Mughal Women; History’s Hidden Traders

‘Historical classics’ of Indian cinema, beguiling as they were, through their one-sided narrative, buried the success stories of women like Maryam-uz-zamani.

Magnificently opulent, overflowing with the sheen of luxurious fabrics and intricately carved marble and stone intarsia, painted stucco and tilework, the Mughal palaces bewitched visitors from far and wide. Asif Karim’s 1960s epic film Mughal-e-Azam captured the grandeur of this imperial era and popular imagination; dramatic not only in its visuals of royal life, but the fictional story of the Mughal emperor Akhbar and his wayward son Salim- who much to the senior ruler’s chagrin falls in love with a courtesan and wages war against his father’s high handedness. Hidden, however, is the untold story of Akhbar’s wife, Maryam-uz-zamani and many other women that lived before and after her.