Padshah

She settles, finally, into her once-loathed brother’s harem and again supersedes her sister Roshanara by acquiring the title Padshah Begam—the chief lady of the zenana.

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010

She settles, finally, into her once-loathed brother’s harem and again supersedes her sister Roshanara by acquiring the title Padshah Begam—the chief lady of the zenana.

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010

She settles, finally, into her once-loathed brother’s harem and again supersedes her sister Roshanara by acquiring the title Padshah Begam—the chief lady of the zenana.

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010

The title itself was constructed to place her in the harem; if she had been the ruling wife of the Emperor, she would have been called the Padshah Begam.

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010

The title itself was constructed to place her in the harem; if she had been the ruling wife of the Emperor, she would have been called the Padshah Begam.

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010

The title itself was constructed to place her in the harem; if she had been the ruling wife of the Emperor, she would have been called the Padshah Begam.

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010

— From the Padshah Nama of Abdal-Hamid Lahauri, in w. e.

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010

There had been no such luxury for Jahanara, for even as her mother died, she had become Padshah Begam, the chief lady of the harem, in her place.

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010

Somewhere, doing something, being Padshah Begam already.

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010

Lahori is most eloquent in his Padshah Nama : “It was repeatedly uttered by his divine revelation-interpreting tongue that, if the heavy burden of the divine deputyship…had not been imposed on this seeker of the will of God…he would have certainly abandoned the high-ranked vast empire of Hindustan and divided among the princes of noble birth this extensive kingdom.”

Shadow Princess Indu Sundaresan 2010