Seven Lives Together-The Mughal Warrior by Shrimant
Chapter 6
Is Anarkali Alive?
There was massive preparation for the expedition. It was planned that both Nadirah and Aditi would travel to Firozabad by ship. Purujit’s business partner Farooq would arrange so that few guards would accompany them to Lahore as servants. He would also organize regular contact with them by sending people to Lahore at regular intervals so that communication with Farooq would be possible. Farooq could also send money to them regularly.
Farooq himself accompanied Nadirah and Aditi to Lahore. He arranged a small bungalow in a hectic and crowded market place. His motive was; no one would notice the appearance of strangers in a crowded place, which might not have been possible otherwise as people know one another in small localities.
For few months, they didn’t find any clue how to find out whereabouts of Anarkali. Then she thought of a plan. He convinced two of the guards cum servants; Ahmed and Virat, to explore the market and listen to the conversation of people. The battle between Akbar and his son Crown Prince Saleem was fought in Lahore. It was a momentous event for the local people. At first, they couldn’t find anything. Whenever they were trying to be close to a small group of people gossiping in a hushed voice, the group would suddenly stop and change the topic. It was difficult to know whether the original topic was Anarkali or something else. The frequenting of both to the marketplace made them known faces in the market. They identified themselves as a servant of a businessman who often went to Persia for trading, leaving behind his wife and daughter in Lahore. Gradually they could eavesdrop to the talks of different groups. People were discussing Anarkali, but no one was clear what happened. Many people still believed that Anarkali was buried alive. Some people still doubted. The confusion was largely because they believed Akbar was a kind hearted and always delivered justice. They could never imagine that Akbar could have ordered such horrific justice to an innocent girl.
Months passed without any positive development. They got the letter of Rizwan from Hooghly that Suraj and Saira were already on their way to Goa in a Portuguese ship. Nadirah was always positive. Both the women would visit the market where the women folk of wealthy families usually came for shopping. They made some calculated relationship as too much acquaintance might have revealed their true identity and purpose. She was sure that Anarkali and her mother must be living a wealthy life as Prince Saleem must have bestowed her enough money. The other reason was that outsiders usually didn’t peep into the harems of the affluent households. Still there was no evidence.
Finally, Nadirah decided to try her final game. She was a talented singer. It was from a singing concert Niyaz had kidnapped her when she was young, and her daughter Saira was a baby. She had stopped singing altogether after the incident, but it was in her blood any way. She started the practice again. It didn’t take long to reach the professional level of singing.
The song and dance performance was being called Mujra and usually attended by men folks. She was not intending to appear before a male audience. She was actually not comfortable. Moreover, there was hardly any song performance only for women. She was probably the first in the whole city of Lahore to organize a presentation only for women. To be honest, it was designed for only upper class women. In the evening, women would be engaged in cooking whereas the menfolk mostly went out for entertainment. It was not surprising that most people lined up for the Mujras. Nadirah chose daytime for her performance. Aditi contacted few women of affluent families in the market, and they showed interest to the novel idea: the first song performance for women only audience.
The program started in their house with only few women as audience. Gradually the news spread to nearby posh localities. Only women from wealthy families were allowed entry. Aditi was circulating among the crowd and trying to make friends hoping someone might know the whereabouts of Anarkali. Weeks and months passed on. Nadirah continued singing every week for the small women viewers. Aditi continued her quest without any success, but they didn’t lose hope. They have to continue to live in Lahore till Suraj and Saira came back from Goa. Aditi ritually befriended every beautiful young woman who attended the concert. Anarkali was a dance-girl. She must have abstained from all sorts of dance and songs to hide successfully. Mostly, only men had seen her performing mujra (dance performance). This meant none of the women attending the concert of Nadirah had noticed her. None of them could recognise her. Aditi was sure, one day she would come to this concert for two reasons. Firstly, no one could recognise her as the audience was entirely women. Secondly, she was fond of song and dance which she must have been seriously missing. This was the only place in Lahore where she could enjoy the song performance without being noticed.
