A Journey To Discover Life

Popular Culture: Jodha Bai, as we know her, is the title by which we refer more often to the Rajput wife of Emperor Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar, the third Emperor of the Mughal (originally Timurid) dynasty who ruled between 1556 and 1605 A.D. She appears in various folklores of the popular "Akbar Birbal stories for Children '' as a queen, and these fictional tales on the wit of Birbal often are in fact our first introduction to both Akbar and Jodha Bai as children. These folktales have been taken up by various animators to be made into series. India's most popular platform of entertainment, besides its cricket, is Bollywood and Hindi cinema. One of the most iconic movies ever made in the industry is "Mughal-e-Azam", which revolves around yet another fictitious tale of Prince Salim, later Jahangir, falling for a dancing girl from his father's harem, Anarkali. There, we see Prithviraj Kapoor in his iconic voice as Akbar, referring to his queen and Salim's...

The Mughal Empire was at its peak. The year was 1577. Emperor Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar was the Imperial Mughal Emperor, and the only resistance he was facing was from the Deccans and Mewar. Maan Singh, his general, was taking care of these resistances as Akbar indulged in art and religion. Akbar's first son, from Mariam Ur Zamani, i.e. Harka Bai of Amer, Nur-Uddin-Mohammad Salim, was eight years old and spoilt immensely as the heir to the throne. Meanwhile, far away, Mirza Ghiaz Begh and his pregnant wife Asmat Begum, along with their three sons, were moving through the difficult roads of Afghanistan into India, in search of a new life after suffering misfortune in their homeland of Persia after a change of power on the throne. A clueless Mirza was searching for a new life and job. Disaster didn't seem to end on the tough roads when they were attacked by robbers. Everything they had was snatched away, and thankfully, lives were spared. The day was 31st May 1577. His luck seeme...