‘Bismillah! Here comes her highness, Shahzaadi Jahanara Begum! Bismillah!’...

Ira Mukhoty, ‘Daughters of the Sun: Empresses, Queens and Begums of the Mughal Empire’, 2018:

“....It is a glittering spring day in Shahjahanabad in 1654 and the usually raucous crowds at the stalls lining the Chandni Chowk have fallen silent, beguiled by the magnificence of the procession moving down the wide, tree-lined street. In front of the slow-moving elephants, liveried men sprinkle water on the street so that no dust rises off the ground. Cavalry and infantry follow, the horses tripping and impatient, the soldiers fierce and sombre. Eunuchs walk behind the soldiers, surrounding the imperial elephant on all sides. ‘Hoshiyaar!’ they shout, and make a great show of keeping back the crowds. They raise their silver sticks, ‘shouting out, pushing and assaulting everyone without the least respect of persons’. The Abyssinian eunuchs are particularly fearsome, their muscles rippling beneath their dark skin like a promise. The traders at the shops stand back respectfully and there are Armenians, Persians, Italians, Turks, Portuguese and French adventurers who will spread the stories of Mughal grandeur throughout the world. While the procession passes by, the merchants forget to haggle over the Chinese eye glasses, the jewellery, the perfumes, the gemstones, the slaves, the eunuchs and the caged cheetahs. The elegant white-robed men at the coffee houses drinking the dark brew made from imported beans from Persia set down their tumblers and stand to watch the commotion. Servants walk next to the imperial elephant, driving away flies with peacock feathers stuck into handles of enamelled gold. Others hold perfumes and incense as they walk next to the elephant, so that no offensive smell reaches the exalted passenger. A woman-servant walks in front of the elephant, swinging an incense holder in her hands and shouting out at each step: ‘Bismillah! Here comes her highness, Shahzaadi Jahanara Begum! Bismillah!’...”

'The Queen of Sheba', 1911

Artist: Edmund Dulac (1882-1953)