One day, one mother and her beautiful young girl arrived by a decorated horse carriage. The girl was almost of the same age as Anarkali. Aditi started observing her while Nadirah continued her singing. Aditi saw the young woman was thoroughly enjoying the song by slowly beating her feet on the ground as per the rhythm. She thought finally God answered to her prayer. Finally, she could find Anarkali. She hoped to be able to keep them there for some time after the small crowd dispersed so that she could talk to them privately. But that didn’t happen. They started to walk out quickly as soon as the concert was over. Aditi didn’t get enough time to talk to them. She just quickly asked the woman, ‘Excuse me madam! Can I get your name please?’
She looked at her, but quickly walked away without answering to Aditi. Aditi went outside. The young woman and her mother quickly got into their horse carriage and disappeared. Aditi was visibly upset with her disappointment. Another elderly woman noticed this and asked her, ‘Why do you want to know her name?’
She mumbled at first, and then replied, ‘She seemed to have come from a famous family. We just wanted to thank her for coming. I have no other purpose.’
The woman revealed, ‘Her name is Mehr-un-Nisaa, daughter of Mirza Ghiyas Beg of Persia. She came with her mother Asmat Begum.’
Aditi thanked her but still remained disappointed.
When everyone left after the performance, Nadirah asked her, ‘Who was that young woman?’
‘Not the one we want,’ she replied without showing any interest.
Nadirah smiled, ‘Do you think if she is truly Anarkali, she will reveal her identity so easily?’
‘You think she is Anarkali,’ Aditi questioned, ‘anyway she didn’t disclose any name. The other woman only told me her name.’
‘There are two possibilities,’ Nadirah said, ‘firstly the other woman doesn’t know who she actually is. She and her mother might have floated different names and new stories in the locality so that people will know them in those new names. Since many ordinary people have never seen her and her picture is not available anywhere, it is extremely easy for her to be acquainted by a new identity. The woman who told about her might know her only by her new identity.’
‘What is the second one?’ Aditi asked.
‘The woman actually knows her and trying to hide her real identity from you.’
‘What should we do now?’ she asked.
‘Just keep watching,’ Nadirah advised, ‘and develop rapport with the woman who told her name.’
Mehrunnisaa (let’s call her just Mehr for ease of pronouncement) never came again. The woman who told her name also came again to attend the concert. Aditi blamed herself why she asked her name so early. ‘She must have smelt fish and is now avoiding to come,’ she thought.
For few weeks, there was no further development. Aditi almost forgot the name of Mehr and started her search again. One day Aditi saw the woman in the marketplace; the woman who told her the name of Mehr. She lost no time to approach her and invite her for lunch. She declined but was willing to spend some time with her in the market. She was a neighbour of Mehr and got access to their house. She was ready to share her knowledge with Aditi.
‘Mirza Ghiyas Beg and his wife Asmat Begum are originally from Persia. Asmat Begum has access to the royal harem of the Emperor Akbar. S
he was regularly taking Mehr with her. Prince Saleem saw her and fell in love with her. The Emperor didn’t appreciate this. He ordered that Mehr be married to another man called Ali Quli. Ali Quli was the table attendant of Shah of Persia. After Shah’s death, he came to Kandahar in Afghanistan. He came into contact with Abdul Rahim, a famous poet in Akbar’s court. Abdul Rahim is also Akbar’s step son as his widowed mother became the second wife of Akbar. Abdul Rahim appointed Ali Quli as a royal employee. Later on, Abdul Rahim was pleased with his work and recommended for his appointment as mansabdar (lieutenant colonel) of Thatta in the province of Sindh. His work as mansabdar was appreciated by the Emperor, and he was moved to the royal courts at Lahore. He was fighting against Crown Prince Saleem along with Purujit, when the prince revolted against his own father Akbar.’
The story was sensational. Aditi quickly went back home and told everything to Nadirah.
‘Prince Saleem was in love with Mehr?’ Nadirah was surprised, ‘she is none other than Anarkali.’
‘I was also wondering she might be Anarkali,’ Aditi suggested, ‘but probably she is not.’
‘Why do you think so?’
‘Because her father is from Persia,’ Aditi analysed, ‘and Anarkali is a slave girl, so is an illegitimate child having no father. Also, her name is Mehrunnisaa, not Anarkali.’
