On Gulbadan, Emperor Babar’s daughter, and Ruskin Bond the writer

Published : May 07, 2024 12:16 IST - 3 MINS READ “She called herself ‘this Insignificant Person’ but she was not at all insignificant nor even just a person, although perhaps she was wise to call herself so because her name was Princess Rosebody, which sounds like someone in a fairy tale, but she was real, and of real and most dramatic times, being Gulbadan Begam, the youngest daughter of Babur, the first Mughal emperor of India. Godden’s Gulbadan probably isn’t very dependable as biography—Godden’s presence as a 21st century white feminist looking admiringly at this 16th century aristocrat is all too evident—but reads wonderfully well as a novel. For instance, Gulbadan freely bodyshames her grandfather—Babur’s father, Umar Shaikh Mirza, the chieftain of Ferghana—saying “he used to wear his tunic extremely tight; so much so that, as he was wont to contract his belly when he tied the strings, when he let himself out, the strings often burst.’’ Godden continues: “One day, as he was feeding and fondling his birds, the wall began to crumble—his weight had helped to bring it down—and Umar Shaikh was precipitated, with his pigeon house and his pigeons, and ‘took flight to the other world.’’’ Did Gulbadan remark herself that Umar Shaikh’s “precipitation” was partly caused by his weight or is this Godden’s contribution? Rumer Godden’s Gulbadan is part of a series called “A Ruskin Bond Selection” brought out by Speaking Tiger in 2016.