"I will not lift my Veil" | Zeb-un-Nissa - Part-1

This post is about a daughter of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, who was a Sufi at heart, and whose life's journey moved me. I have not read of anyone in so much pain throughout one's life. From being a favorite of her father to the days when she incurred his wrath....

Sharing her journey with all of you. 
This is a 3-series article. This is the first Part of the same. 

Links of other Parts.
Part-2 > "Supplications nor force nor gold can win me"- Zeb-un-Nissa - II 
Part-3 > "My name is Zeb-un-Nissa | I am the Glory of Womankind" - III

Zeb-un-Nissa was the eldest daughter of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb of Hindustan, and was born in 1639. It is difficult to learn precisely the details of her life; they were not written in any connected biography, for in her later days she incurred the wrath of her stern father, and no court chronicler dared to speak of her. Her mother was Dilras Banu Begum, daughter of Shah Nawaz Khan. 

From her childhood she showed great intelligence, and she was instructed from an early age. At seven years of age she was a Hafiz—she knew the Koran by heart; and her father gave a great feast to celebrate the occasion. The whole army was feasted in the great Maidan at Delhi, 30000 gold mohurs were given to the poor, and the public offices were closed for 2 days. 

She was given as teacher a lady named Miya bai, and learned Arabic in four years; she then studied mathematics and astronomy, in which sciences she gained rapid proficiency. She began to write a commentary on the Quran, but this was stopped by her father - Aurangzeb. 

From her early youth she wrote verses, at first in Arabic; but when an Arabian scholar saw her work he said: “Whoever has written this poem is Indian. The verses are clever and wise, but the idiom is Indian, although it is a miracle for a foreigner to know Arabic so well.” This piqued her desire for perfection, and thereafter she wrote in Persian, her mother-tongue. 

 
She had as tutor a scholar called Shah Rustum Ghazi, who encouraged and directed her literary tastes. She wrote at first in secret, but he found copies of her verses among her exercise-books. He prophesied her future great­ness, and persuaded her father to send all over India and Persia and Kashmir to find poets and to invite them to come to Delhi to form a fitting circle for the princess. Aurangzeb himself cared little for poetry and used to speak against the poet’s calling. He had forbidden the works of Hafiz to be read in school by boys, or in the palace by the Begums, but he made an exception in favour of Zeb-un-Nissa.

Zeb was her father's favorite child (before she earned his wrath) and could make him forgive anyone. One such person was her maternal grandfather Shah Nawaz Khan. He had not helped Aurangzeb during the war of succession and was therefore imprisoned. It was Zeb who secured pardon for him and got him released.

Many years later, her brother Prince Azam got into trouble for quarreling with the harem superintendent. (The incident is probably the same which Radhika shared on blog earlier. LINK . Azam didn't take a mahaldar with him to Ahmedabad and was fined by his father of Rs. 50,000. Azam sent his petition for pardon thru Zeb, as he was sure that their father wouldn't say no to Zeb.

{ 
It is much like Aurangzeb's case when he himself got pardoned by his father through his sister Jahanara's intervention in 1644. See these posts. 
Jahanara - A Sufi Fakeera or a Padshah Begum
Jahanara - Her Father's Daughter  
}

Among the poets of her circle were Nasir Ali, Sayab, Shamsh Wali Ullah, a Brahmin, and Behraaz. Nasir Ali came from Sirhind, and was famous for his pride and his poverty, for he despised the protection of the great. Zeb-un-Nissa admired his verses, and in a way he came to be regarded almost as her rival poet. Her coterie used to engage in a poetical tournament— a kind of war of wits. One would propose a line—sometimes it would be a question; another would answer it or contradict it or qualify it or expand it, by a line or lines in the same metre, rhyming with the original line. This is called mushaira—a poetical concourse; and in this quick repartee Zeb-un-Nissa excelled.

