Princess Fitna

Among his lesser known accomplishments, Aurangzeb imprisoned his favorite daughter Zeb-un-nisa for life. Zeb was born almost exactly 9 months after Aurangzeb's nikah with his chief consort, the Safavid Irani Dilras Banu, but given that he was what Jehangir would have called a majzoob-e-madarzad  -- absorbed in holy rapture right from the mother's womb (or in Jehangir's sense of the term, a congenital idiot) -- we can safely rule out that he had put the bun in the oven before the qabools were uttered. 

She quickly grew to become a favorite daughter. He once showered 30,000 gold pieces on Zeb when she had become a hafizah of the Qur'an. But she also loved music and the fine arts, and was herself a singer of some renown. She was a fine poetess in Persian, and wrote under the name Makhfi - the one disguised, concealed. Her collected works are available as the Divan-e-Makhfi. 

When Aurangzeb ascended the blood-spattered throne, Zeb was only 21, but he was already discussing affairs of state with her. He would send all the princes of court to welcome her when she swung by. None of these honors were afforded to her 3 younger sisters.

But Aurangzeb was a Sufi in the mould of Imam Rabbani (whose missionary career grew wings after the death of Akbar and the ascent of Jehangir). As his walk of faith entered steeper territory, his tolerance levels were thrown off kilter. 

No one really knows why Aurangzeb turned on Zeb. Some say it was because she wrote sympathetically to her younger brother Muhammad Akbar who had publicly accused Aurangzeb of not being Islamic enough -- of all things political, he chose this accusation... I suppose when a revolution is in progress, ambitious people fall over one another to declare their devotion to the cause.

Another theory is that she had a brief affair with the son of the vazir of Shahjehanabad - but whispers of her secret trysts and affairs were not uncommon before, she being a single woman with privileges and all that. 

But those were minor, as affairs go. The major portion of dalliance and pining was reserved for the Maratha Shivaji, whom she is also rumored to have helped escape Mughal captivity, and whose meteoric rise and legacy single-handedly destroyed the Mughal empire.

Whatever the truth is, she was charged with fitna, sedition, her accumulated wealth was seized, her pension canceled, and she was placed under lifelong incarceration in a fort. A refreshing change in parenting from Shah Jehan's incest fetish.

I'd imagine that being a bird in a cage is every Persian poet's ecstatic nightmare, at least the melancholy and defiant ones (meaning most of them). Our princess, like all spinsters, was telling everyone she is lonesome-coz-she's-too-wholesome, and so her poetry is set to that register since the good times when she was abbu's favourite.

سر گرانی نرود از سر او تا دم صور

هرکه او مست به دامان ایاغی نبود

तुरही-धमन तक भारी 

रहेगा सिर उसका।

सोम के प्यालों से जो 

न सहस्कृत हो पाया॥

"'Til Israfil's (Raphael's) trumpet blows (to herald the Resurrection), that sullen, heavy-headed inebriation (of materialism) never leaves one / Who is not instead intoxicated from the chalice of the Wine (of Enlightenment)."

عشق چون آید برد هوش دل فرزانه را

دزد دانا میکشد اول چراغ خانه را

आकर काम चित्त-बोध को

मोह लेता है कुछ ऐसे ।

चोर सियाना जो देहली-दीप को 

चुरा लेता है पहले॥

"Love comes and robs the heart of wit and wisdom / Like the clever thief who snatches the lamp of the household first."

مخفی هر لحظه من از بخت سؤالی دارم

تا به یک بار کند لب به جواب آلوده

मख़्फ़ी पृच्छा है मेरी 

दिष्टि से पल पल।

कि वह होंठ पर एक बार लाए 

उत्तर का कश्मल॥

"Makhfi, I question Luck every passing moment / Hoping that Her lips be tainted with an answer just once."

گرچه من لیلی اثاثم دل چو مجنون بینواست

سر به صحرا میزدم لیکن حیا زنجیر پاست

यद्यपि हूँ लैला सरीखी, 

मजनूँ-सा है अवाक् मन।

मरुमुख है मस्तक किन्तु 

पैरों पर है लाज का बन्धन॥

"Although I am Leyla, my heart is voiceless like Majnun; / I have turned my head toward the desert wilderness, but chastity and shame enchain my feet."

خورشید جهان تابم و نشناخت مرا کس

افسوس که صاحب نظران را نظری نیست

आदित्य हूँ जगताप और 

न किसी ने पहचाना।

खेद, कि विचक्षणों ने 

वह दिव्यचक्षु न जाना॥

"I am the light of the world, and no one recognized Me; / Alas, those with eyesight do not possess vision (or, so-called experts lack the right theoretical framework and insight)."

مخفیا در روز محشر بینصیب از کوثر است

زبان در کام کش مخفی و پای صبر در دامن

मख़्फ़िया यम-सदन में रहेगी 

अभागिन ऋत-पान से ।

तालू में रखें जीभ-खेचरी मख़्फ़ी

और धीरज-पाद आँचल में॥

"Makhfi, the concealed one, is not destined to drink of the fount of Kauthar on the Day of Resurrection & Judgment; / Tuck your Tongue into your palate, Makhfi, and pull your feet of Patience under your skirt."

آنکه دست دوستی بر دامن حیدر نزد

که آخر پنجه شاه ولایت دست من گیرد

नरसिंह के वसन को जो

न छूआ मैत्री का हाथ।

कि गुरुराज के नखाग्र से हि 

हो मेरा कर-संघात॥

"For the one who hasn't yet placed the hand of alliance upon the robe of Haidar (the lion, Ali), / May the tips of the paws of the King of Guruship grab mine."

Aurangzeb had replaced the customary Hindu Rajput chief queen with a Muslim Irani from Safavid Persia, but being remotely Shi'a under a Rabbani-inspired dispensation can be tricky.

A friend said to me recently: geopolitics is all-pervading.