Mistress of the Throne

Mistress of the Throne is a novel in the Mughal Intrigues series by Ruchir Gupta.  It was published in 2014.  The author has written several books on anesthesiology as that is his day job but I have not seen any other books in this series being published by him yet.  The main character is Jahanara, daughter of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Jahan, who is appointed as Empress of India after her mother dies.

In the opening pages Jahanara's family unit is held together by her mother. When her mother dies in childbirth, the sibling rivalry among her brothers becomes extreme.  Dara, the oldest son and heir to the throne is a liberal who accepts all religions in India. Another brother, Aurangazeb, is a strict Muslim who believes that it is Allah's will to destroy Hindu and Christian buildings. While her father remarried, he appointed the 17 year old Jaharana as Empress of India instead of his new wife, giving her broad political power. While Jahanara used her political powers to rule the country, her primary objective was to keep her brothers from fighting each other.

The setting descriptions were delicious, from the elaborate meals and the clothing to the palace decor. The building of the Taj Mahal was a prominent secondary plot.

The plight of women in Mughal India was a major theme. Female children of the emporer were not allowed to marry. If a woman was chosen to marry an emporer or an empire's son and he rejected her, she had to spend the rest of her life with the concubines, unloved. Descriptions of life in the zenana where all of the women in the palace lived abounded throughout the book. They played alot of games with each other as they tried to get power in the kingdom.

I loved this book and wish there was a sequel. I rate it 5 out of 5 stars!