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The Mirror of Beauty
It’s hard to say which is more enticing —the language and poetics of the author (Faruqi says he was "incomparably enriched by love for pre-modern Persian and Urdu poetry"), the gentle and graceful old world style of storytelling which brings the waning Mughal times alive, the vistas of the landscape or the irresistible heroine. What a woman she is! Full of grace and wit; beauty and mystique, strength and vulnerability: Wise, gorgeous, independent and appealing to men, yet with an innate restraint, no wonder that no man can resist her. In her lifetime, Wazir Khanam is the mistress of three men — Englishman Marston Blake, Nawab Shamsuddin Ahmad Khan (closely related to Mirza Ghalib) and Agha Mirza Turab Ali and wife of a fourth, Mirza Fathul Mulk Bahadur. She loves them all in separate ways, and faces their loss and separation with fortitude. While faced with peculiar vicissitudes of life, which would have flattened a lesser mortal, this unconventional woman of splendid beauty lives her life to the fullest and with the utmost grace. Wazir is a defiant feminist of her times; many times having to give up what is dearest to her because of the choices that she makes. Incidentally, although this is a book of fiction, Wazir Khannum is a historical character. She is the mother of the famous Urdu poet, Dagh Dehlavi. One of the marvellous things about Faruqi’s book is that one can randomly open any page to experience the splendour of his style. That is not to say that the narrative lacks in any way, quite the contrary. The plot follows the life of Wazir Khannum and describes the transition of power to the East India Company — wrested from the incapable yet unwilling (to let go) hands of the Mughal Governance. It covers a wide vista of the life of the woman as well as the life of a nation in transition. The culture and the lifestyle of the people is described in minute detail —the art, the conversation, the poetry, the literature, music and craft. Faruki presents the reader with everything that constitutes the philosophy of a developed civilization to sample or to skim over at will. The myriad colours and textures and sharp contrasts of the country, from Rajasthan to Kashmir, find a celebration in the pages of this book. For the generation of readers of the quick and racy novel, this will be a revelation. It’s a book to be savoured, not to be gobbled up. Slowly, the author will unfold the various plots and stories and tales. Be patient and sit back to enjoy the treat. The Mirror of Beauty is an elegant book, a book that you would want to own, to keep in your shelves, to look at and read at will.
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This is a heavy book —
heavy in the weight of it; in the thought of it; the length of it, the
poetry of it and the sheer, drugging beauty of it. Written originally
in Urdu by the author (Kai Chand Thay Sar-e-Asman), and
reworked in English by him, the book is a mirror of its time —the
decline of the Mughal Empire. Perhaps it is fitting then that the book’s
plot deals with (but not merely with) the breathtakingly beautiful
Wazir Khannum, who elopes with an officer of the East India Company.