She had been betrothed by the wish of Shah Jehan, her grandfather, to Suleiman Shikoh, who was her cousin and son of Dara Shikoh; but Aurangzeb, who hated and feared Dara, was unwilling that the marriage should take place, and caused the young prince to be poisoned. 

(This incident was mentioned in this post > Aurangzeb | Succession to Mughal Throne)



Her marriage proposal(s)

She had many other suitors for her hand, but she demanded that she should see the princes and test their attainments before a match was arranged. One of those who wished to marry her was Mirza Farukh, son of Shah Abbas II of Iran; she wrote to him to come to Delhi so that she might see what he was like. The record remains of how he came with a splendid retinue, and was feasted by Zeb-un-Nissa in a pleasure-house in her garden, while she waited on him with her veil upon her face. 

He asked for a certain sweetmeat in words which, by a play of language, also meant a kiss, and Zeb-un-Nissa, affronted, said: “Ask for what you want from our kitchen.” She told her father that, in spite of the prince’s beauty and rank, his bearing did not please her, and she refused the marriage. 

Mirza Farukh, however, sent her this verse: “I am determined never to leave this temple; here will I bow my head, here will I prostrate myself, here will I serve, and here alone is happiness.” 

{
What a sight it must have been ? Here, we are witnessing the daughter of one of the MOST conservative Emperors "choosing" her husband, much like the Ancient Hindu ceremony of Swayamver. And, the prince of Iran is requesting her to accept him.
}

Zeb-un-Nissa answered: “How light dost thou esteem this game of love, O child. Nothing dost thou know of the fever of longing, and the fire of separation, and the burning flame of love.” And finally he returned back to Persia without her.

She enjoyed a great deal of liberty in the palace: she wrote to many learned men of her time, and held discussions with them. She was a great favourite with her uncle Dara Shikoh, who was a scholar and wide-minded and enlightened. To him she modestly attributed her verses when first she began to write, and many of the ghazals in collection of Dara Shikoh are by her. She came out in the court, and helped in her father’s councils, but always with the veil upon her face. Perhaps she liked the metaphor of the face hidden till the day when the Divine Belovèd should come; perhaps life behind carven lattices had a charm for her; for her pen-name is Makhfi, the hidden one. 

Once Nasir Ali said this verse: 

“O envy of the moon, lift up thy veil and let me enjoy the wonder of thy beauty.” 

She answered:—

"I will not lift my veil,—

For, if I did, who knows?

The bulbul might forget the rose,

The Brahman worshipper

Adoring Lakshmi’s grace

Might turn, forsaking her,

To see my face;

My beauty might prevail.

Think how within the flower

Hidden as in a bower

Her fragrant soul must be,

And none can look on it;

So me the world can see

Only within the verses I have writ—

I will not lift the veil."

She belonged, like her father, to the Sunni sect of Muslims, and was well versed in con­troversial religious points. One of Aurangzeb’s sons, Muhammad Muazzam, was a Shia, and when sectarian disputes took place in the court the prin­cess was often asked to settle them. Her decision in one dispute is famous, for it was copied and sent to Iran and Turan, and many scores of Begums are said to have been converted to the Sunni cause on that occasion. At first she took great pleasure in the Tazia celebrations, but gave them up at her father’s wish when he came to the throne, and adopted a simpler form of faith.

Much of her personal allowance of four lakhs a year she used in encouraging men of letters, in providing for widows and orphans, and in sending every year pilgrims to Mecca and Medina. She collected a fine library and employed skilled caligraphers to copy rare and valuable books for her; and, as Kashmir paper and Kashmir scribes were famous for their excellence, she had a scriptorium also in that province, where work went on constantly. Her personal interest in the work was great, and every morning she went over the copies that had been made on the previous day. She had contemporary fame as a poet, and literary men used to send their works for her approval or criticism, and she rewarded them according to their merits.

Continued.... 
Part-2 > "Supplications nor force nor gold can win me"- Zeb-un-Nissa - II

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