillier Melanie Onn Melanie Ward Miatta Fahnbulleh Michael Payne Michael Shanks Michael Wheeler Michelle Welsh Mike Amesbury Mike Kane Mike Reader Mike Tapp Mohammad Yasin Nadia Whittome Natalie Fleet Natasha Irons Naushabah Khan Naz Shah Neil Coyle Neil Duncan-Jordan Nesil Caliskan Nicholas Dakin Nick Smith Nick Thomas-Symonds Noah Law Oliver Ryan Olivia Bailey Olivia Blake Pam Cox Pamela Nash Pat McFadden Patricia Ferguson Patrick Hurley Paul Foster Paul Waugh Paula Barker Paulette Hamilton

Perran Moon Peter Dowd Peter Kyle Peter Lamb Peter Prinsley Peter Swallow Phil Brickell Polly Billington Preet Kaur Gill Rachael Maskell Rachel Blake Rachel Hopkins Rachel Taylor Rebecca Long Bailey Richard Baker Richard Burgon Richard Quigley Rupa Huq Rushanara Ali Ruth Cadbury Ruth Jones Sadik Al-Hassan Sally Jameson Sam Carling Sam Rushworth Samantha Dixon Samantha Niblett Sarah Champion Sarah Coombes Sarah Edwards Sarah Hall Sarah Russell Sarah Sackman Sarah Smith Satvir Kaur Scott Arthur Sean Woodcock Seema Malhotra Shabana Mahmood Sharon Hodgson Shaun Davies Simon Lightwood Simon Opher Sojan Joseph Sonia Kumar Stella Creasy Stephanie Peacock Stephen Doughty Stephen Morgan Stephen Timms Steve Race Steve Reed Steve Witherden Steve Yemm Sureena Brackenridge Tahir Ali Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Terry Jermy Tim Roca Toby Perkins Tom Collins Tom Hayes Tom Rutland Tonia Antoniazzi Tony Vaughan Torcuil Crichton Torsten Bell Tracy Gilbert Tristan Osborne Tulip Siddiq Uma Kumaran Valerie Vaz Vicky Foxcroft Warinder Juss Wes Streeting Will Stone Yuan Yang Yvette Cooper Zarah Sultana Zubir Ahmed

Independent (5 votes)

Adnan Hussain Ayoub Khan Iqbal Mohamed Jeremy Corbyn Shockat Adam

Green Party (4 votes)

Adrian Ramsay Carla Denyer Ellie Chowns Siân Berry

Social Democratic & Labour Party (2 votes)

Claire Hanna Colum Eastwood

[sareesonscreen]

S1 E3: Sex and Sexuality in South Asian Media

In this episode, we will be talking about Sex and Sexuality in South Asian Media. This is in essence the first half of a two-part conversation. In this first half, we hope to address the broader discussions around Sex and Sexuality in the media in our region. And in our next discussion episode, the conversation will continue into an in-depth discussion around Queer Media.

It’s been empowering to see many people speak about sex so candidly today. This was nearly unimaginable even a decade ago. Unfortunately, open conversations around sex and sexuality continue to be taboo in our society, but it’s been great to see a segment of people start to chip away at that reluctance to talk about such a fundamental part of all our lives.

There are a lot of great podcasters and Youtubers who share their experiences on this (linked below). And we highly recommend you give them a listen (links below). While we absolutely value the importance of sharing lived experiences, in this episode, we will specifically look at the media we consume - how it portrays sex and sexualities of women and marginalized people, and how it shapes the greater societal conversations around these issues.

We wanted to highlight the importance of recognizing that sex and sexuality is experienced very differently and uniquely by everyone. There is no universal women’s experience or queer experience. The specific socio-economic and cultural locations that shape our identities empower and disempower us in different ways, also change how we engage with sex and our sexualities. 

The movies and shows we plan to talk about in this episode come from Netflix productions, slightly indie parts of Bollywood, and the West Bengali film industry. While the chosen media here vary in their representations of language, socioeconomic class, urban/rural spaces, and to a degree caste, a common critique for all the movies chosen (and of us as well) is that it mostly still looks at sex and sexuality through the imposed universality of an upper class/upper caste gaze. We did our best to make note of this as we discussed the issues pertaining to this episode. 

The AIDS epidemic of the 1980s was the first time that conversations around sex and sexuality were forced into the public sphere, outside its usual legal, medical, and demographic confines. Then in the ’90s, with the rise in access to electricity and televisions, a new brand of more explicit sexual imagery entered South Asian homes and media. 

It’s not that sex was invented in the ’90s, or that people in the subcontinent didn’t engage in sex or non-heteronormative sexuality (including gay men and sex workers). It’s just that it became a more constant presence in the media that we consumed.

In the 2000s, there was suddenly more “sex” on local television and movies. Still heteronormative, still patriarchal, of course. We were showered with the overwhelmingly hetero male gazes in Imran Hashmi movies and the item songs that accompanied almost every movie of that decade. In even worse scenarios, there was the inescapable plight of gratuitous violence in the rape scenes. 

Luckily, even through that period - healthier works were being created in more indie industries or regional media. West Bengal, amongst others, was prominent in producing more “forward” and mature depictions of sex and sexuality.

What’s unfortunate is because of how inaccessible these local healthier portrayals of sex were, a lot of us who had the alternative of having access to Western narratives of sex/sexuality, kind of clung to it. Our vocabulary around sex ended up being heavily shaped by a culture that we didn’t live in. When it felt like the words for sex and sexuality are limited to medical terms or slurs, it was easy to just assume the western alternative (added with our post-colonial hang-ups).  