‘Anarkali is also not her real name,’ Nadirah said, ‘her real name is Nadeera, very close to my name.
It was the Emperor who gave her new name, Anarkali. He might have given her another name, Mehrunnisaa.’
‘Then how Mehrunnisaa cum Anarkali cum Nadeera became the daughter of Mirza Ghiyas Beg of Persia?’ Aditi asked.
‘The Emperor can do anything he wants,’ Nadirah suggested, ‘he might have asked Mirza Ghiyas Beg to adopt her as his daughter. How many people in Lahore have seen Anarkali? She even doesn’t have a picture available to the public.’
‘People in the royal court must have seen her,’ Nadirah argued, ‘and they must have been instructed to keep their lips tight. Can’t you see that Prince Saleem was in love with her and the Emperor opposed the marriage? In fact, Anarkali was not buried. This was false news, created by the Emperor, to confuse the public. He is Akbar the Great, who can’t do wrong. It is possible that your father might have facilitated her flight on the instruction of the Emperor. People thought Anarkali died. Actually she took the new avatar: Mehrunnisaa (Mehr).’
‘This is wrong,’ Aditi said, ‘she wanted to marry prince Saleem. Now she is being forced to marry another man called Ali Quli. Shouldn’t we try to unite Mehr/Anarkali with Saleem?’
‘What? Are you crazy?’ Nadirah opposed her plan, ‘we have not come all the way risking our lives to unite two love souls. We have come to know the truth so that your father’s innocence can be proved. Ashfaq will be punished.’
‘If my father has helped Anarkali to escape on the instruction of the Emperor, then his detractors must have framed him in some other charges,’ Aditi argued, ‘and we don’t know anything about that.’
‘Yes, our problem could have been solved easily had Anarkali actually died,’ Nadirah said, ‘now we are actually back to square one.’
‘How fool we are?’ Aditi looked awful, ‘all the time we wanted to find Anarkali, an Anarkali who is alive. Now that we genuinely found her alive, our hopes have become dead.’
‘Just hope that Mehr is not Anarkali,’ Nadirah consoled her, ‘now we should think of our next course of action.’
‘We can do little to unite these two love souls,’ Aditi suggested, ‘should we wait till the wedding is over?’
‘Yes,’ Nadirah appreciated her idea, ‘this Ali Quli one day has participated in the war between the Emperor and his son prince Saleem. He was on the side of the Emperor so must have known Purujit closely. It might be difficult to approach the Emperor. I hope we can certainly reach Ai Quli once the wedding is over. He can probably help us to find out the truth.’
Is Anarkali Alive?
There was massive preparation for the expedition. It was planned that both Nadirah and Aditi would travel to Firozabad by ship. Purujit’s business partner Farooq would arrange so that few guards would accompany them to Lahore as servants. He would also organize regular contact with them by sending people to Lahore at regular intervals so that communication with Farooq would be possible. Farooq could also send money to them regularly.
Farooq himself accompanied Nadirah and Aditi to Lahore. He arranged a small bungalow in a hectic and crowded market place. His motive was; no one would notice the appearance of strangers in a crowded place, which might not have been possible otherwise as people know one another in small localities.
For few months, they didn’t find any clue how to find out whereabouts of Anarkali. Then she thought of a plan. He convinced two of the guards cum servants; Ahmed and Virat, to explore the market and listen to the conversation of people. The battle between Akbar and his son Crown Prince Saleem was fought in Lahore. It was a momentous event for the local people. At first, they couldn’t find anything. Whenever they were trying to be close to a small group of people gossiping in a hushed voice, the group would suddenly stop and change the topic. It was difficult to know whether the original topic was Anarkali or something else. The frequenting of both to the marketplace made them known faces in the market. They identified themselves as a servant of a businessman who often went to Persia for trading, leaving behind his wife and daughter in Lahore. Gradually they could eavesdrop to the talks of different groups. People were discussing Anarkali, but no one was clear what happened. Many people still believed that Anarkali was buried alive. Some people still doubted. The confusion was largely because they believed Akbar was a kind hearted and always delivered justice. They could never imagine that Akbar could have ordered such horrific justice to an innocent girl.
