I remember my history teacher asking us in his first-class: “Why do we study history?”
We were not interested. Neither in the question nor the answer and absolutely not interested in history. After all, we were 10-year-olds, free souls!
But what he said kind of stayed with me. He told us that we study history to learn from our mistakes and never do them again. Even since I have finished “The Last Queen” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, I cannot stop thinking about the lessons that I can draw from the book and the mistakes that I can totally avoid in future.
The book is the story of “The Last Queen” of Punjab, Mai Jindan Kaur, wife of Ranjit Singh and mother of the last Maharaja of Punjab, Dalip Singh. I had read about her in a cursory glance while reading about the Anglo-Sikh wars in history but I had no idea that her story would be this powerful and moving. On top of that, this book is written by one of my favourite authors of all time, Divya Banerjee Divakaruni.
I have read her books “The Forest of Enchantments” and “Palace of illusions” which explore the lives of mythological characters, Sita and Draupadi. I have also read her contemporary book “Oleander Girl”, which has a special place on my literature shelf. Divya has been lyrically weaving the stories of women across generations with passion.
Also read: Forest of Enchantments: Story of Sita
I did not expect Divya to write a book on a historical figure this early. I thought she will explore more mythology which has forgotten so many amazing women. But, as a happy surprise, I was glad to find her book on bookstands and picked the book without a second thought and I am glad I did.
About the author
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning and bestselling author, poet, activist and teacher of writing. Her work has been published in over 50 magazines, including The Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker, and her writing has been included in over 50 anthologies, including The Best American Short Stories, the O.Henry Prize Stories and the Pushcart Prize Anthology.
Her books have been translated into 29 languages, including Dutch, Hebrew, Bengali, Russian and Japanese, and many of them have been used for campus-wide and city-wide reads. Several of her works have been made into films and plays. She lives in Houston with her husband Murthy and has two sons, Anand and Abhay
The premise of the book
The Last Queen (2021) is an exquisite love story of Ranjit Singh, the great Sikh king and Jindan Kaur who rose from the fortunes of being the daughter of a royal kennel keeper to becoming a Maharani and a force that Britishers were afraid of. This is a story of love and betrayal, loyalty and deceit, and an unbreakable bond between a mother and her child. This a parable of how a woman showed her indomitable spirit to protect her motherland despite all odds.
The book is divided into four parts: Girl, Bride, Queen, Rebel and each chapter in these parts is named according to the central theme of the book.
The Happiness
The first part familiarizes with the time of Jindan with her mother, sister, brother Jawahar and father Manna. Jindan dreams of having a heart full meal and nice clothes to wear but Manna has other plans.
He describes himself as king Ranjit Singh’s confidant and a person whose advice is meaningful to the king. With this pretence, he takes Jindan and Jawahar to Lahore where they both discover that their father has been lying all the way and he is just a kennel keeper with a desire to marry her daughter to Ranjit Singh. Jindan being an innocent girl of 16, falls in love with a man. A man who happens to be the King of Punjab. Her beauty, sharp features and wit impress Ranjit Singh who agrees to marry Jindan as soon as she turns 18.
In the second part, Bride, Jindan gets married to Ranjit Singh and quickly rises up the ranking of queens to become the favourite of Ranjit Singh. He promises her that Jindan will be his last wife. This part of the book is simply beautiful and as you move ahead in the book, you long for the peace that was there in this part of the book. Jindan gives birth to Dalip, further becoming closer to Ranjit Singh, whom Jindan calls “Sarkar”.
Things take an uneventful turn after the death of Ranjit Singh as the political environment starts changing over the quest for the throne. The throne gradually becomes the turf for Ranis, their kids, the kingmakers and the families of different Ranis who want to rise to eminence.
The struggle
There are turn of events happening around the Sheesh Mahal which ultimately result in an untimely declaration of Dalip as the king. He is barely six years old and this makes Jindan the queen regent. The conspirators plan to confine Jindan to the zenana and become the de facto rulers but Jindan comes out of the shadows and inabilities of being a woman and sits with courtiers should shoulder.
She is young and makes some mistakes in the royal game which start costing her position, her life and her son.
One thing that I absolutely love about this book is that the book has not tried to idolize Maharani Jindan. It has tried to show her witty and rash decisions in the same light. While she has made some very progressive decision in her life, there are some decisions which cost her sufferings.
Her blind love for Jawahar and Lal Singh
Her irrational behaviour towards the British quickened the demise of the Punjab kingdom
Her habit of choosing her favourites
Despite these shortcomings, she has to be credited for being a strong stateswoman. Considered that the transfer of throne when she was very young and rather inexperienced, she did fairly well. When she is separated from her son, her heart Dalip, she goes to any lengths to meet him and be with him. She takes on an arduous mental and physical journey to stay close to her son.
The Last Queen by Chitra Banerjee Review
Amitav Ghosh, my favourite author in the historical fiction genre describes Divya as “One of the most strikingly lyrical voices writing about the lives of Indian women” and I totally agree with him. Divya comes up with a story of women who are not known as themselves, they are rather known as a wife, sister or mother of someone.
I am short of praises for this book and if you get a chance to read this book, pick it up without a second thought. I promise you, you will enjoy it.
If you have read ‘The Last Queen’ by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, I am keen to know your thoughts on this book.