The Twentieth Wife
Chapter One
When my mother came near the time of her delivery, he (Akbar) sent her to the Shaikh's house that I might be born there. After my birth they gave me the name of Sultan Salim, but I never heard my father...call me Muhammad Salim or Sultan Salim, but always Shaikhu Baba.
-- A. Rogers, trans., and H. Beveridge, ed., The Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri
The midday sun whitened the city of Lahore to a bright haze. Normally, the streets would be deserted at this time of day, but today the Moti bazaar was packed with a slowly moving throng of humanity. The crowds deftly maneuvered around a placid cow lounging in the center of the narrow street, her jaw moving rhythmically as she digested her morning meal of grass and hay.
Shopkeepers called out to passing shoppers while sitting comfortably at t ... read full excerpt from The Twentieth Wife ebook
