Daughters of the Sun

Empresses, Queens and Begums of the Mughal Empire

By: Ira Mukhoty

Narrated by: Shernaz Patel

Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

In 1526, when the nomadic Timurid warrior-scholar Babur rode into Hindustan, his wives, sisters, daughters, aunts and distant female relatives travelled with him. These women would help establish a dynasty and empire that would rule India for the next 200 years and become a byword for opulence and grandeur.

By the second half of the 17th century, the Mughal empire was one of the largest and richest in the world. The Mughal women - unmarried daughters, eccentric sisters, fiery milk mothers and powerful wives - often worked behind the scenes and from within the zenana, but there were some notable exceptions among them who rode into battle with their men, built stunning monuments, engaged in diplomacy, traded with foreigners and minted coins in their own names. Others wrote biographies and patronised the arts.

In Daughters of the Sun, we meet remarkable characters like Khanzada Begum who, at 65, rode on horseback through 750 kilometres of icy passes and unforgiving terrain to parley on behalf of her nephew, Humayun; Gulbadan Begum, who gave us the only document written by a woman of the Mughal royal court, a rare glimpse into the harem, as well as a chronicle of the trials and tribulations of three emperors - Babur, Humayun and Akbar, her father, brother and nephew; Akbar’s milk mothers or foster mothers, Jiji Anaga and Maham Anaga, who shielded and guided the 13-year-old emperor until he came of age; Noor Jahan, ‘Light of the World’, a widow and mother who would become Jahangir’s last and favourite wife, acquiring an imperial legacy of her own; and the fabulously wealthy Begum Sahib (Princess of Princesses) Jahanara, Shah Jahan’s favourite child, owner of the most lucrative port in medieval India and patron of one of its finest cities, Shahjahanabad. The very first attempt to chronicle the women who played a vital role in building the Mughal empire, Daughters of the Sun is an illuminating and gripping history of a little known aspect of the most magnificent dynasty the world has ever known.

©2018 Ira Mukhoty (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

A pleasure listening to every sentence

To begin with the difficult part, the names. There are so so many names. But the good thing is that you need not have to focus on all of them. Prominent names and characters stand out by the frequency of their use.

This book is so well written that each sentence seems to be crafted to an artistic perfection. The author Ira has weaved the history with a literary magnificence. The Narrator Shernaz's soothing yet regal voice makes the listening journey a pleasure at each step.

This was one of those books for me that I listened almost continously every day including the weekends. The history has been captured so well by Ira and Shernaz that it teleports one to the life and times of that bygone era of Hindustan.

Repetitive Content

The book Could have been better. Great account of the women. But content is repetitive.

Amazing

Loved it. Good story. Narration was very good. Wonderful experience. The story was detailed and easy to understand.

fantastic book and well narrated

Really liked the intimate details of the first 6 mughals followed by an epilogue. recommend the book highly to those with an interest in mughal India.

delightful informative

unreal..the mughal women are heroes..narrator mis reads many words but lilting voice is enjoyable ..

Confusing book was not laid out well

This book was filled with history but not laid out very well where it spoke of each King and his reign at a time instead it kept going back and forth up and down very difficult to follow.