A riveting read indeed! I finished reading this historic fiction in a day and a half when normally I take at least a couple of days even for novels that I like. Divakaruni has selected to write about a piece of history that that captures the reader completely. The storyline is an absolute page turner.
Divakaruni recognized the potential of this historic character from Sikh history, so she spun a tale that tugged at the heart and inspired at the same time. As always, the writer has chosen a brave woman as her protagonist, and tracks her life story from the time Jindan was a little girl born to a dog trainer in Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s royal court. How this poor and uneducated girl steals the heart of the illustrious Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab, old enough to be her father, is a captivating story in itself. What makes Jindan even more special is the fact that the Maharaja, who has several ‘wives’ and many more concubines and ‘nautch girls’ in his ‘zennana’, promises Jindan that he will never take another wife after her, and he lives up to this promise. What made Jindan so dear and precious to Ranjit Singh – ‘The Lion of Punjab’? This little known Rani of Indian History has never gotten the recognition she deserves and Divakaruni’s novel does just that. Rani Jindan, the ‘last queen’ is beautiful and perhaps that is how she gets the Maharaja’s attention initially, but it is her courage, loyalty and her intelligence that win over the Maharaja and the reader as well.
Rani Jindan only eighteen years old learns how to be a ‘Rani’ after she is married to the Maharaja, yet when the time comes she easily dons the mantle of the Maharaja to make decisions that would keep the British at bay and ensure a free Punjab for a crucial period of time. At a time when women were entrenched in the practices of the ‘purdah’ and ‘Sati’, Rani Jindan challenged both those traditions to emerge as an equal to any man. Her political wile when dealing with the Khalsa, the Dogra, and other contenders to Ranjit Singh’s throne is shockingly charming, and it continues to be so even when this Rani is ousted from her kingdom, her son kidnapped, and she has to seek refuge in the remote kingdom of Nepal. Her indomitable spirits is unfazed, even soars in the direst of situations.
Rani Jindan is a multifaceted woman- a fiesty girl, a loyal wife, a passionate lover, a caring mother, a true friend, a wily politician, a smart strategist, an undaunted female, and a free spirit. Of all these roles, it’s Rani Jindan the mother who sometimes appears vulnerable to social norms and the reader understands why. As the mother of Maharaja Dalip Singh, a devout Christian raised in England when the Rani meets him after two plus decades, Jindan succumbs to maternal instincts and for the most part toes the line when dealing with Dalip Singh’s British environment. In the last part of the story the reader misses the bold Rani and wonders if she is ever going to emerge and regain what the British sneakily took away from her and her people.
I doubt that Rani Jindan would find anything more than a casual mention in any Indian History textbook even though there are chapters relegated to her husband, Maharaja Ranjit Singh and even to her son Dalip Singh. Sadly enough the ‘last queen’ will never get the recognition that other Sikh leaders and revolutionaries of the time do. However, after reading this novel I feel that even though Indians lament the loss of their invaluable Kohinoor Diamond that was taken from Ranjit Singh’s treasury and which now sits in the Royal History Museum of London, the real ‘Kohinoor’ of the Sikhs was their fearless and forward thinking ‘Last Queen’ Rani Jindan.
Iditis 