I just finished reading this book called ‘Maharanis’ by Lucy Moore. It was a very interesting read- informative though not pedantic and provided a rather comprehensive view of the lives and times of the people mentioned therein. Plus, the main topic was a historical theme, which is anyways my favorite topic.
The book deals with, as it says, the ‘extraordinary and eccentric world of India’s princely class’ narrated through the lives of 4 extraordinary princesses, for the period of about 100 years during which time they had ‘lived in a cocoon of privileges’.
The most disturbing theme of the book, however, was that of change- inevitable and irrevocable and, how even the high and mighty, the beautiful and gifted are not exempt from the ravages of time.
Tales of grandeur, majesty and also of tragedy, of a lost magical world where Queens ‘had always traveled to Czechoslovakia to get my towels’; a princess‘returned home on an elephant from the day’s hunt’; ‘one missed their private airplane because it had been useful to fly to Delhi to get her hair done’; where a Maharani ‘zoomed across palace corridors on roller skates with her sari billowing out behind her like a flag’.
Tales, also of enlightened sovereigns fighting to maintain a balance between tradition and modernity, of their families seeing their lives and worlds changing, tales of some who managed to transition into the new world and of others who did not and found solace in drink.
It is also a tale of the nascent women’s liberation movement in India. As everything else, the movement was a mish mash of things and events. It did not have a very pronounced structure. In some states and places regressive practices like ‘purdah’ took years of concerted effort to eradicate. In others, a single spontaneous act by any woman of consequence ended the practice.
Overall, the book provides an overall view of the broader political and socio economic scenario in India during the pre Independence era.
It made for an interesting and poignant read.
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