Months passed without any positive development. They got the letter of Rizwan from Hooghly that Suraj and Saira were already on their way to Goa in a Portuguese ship. Nadirah was always positive. Both the women would visit the market where the women folk of wealthy families usually came for shopping. They made some calculated relationship as too much acquaintance might have revealed their true identity and purpose. She was sure that Anarkali and her mother must be living a wealthy life as Prince Saleem must have bestowed her enough money. The other reason was that outsiders usually didn’t peep into the harems of the affluent households. Still there was no evidence.
Finally, Nadirah decided to try her final game. She was a talented singer. It was from a singing concert Niyaz had kidnapped her when she was young, and her daughter Saira was a baby. She had stopped singing altogether after the incident, but it was in her blood any way. She started the practice again. It didn’t take long to reach the professional level of singing.
The song and dance performance was being called Mujra and usually attended by men folks. She was not intending to appear before a male audience. She was actually not comfortable. Moreover, there was hardly any song performance only for women. She was probably the first in the whole city of Lahore to organize a presentation only for women. To be honest, it was designed for only upper class women. In the evening, women would be engaged in cooking whereas the menfolk mostly went out for entertainment. It was not surprising that most people lined up for the Mujras. Nadirah chose daytime for her performance. Aditi contacted few women of affluent families in the market, and they showed interest to the novel idea: the first song performance for women only audience.
The program started in their house with only few women as audience. Gradually the news spread to nearby posh localities. Only women from wealthy families were allowed entry. Aditi was circulating among the crowd and trying to make friends hoping someone might know the whereabouts of Anarkali. Weeks and months passed on. Nadirah continued singing every week for the small women viewers. Aditi continued her quest without any success, but they didn’t lose hope. They have to continue to live in Lahore till Suraj and Saira came back from Goa. Aditi ritually befriended every beautiful young woman who attended the concert. Anarkali was a dance-girl. She must have abstained from all sorts of dance and songs to hide successfully. Mostly, only men had seen her performing mujra (dance performance). This meant none of the women attending the concert of Nadirah had noticed her. None of them could recognise her. Aditi was sure, one day she would come to this concert for two reasons. Firstly, no one could recognise her as the audience was entirely women. Secondly, she was fond of song and dance which she must have been seriously missing. This was the only place in Lahore where she could enjoy the song performance without being noticed.
One day, one mother and her beautiful young girl arrived by a decorated horse carriage. The girl was almost of the same age as Anarkali. Aditi started observing her while Nadirah continued her singing. Aditi saw the young woman was thoroughly enjoying the song by slowly beating her feet on the ground as per the rhythm. She thought finally God answered to her prayer. Finally, she could find Anarkali. She hoped to be able to keep them there for some time after the small crowd dispersed so that she could talk to them privately. But that didn’t happen. They started to walk out quickly as soon as the concert was over. Aditi didn’t get enough time to talk to them. She just quickly asked the woman, ‘Excuse me madam! Can I get your name please?’
She looked at her, but quickly walked away without answering to Aditi. Aditi went outside. The young woman and her mother quickly got into their horse carriage and disappeared. Aditi was visibly upset with her disappointment. Another elderly woman noticed this and asked her, ‘Why do you want to know her name?’
She mumbled at first, and then replied, ‘She seemed to have come from a famous family. We just wanted to thank her for coming. I have no other purpose.’
The woman revealed, ‘Her name is Mehr-un-Nisaa, daughter of Mirza Ghiyas Beg of Persia. She came with her mother Asmat Begum.’
Aditi thanked her but still remained disappointed.
When everyone left after the performance, Nadirah asked her, ‘Who was that young woman?’
‘Not the one we want,’ she replied without showing any interest.
Nadirah smiled, ‘Do you think if she is truly Anarkali, she will reveal her identity so easily?’
‘You think she is Anarkali,’ Aditi questioned, ‘anyway she didn’t disclose any name. The other woman only told me her name.’
‘There are two possibilities,’ Nadirah said, ‘firstly the other woman doesn’t know who she actually is. She and her mother might have floated different names and new stories in the locality so that people will know them in those new names. Since many ordinary people have never seen her and her picture is not available anywhere, it is extremely easy for her to be acquainted by a new identity. The woman who told about her might know her only by her new identity.’
