Arjumand

These children his Arjumand had borne, each was an independent, fiery spirit.

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010

So he also called her, Arju, short for Arjumand, the name she had been born with.

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010

Servants had been sent into the June heat to look for them; there were none to be found in that season, but Arjumand had been so insistent and unreasonable that they had all doubted her ability to survive the confinement.

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010

When Arjumand had been pregnant with Shuja at Ajmer, in the last days before giving birth, she had craved apples.

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010

Mumtaz Mahal Arjumand Banu Begam appears in the aforementioned novels—as a child, as a young woman whose hopes of marriage have been blighted by circumstances beyond her control, and as a new wife, incredibly fecund, absurdly in love with her husband.

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010

Arjumand and he had had these children because they were the result of their love for each other, but over the years, each child had adopted his or her own personality, brought it to the fore, become something and someone other than his or her early self.

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010

As the vessel departed for the ride up the river to the fort, he looked back at the place where the tomb for Arjumand would stand to remind him, and future generations, that here was a woman so beloved that her husband had built for her—soon to be silhouetted forever against the night sky—a Luminous Tomb.

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010

Over the years it had faded, but Shah Jahan had seen it and had never been able to find much empathy with his third son because of it, much as Arjumand herself had tried to dispel his fears.

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010

He went to sleep at midnight, and, in those few minutes before he closed his eyes, he thought of Arjumand.

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010

He wondered if he would himself last many days more without Arjumand; it was unimaginable, a life without her.

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010