The Legendary Romance of Emperor Jahangir and Anarkali
Mughal Emperor Jahangir, son of Akbar, father of Shahjahan, was known for many things, but one particular story captured India’s imagination for centuries after his death — a story about a famous courtesan named Anarkali.
Multiple versions of this tale exist, each subtly altered to bring different elements into focus. In the most common version of the story, Jahangir, or Salim, as he was called before he ascended the throne, fell desperately in love with a courtesan who was a royal favourite at the time. Sharif un-Nissa, also known as Nadira Begum had earned the court name of Anarkali (translation: Pomegranate blossom).
As the story goes, Akbar disapproved of their courtship, as courtesans were not permitted to become queens (this rule was changed by successive Emperors). Salim and Anarkali’s romance thus came to a sinister and tragic end, with Akbar burying Anarkali alive between two palace walls.
This story inspired multiple modern retellings, the most famous of which arguably is Mughal-e-Azam. In the film, Akbar is portrayed as a more benevolent ruler, and Anarkali escapes death through a secret trap door in the wall she is entombed in, and lives out the rest of her life in exile.
But how much of this story is true?
Historians have remained uncertain on the matter, as conclusive proof of Anarkali’s existence has not been found. There is no mention of her in Jahangir’s elaborate autobiography, Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, in which he wrote in detail about numerous topics, from descriptions of turkeys he had specially imported from South America, to multiple rants against a general in the Deccan named Malik Ambar, whom he could never defeat. Anarkali’s name is also absent from any other account from that period.
However, the fact remains that there is a simple Mughal era tomb in the heart of Lahore, popularly known as Anarkali’s tomb, supposedly built buy a heartbroken Jahangir after he became Emperor (naturally, this tomb was symbolic). Some historians claim that the area on which the tomb was built was originally a pomegranate garden named Bagh Anarkali (Garden of the Pomegranate Blossom), hence the name.
Till date, no one knows for whom that tomb was really built. But inside it, on an ornate marble sarcophagus, a couplet is inscribed in Persian that reads thus:
Ah! If I could behold the face of my beloved once more
I would thank my God until the day of resurrection
Below this couplet lies the signature of the composer — Majnun Salim Akbar.
Works Cited
Chavan, Akshay. “The Story of Anarkali — Fact or Fiction?” Live History India. March 15th, 2018. Web. <https://www.livehistoryindia.com/herstory/2018/03/15/the-story-of-anarkali---fact-or-fiction > as seen on May 31st, 2020.
Butt, Aamir. “Anarkali: Fact or Fiction?” The Nation. March 18th, 2016. Web. <https://nation.com.pk/18-Mar-2016/anarkali-fact-or-fiction > as seen on May 31st, 2020.
