Indu Sundaresan's books coming to the small screen
^ what I meant was that in the book, the way the story is told is Indu's fictional take on Mehrunnissa...the way she wrote the story, is "historical fiction".
In The Twentieth Wife, first-time novelist Indu Sundaresan introduces readers to life inside a bejeweled, dazzling birdcage--the world of the Mughal Court's zenana, or imperial harem. Her heroine exercises power in the only way available to a woman in 17th-century India: from behind the veil. At the age of 8, Mehrunissa (the name means "Sun of Women") has already settled on her life's goal. After just one glimpse of his face, she wants to marry the Crown Prince Salim. And marry him she does, albeit some 26 years later, after overcoming the opposition of her family, an ill-starred early marriage, numerous miscarriages, and the scheming of other wives.
The story's gothic trappings have a basis in fact. As Sundaresan writes in her afterword, the historical Mehrunissa exercised far more power than was usually allotted to an empress, issuing coins in her own name, giving orders, trading, owning property, and patronizing the arts. (Curiously, the book ends just as Mehrunissa is ascending to the throne as empress, dwelling on her years of powerlessness and struggle rather than those of her enormous political influence.) Although the empress was fabled in her time, we know next to nothing about the woman herself. --Mary Park
The Feast of Roses:
Sundaresan picks up the story of Mehrunnisa, the remarkable heroine from her debut novel, The Twentieth Wife, as the so-called "Light of the World" consolidates her power as wife of Emperor Jahangir of the Mughal Empire in 17th-century India, only to see her dominion destroyed by her own aggressive tendencies. The early chapters find Mehrunnisa confronting two rivals, who happen to be old friends of her husband, and eliminating them in a brief series of power struggles. She also talks Jahangir into letting her appear at the jharoka ceremony, in which the emperor presents himself to his subjects, an unprecedented achievement for a woman. Her problems start when Jahangir falls seriously ill and the battle for succession to the throne begins, a struggle that comes to a head when Mehrunnisa fails to marry off her daughter, Ladli, to one of the primary contenders, Prince Khurram. The battle for succession escalates, but even as Mehrunnisa maneuvers to keep power, her downfall is sealed by a pivotal incident in which she accidentally kills a palace intruder. The novel's scope and ambition are impressive, as are the numerous period details and descriptions of the various cultural ceremonies that distinguish court life in royal India.
