Anarkali

Anarkali has a shadowy place in both history and folklore. Only a few doubtful details survive about her, and the best known of them is the tragic ending that met her life and her love for Prince Salim, the son of Emperor Akbar.

In this novel, Sumant Batra sets out to reconstruct the woman who has long been little more than a silhouette. He gives her an identity, a name, a family, and a life that reaches beyond the doomed love affair she is remembered for.

The result is a fresh and gripping saga about a woman finding her way through the social structures of the Mughal Empire and facing the consequences of acting on her desires. The book also honours the romance that earned Anarkali her place in history and myth, and it builds from that romance an account of a love that is sincere, pure, all-consuming and transcendent.