Review of Ruby Lal’s Vagabond Princess — The Great Adventures of Gulbadan: The Mughals’ memory keeper

At 63, Gulbadan Banu Begum, the only woman historian of the Mughals, was prompted by her nephew Emperor Akbar to write about his dynasty

Most people tend to have cliched ideas about the role of women in the Mughal empire. The royal women were not cloistered away in zenanas. They lived separately, but were much respected; they were educated and had a voice of their own. The emperors often turned to them for guidance and advice.

Historian Ruby Lal’s book, Vagabond Princess: The Great Adventures of Gulbadan, is an account of Gulbadan Banu Begum, literally ‘Rosebody’, Babur’s daughter and an exceptional but under-appreciated figure. Gulbadan wrote a historical memoir of the Mughals when she was in her sixties, ‘Ahval-i Humayun Badshah’ or the ‘Humayun Nama’, providing an insight on life under her father Babur, brother Humayun and nephew Akbar. Gulbadan is the first and only woman historian of the Mughal era.

Akbar asked his aunt to write the book as she had known and interacted with three Mughal emperors. Her book is not political unlike the other accounts of the time. It provides details of everyday life in the royal palace and is also an account of the empire as it was taking shape. The princess travelled, crossed the seas, was showered with gold and diamonds, and led an adventurous life.

Gulbadan’s peripatetic life started early. Humayun consulted the women in the palace on how to deal with his rebellious son Hindal who had fled to Agra from Alwar. When he decided to forgive him, he asked Gulbadan, who had just got married, to go and fetch him. Her mother Dildar did not allow her to do so as she was too young. Gulbadan, however, took many trips between Kabul, Agra and other places with her family as and when politics and war demanded.

Gulbadan was very fond of her father who spent a lot of time with his wives in Agra when he was not warring and expanding his empire. She does not talk about how stressful this situation of many women and many wives could have been. However, she mentions that Maham, the senior wife of Babur, and also her guardian mother, got agitated when other women moved in with them.

The family took short trips for various reasons. To get over a family tragedy, Babur sent the women to Dholapur 35 miles south of Agra. They travelled by royal boats from the banks of the Yamuna. Shortly after Humayun fell critically ill, Gulbadan mentions the well-known episode of Babur offering his life in exchange for Humayun’s — Humayun got better and Babur passed away.

It was a period when men interacted with men, and women with women. Lal says the homo social arrangement at the heart of Mughal life persisted in Agra. It was also a time when the royals lived in tents and camps. For generations, Mughal women had convoyed with their men in battle zones which meant travel. During conflicts, “elders gave advice and the younger women brought solace.”