The Twentieth Wife
Indu Sundaresan
2002
Harper Collins
pp. 374
The twentieth wife covers the story of Nurjahan’s marriage to Salim. Somewhere in between is the story of deceit and strained father and son relationships, of Akbar and Salim and Salim and his sons. The hunger for power in almost all the men in the story is barely tolerable. Equally unbearable is the hunger for women to be noticed by these men. The book, in my opinion, portrays women as vain, engaged in petty politics and with little to do other than dress up, and catch the attention of men around them. The richer the man, the better.
The love story of Mehrunissa (Nurjahan) is fascinating, but not always in a good way. The eight year old girl vying for the attention of a prince who is about to get married, is barely anything more than a drunkard, and is already scheming against his father, the casual manner in which the king orders for Ali Quli to give up his wife… these are just some of the elements that would put you off.
But the worst of all is the excruciatingly slow pace at which the novel moves. It is like reading a Saas Bahu melodrama. But with lesser twists and turns. And since there is no clarity on the lines between facts and fiction, I really do not who to recommend this book to. I am wondering if I should read its sequel!