It’s been very fortunate that the film industries and the artists within it continued to push for better media in this realm. In the last decade, we’ve seen some very prominent works that highlight sex/sexuality that made it to mainstream success. In this episode, we’ll be primarily tackling 3 movies that have done so - Lust Stories, a Bollywood anthology hit, Parched - an Indie movie directed by Leena Yadav and Rajkahini - a take on the partition of the Indian subcontinent through the setting of a brothel and the issues faced by the sex-workers residing there, directed by Srijit Mukherji. 

Through these movies - we hope to tackle some of the major issues confronting discussions around sex and sexuality.

Often discussion around sex and sexuality is looked at with a male-centric gaze, especially in their depictions of women - this was especially apparent in Karan Johar’s short in Lust Stories as well as the portrayals of sex workers in Rajkahini. Some of these portrayals used women’s sexuality for the sake of shock value and titillation and did not take into account the multiple facets of people’s identities that influence their sexual expression. 

Parched was refreshing in its gentler, more feminine take on women’s sexuality showing empathy, affection, and agency as necessary elements of fulfilling sexual experiences. However, even Parched failed to fully consider the “unsexy” elements of how sexuality is affected everyday lives - the women who were the protagonists in Parched were shown to be from a remote, rural village in India, and yet no discussion on their sexuality ever included the structural realities that rural women face in South Asia, like the lack of access to basic sanitation, water or even, privacy.

Any depiction of marginalized people when exploring their sexuality is incomplete without understanding their material struggles. The film, though shot from a feminine gaze, is unable to shed its upper-class/upper-caste romanticization of marginalized women’s lives. This re-orientalization of disadvantaged women’s struggles to be consumed by a privileged, upper-class/ Western audience is an appropriation of the challenges they face, packaged to be palatable (even enjoyable) to its privileged viewers. It is also made worse when the cast and the culture is a hodgepodge of people from completely different cultures than the ones being portrayed.

Rajkahini, while claiming to be telling the stories of ‘forgotten women’ ends up using the women characters as props for the overarching narratives of loss and displacement during the Partition of 1947. Only one character - that of Begum Jaan is given agency and individuality and even she becomes a stereotypical version of the soft on the inside, harsh on the outside, raspy-voiced Madame. The other women characters are only shown to be recipients of violence and abuse and the script and direction do very little to empower them.

Zoya Akhtar & Anurag Kashyap both attempted to make shorts on the sociocultural power dynamics that plague sexuality and sexual interaction in their contributions to Lust Stories. While Zoya Akhtar was more slightly successful in addressing perceptions of the economic and class dynamics between two sexual partners, Anurag Kashyap’s short woefully fell prey to a tired narrative of the “crazy woman” even though it began with a laudable commentary on the predatory relationship dynamic between older women and younger men.

Our main goal in this episode was to examine how mainstream and indie representations of sex and sexuality further (or set back) important conversations around these issues. While Parched and Zoya Akhtar’s short made some commendable efforts, most of these pieces of media were unable to take on a fully intersectional lens to these controversial, but extremely relevant issues for the larger South Asian audience.

In our upcoming episodes, we plan to address topics in consent and rape culture which we briefly touched on in this episode. We also hope to tackle movies from other parts of South Asia as we do this. This episode was so important to us, be sure to let us know what you thought of this episode!

Further Readings + Content

Singh, Asha. “Are All Women’s Stories the Same?” Round Table India. Oct 19, 2016. https://roundtableindia.co.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8831:parched-and-feminism-are-all-women-s-stories-the-same&catid=119:feature&Itemid=13

Sander, Lalon. “Eleven Heroines Does Not A Feminist Film Make: A Review of Srijit Mukherji’s "Rajkahini.” The Caravan. Oct 31, 2015. https://caravanmagazine.in/vantage/eleven-heroines-not-feminist-make-review-rajkahini

Singh, Poonam. “Film Review: Parched, Of Women Thirsting for More.” Feminism in India. Sept 26, 2016. https://feminisminindia.com/2016/09/26/film-review-parched/

Ghosh, Stutee. “Review: Women in Radhika Apte’s ‘Parched’ Are Bruised, Not Bechari.” The Quint. Sept 22, 2016. https://www.thequint.com/entertainment/film-review-women-in-radhika-aptes-parched-are-bruised-not-bechari-ajay-devgn-surveen-chawla-feminism#read-more

Podcasters

Masala Podcast https://www.soulsutras.co.uk/masala-podcast/

Brown Girls Do it Too https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08k5cp0/episodes/downloads

Chuski Pop http://chuskipop.com/

Liberating Sexuality https://www.instagram.com/liberatingsexuality/?hl=en

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

I love how people are pretending that the the question of whether Shamima Begum is a nice person has any relevance whatsoever to the question of whether she should be stripped of citizenship.

No. Cathartic as it might be to kick her out of our country for pissing us off, unfortunately (or fortunately), the law isn't just a magic tool for getting back at people we don't like.

Look, put it this way: I'm white British, with family on both sides who have been here as long as anyone can remember. Legally, there is supposed to be no difference between me and Shamima Begum (British citizenship isn't cumulative. You're not somehow more of a citizen just because your family has been in the country for longer). So, if I woke up tomorrow and suddenly decided to become a terrorist, do you think my citizenship would be at any risk of being revoked?

Because if not, then we're really going to have to talk about how this government apparently views the citizenship of poc and first generation immigrants as somehow less real than the citizenship of white people.