Manju Gupta
Rajal Akbar ka Navroz Diyo Chhudai (Hindi), Onkar Singh Lakhawat, Teerth Palace Prakashan, Pp 140, Rs 200.00
This is a compilation of short historical stories revolving around the festival of Navroz which is celebrated in Persia and is known by the same name of Navroz as the Parsis call it here in India when they left Persia and came and settled here. It is a commonly held belief among the Persians that Novroz marks the first day when the universe came into existence.
The author describes the way Emperor Akbar used to celebrate Navroz with pomp and grandeur and his palace would be decorated and illuminated from corner to corner. He would then be weighed in gold, silver, incense, iron, copper, etc. and all these would then be distributed among the poor. In Ain-i-Akbari a story is given of how Akbar’s son Prince Jehangir caught a glimpse of Nurjehan, daughter of Zen Khan Khoka at a Meena Bazaar which was held in the precincts of the palace during the new year celebrations. The story goes that Emperor Akbar appointed Nurjehan as the lady-in-waiting in his harem. One day, Prince Jehangir asked her to hold his two pigeons while he went to pluck some flowers. When he returned, he noticed only one pigeon in her hand and asked her what had happened to the other one. She released the second pigeon too by opening out her hands. The prince was taken in by her simple innocence. When Akbar came to know of his son’s involvement with this girl, he got the girl married to a boy in Persia but the latter died very young. Jehangir married the young widow and named her Nurjehan Begum.
Another incident narrated by the author is about Lokdevi Rajbai who was born in Gujarat’s Saurashtra district. She was a religious and pious lady and died after reaching the age of 80 and never got married. Temples dedicated to her can be seen in Kutch, Saurashtra, Rajasthan, Sindh and Delhi.
Still another story is about as affluent poet named Prithviraj Rathore who was equally adept in wielding the sword as he was in using his pen. Here the author has reproduced some of his poems.
Throughout the book, there are stories about the Rajput rulers who paid their respects to Emperor Akbar in their own individual ways during his rule, especially during the celebrations of Navroz festival. Some of the Rajput personalities included in the book are eminent poets and their poems have been transliterated in Rajasthani dialect.
(Teerth Palace Prakashan, 125, Hellos Road, Pushkar, Rajasthan.)
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