‘What is the second one?’ Aditi asked.
‘The woman actually knows her and trying to hide her real identity from you.’
‘What should we do now?’ she asked.
‘Just keep watching,’ Nadirah advised, ‘and develop rapport with the woman who told her name.’
Mehrunnisaa (let’s call her just Mehr for ease of pronouncement) never came again. The woman who told her name also came again to attend the concert. Aditi blamed herself why she asked her name so early. ‘She must have smelt fish and is now avoiding to come,’ she thought.
For few weeks, there was no further development. Aditi almost forgot the name of Mehr and started her search again. One day Aditi saw the woman in the marketplace; the woman who told her the name of Mehr. She lost no time to approach her and invite her for lunch. She declined but was willing to spend some time with her in the market. She was a neighbour of Mehr and got access to their house. She was ready to share her knowledge with Aditi.
‘Mirza Ghiyas Beg and his wife Asmat Begum are originally from Persia. Asmat Begum has access to the royal harem of the Emperor Akbar. S
The story was sensational. Aditi quickly went back home and told everything to Nadirah.
‘Prince Saleem was in love with Mehr?’ Nadirah was surprised, ‘she is none other than Anarkali.’
‘I was also wondering she might be Anarkali,’ Aditi suggested, ‘but probably she is not.’
‘Why do you think so?’
‘Because her father is from Persia,’ Aditi analysed, ‘and Anarkali is a slave girl, so is an illegitimate child having no father. Also, her name is Mehrunnisaa, not Anarkali.’
‘Anarkali is also not her real name,’ Nadirah said, ‘her real name is Nadeera, very close to my name.
It was the Emperor who gave her new name, Anarkali. He might have given her another name, Mehrunnisaa.’
‘Then how Mehrunnisaa cum Anarkali cum Nadeera became the daughter of Mirza Ghiyas Beg of Persia?’ Aditi asked.
‘The Emperor can do anything he wants,’ Nadirah suggested, ‘he might have asked Mirza Ghiyas Beg to adopt her as his daughter. How many people in Lahore have seen Anarkali? She even doesn’t have a picture available to the public.’
‘People in the royal court must have seen her,’ Nadirah argued, ‘and they must have been instructed to keep their lips tight. Can’t you see that Prince Saleem was in love with her and the Emperor opposed the marriage? In fact, Anarkali was not buried. This was false news, created by the Emperor, to confuse the public. He is Akbar the Great, who can’t do wrong. It is possible that your father might have facilitated her flight on the instruction of the Emperor. People thought Anarkali died. Actually she took the new avatar: Mehrunnisaa (Mehr).’
‘This is wrong,’ Aditi said, ‘she wanted to marry prince Saleem. Now she is being forced to marry another man called Ali Quli. Shouldn’t we try to unite Mehr/Anarkali with Saleem?’
‘What? Are you crazy?’ Nadirah opposed her plan, ‘we have not come all the way risking our lives to unite two love souls. We have come to know the truth so that your father’s innocence can be proved. Ashfaq will be punished.’
‘If my father has helped Anarkali to escape on the instruction of the Emperor, then his detractors must have framed him in some other charges,’ Aditi argued, ‘and we don’t know anything about that.’
‘Yes, our problem could have been solved easily had Anarkali actually died,’ Nadirah said, ‘now we are actually back to square one.’
‘How fool we are?’ Aditi looked awful, ‘all the time we wanted to find Anarkali, an Anarkali who is alive. Now that we genuinely found her alive, our hopes have become dead.’
‘Just hope that Mehr is not Anarkali,’ Nadirah consoled her, ‘now we should think of our next course of action.’
‘We can do little to unite these two love souls,’ Aditi suggested, ‘should we wait till the wedding is over?’
‘Yes,’ Nadirah appreciated her idea, ‘this Ali Quli one day has participated in the war between the Emperor and his son prince Saleem. He was on the side of the Emperor so must have known Purujit closely. It might be difficult to approach the Emperor. I hope we can certainly reach Ai Quli once the wedding is over. He can probably help us to find out the truth.’