Review of Ruby Lal's 'Empress': A remarkable story of Nur Jahan's reign

Ruby Lal has created a remarkable portrait of an empress by locating her in the historical situation in which she found herself, writes Rudrangshu Mukherjee

Biography and history are closely related but it is not always a very easy relationship. In the world of Indian scholarship, the problem is further complicated by the fact that biography very often tends to become hagiography. The writing of history requires a certain amount of distance and perspective whereas biographers tend to remain very close to their subjects, often seeing the world and events through the papers and the recollections of their subjects. Biography, by definition, is focused on an individual more often than not on a famous individual — someone who it is assumed made the times and