Book Review | Chronicle Of The Queen Who Outwitted Aurangzeb
Tara with four older brothers behaves like the fifth son of the family, much to her mother’s chagrin. Tara’s father ensures that his daughter gets the same training as her brothers in horse riding, javelin throwing and sword fighting
Queen Tara: Kali of the Deccan, a historical fiction novel written by Medha Deshmukh Bhaskaran, introduces readers to Tarabai, who stood tall against the Mughal empire, by resisting Aurangzeb’s army and attack, with courage and smart strategies that overwhelmed the Mughals.
The story starts in 1680, with six-year-old Tara, daughter of Maratha Sarnobat (commander-in-chief of the Maratha Army) Hambir Rao Mohite, living in Talbid, her small village near Vasantgad fort in Satara province. Tara with four older brothers behaves like the fifth son of the family, much to her mother’s chagrin. Tara’s father ensures that his daughter gets the same training as her brothers in horse riding, javelin throwing and sword fighting. On a trekking trip with her brothers Tara sees two horse riders dragging naked and lifeless women and flinging them into a hole. Tara learns that they are Mughal soldiers.
On her eight birthday her father gifts her a pony. This sets the tone of the book with the readers realising that this young girl will live up to her name, meaning star and become a force to reckon with.
Tara overhears her parents talking about their king Chhatrapati Shivrai’s (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj) death. Chhatrapati Shivrai’s younger son Ram Raja is Tara’s first cousin, his mother Soyara is Tara’s father’s sister. Tara has visited Raigad many times, to spend time with her aunt and her family. Five years after Shivrai’s death, on a visit to Raigad, 10-year-old Tara impresses Chhatrapati Sambhaji (Shivrai’s eldest son) and he asks for Tara’s hand for his younger brother Ram Raja, and post marriage Tara becomes Tara Bai Raja Ram Bhosale. Chhatrapati Sambhaji’s death at Aurangzeb’s orders, makes Ram Raja the new Chhatrapati.
The story is set in the volatile period between Chhatrapati Sambhaji’s death and Aurangzeb’s end. The book highlights Aurangzeb’s two decades of relentless war on the Marathas. What the Badshah of the Mughals did not foresee was that the Marathas, and the Bhosale clans’ dream of Swaraj, coursing through their veins, infused them with a strength and strategy, that the Mughals were unable to diminish.
Bhaskaran’s description is so detailed that the reader is immediately able to visualise queen Tara galloping on her horse Lakshi, the battles, the forts, the Marathas, the armies, the military camps, Aurangzeb’s pavilion with his eunuch Mutamad and the hakeems tending to him. Readers will see Tara metamorphose from a young girl to a widowed queen, protecting not just her two children, but also her people, planning strategies that put her and her people a few steps ahead of the Mughals.
The book presents a generous slice of history. Kudos to the research Bhaskaran has done. Though some descriptions slowed down the reading journey, but I relentlessly shoved ahead, ultimately emerging victorious. At times I felt Bhaskaran had penetrated Aurangzeb’s mind more than Tara’s, as he hogged more words than the queen. Some books cannot be read in a gulp, this one needs to be sipped, little by little.
Rachna Chhabria is a Bengaluru based children’s author and a freelance writer.
Queen Tara: Kali of the Deccan
By Medha Deshmukh Bhaskaran
Penguin
pp. 289; Rs 499