The Serpent's Tooth Part 7

Shortly before midnight he heard a gentle tapping at the door and the khawajasara entered, the taller figure of Kalima close behind enveloped in a cream robe, its deep hood concealing her face. 'I have brought Kalima Begum, Majesty,' said the khawajasara. 'Should I return to the haram until you send for me again?'

'No, wait outside.' Now that the woman was before him, Shah Jahan's doubts had returned and he wondered afresh why he was doing this. As soon as he was alone with her, he stepped towards her and gently pushed back her hood. This time, instead of being tightly plaited, her hair was loose about her shoulders, shining and luxuriant. She smiled at him as confidently as she had at the Meena Bazaar. Her right hand went to her throat and she started to undo the silver clasp securing her cloak.

'No, not yet.'

'Majesty?' Her hand dropped.

'Why do you think I sent for you tonight?'

'Because I please you. I saw you watching me at the bazaar.'

'What about your own feelings? Will you willingly give yourself to me?'

'Of course, Majesty.'

'But you're married. What about your husband?'

'I haven't seen him for many months. Anyway, I mean as little to him as he does to me. He married me for my dowry my father's lands adjoin his in the Punjab and he has another wife whom he prefers to me.'

'Isn't it your duty to be faithful to him?'

'Isn't it also my duty to obey my emperor when he calls for me?'

Smooth words came easily to her, thought Shah Jahan. She was no better than the courtesans of the imperial haram who had instructed him in the arts of love when he had been a young prince, ignorant of women and fumblingly eager to learn.

'Take off your robe.' Shah Jahan watched her undo the clasp and let the cream robe slide to the floor. She was naked, her skin shining with scented oil, save for a gold chain hung with tiny golden leaves about her waist. 'Turn around for me.' She revolved slowly, the golden leaves shivering as she moved. Her square shoulders were more like a boy's than a woman's; so were her tapering back, high, rounded b.u.t.tocks and long, muscular legs. She was striking enough but far from beautiful at least not to him. As she turned to face him once more, he was about to order her to pick up her robe and cover herself. Then, unbidden, she raised her hands and throwing back her head ran them through her glorious hair. The gesture was achingly familiar. How often had he watched Mumtaz do the same? An urgent, unexpected desire possessed him.

'Lie down over there.' As she walked across to the low brocade-covered divan he undid the coral b.u.t.tons of his own robe. Lowering his body on to hers, he sought her nipples with his lips. Moments later, as with his right hand he parted her lean thighs so different from Mumtaz's soft, yielding flesh and began to caress her, Kalima began to whimper with pleasure simulated or real, he couldn't tell and then to cry out, sharp-nailed hands clinging to his back. Yet it wasn't her voice he heard but Mumtaz's gentler one, urging him on and whispering her eternal love for him.

Two hours later, Shah Jahan sat up, body soaked with sweat. He put his head in his hands, grateful for the comforting darkness, though through the cas.e.m.e.nt the paling sky told him dawn wasn't so far off. He had dismissed Kalima as soon as he had slaked his desire but her scent still clung to the bedding. He reached for a silver ewer on the marble table beside him and poured a cup of water, emptying it with a single gulp. His body was still shaking with the horror of the dream from which he had just awoken, and which had nothing to do with Kalima. He had seen Mumtaz's tomb rising up ghost-like on the banks of the Jumna, perfect in its marble purity. He'd stood at the gateway marvelling at the beauty of his creation but then the sharp, rigid outline of the white dome had begun to soften and tremble no longer a piece of cold inanimate stone but the warm mound of a woman's breast, Mumtaz's breast. Suddenly, before his horrified eyes, bright red blood had begun spurting from the tip of the dome, running down in scarlet rivulets ...

The tomb had faded to be replaced by other visions Mumtaz in the agonies of labour, soaked in blood and sweat, screaming for the baby to come and for relief from her pain ... then more blood, this time dripping from the executioner's blade as the head of his half-brother Shahriyar rolled across the floor ... then a different scene: Jani, stricken with grief at her husband Khusrau's death, approaching a brazier of burning coals with tongs ... gazing into its red-gold glowing heart ... carefully selecting a small, single coal ... lifting it out ... feeling its scorching heat on her face as she brought the tongs closer ... closing her eyes and opening her mouth to receive it ... her screams as she swallowed it. Then, certain he could smell Jani's singeing flesh, he had woken, shaking and confused.

There had been so much death and destruction within his family. What had the Moghuls done to deserve it? G.o.d had allowed them unbounded power and wealth but denied them the peace and harmony that even the humblest family had a right to expect. His name meant 'Ruler of the World', yet as he sat there, alone in the darkness, the words seemed to mock him.

Shah Jahan shifted his position a little to get more comfortable. The Turkish concubine, with her wiry dark hair and startling amber eyes, had departed at dusk back to the haram. She had exhausted his body but his mind was restless. He had not slept for several nights. He must tonight. Standing, he went over to a locked chest on a low table and turning the key took out a small bottle of wine, into which he dropped a pellet of opium. He knew Mehrunissa had damaged his father with such potions but he must sleep. Soon he was drifting into a world of sensual, soft-scented dreams. He and Mumtaz were lying beneath a jasmine-covered arbour in the garden of their first mansion in Agra, bodies close. He touched Mumtaz's cheek and, seeing her answering smile, pulled her gently to him. Slowly he began unfastening the emerald b.u.t.tons of her choli, marvelling at the velvet swell of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s beneath the tightly fitting silk.

'Please, wake up ... the cloth has been spread for the evening meal and we've been waiting for you ... had you forgotten?'

A voice a woman's voice was intruding into his idyll. Opening his eyes he tried to focus but the pink-clad figure in front of his divan was only a blur. Even when she came closer and knelt beside him, he still couldn't distinguish the features, half hidden as they were by a sweep of dark hair. Slowly he sat up, confused. Was it Mumtaz? Yet how could it be if she was lying beside him? But as the figure leaned yet closer he caught the scent of orange blossom one of Mumtaz's favourite perfumes which she distilled herself. It was her after all. Reaching out, his fingers touched the yielding smoothness of her breast and began to caress it.

'Stop it! What are you doing? ... Please don't ...'

As she tried to pull away, he gripped the breast harder and with his other hand felt for the mound between her thighs. Through the soft fabric of her clothes her flesh felt firm and warm and welcoming, contradicting her words, which she couldn't mean ... Mumtaz had never denied him anything. This was just a teasing game to heighten his desire ...

As she continued to struggle, Shah Jahan relinquished her breast and putting his arm round her neck pulled her down beside him, breathing in the fragrant scent of her body. 'You know what you mean to me ...' he whispered, feeling her heart beating against him. She had always responded to him. From their very first night she had known how to give and to receive pleasure and so it would always be between them. But as he moved closer, she suddenly twisted away and scrambled off the divan, hair tumbling about her face. 'Where are you going? Don't go ...' Shah Jahan leapt up but as he reached for her she grabbed a bra.s.s bowl and flung it at him, catching him on his right temple. Blood streamed down his face and he felt dizzy. Gasping with pain he gripped a pillar for support and for a moment shut his eyes.

'Father!'

Opening his eyes again, he saw Jahanara, the front of her choli ripped open, revealing her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. What was happening? He shook his head as if that motion could drive away the clouds in his mind. As he stared at his daughter ... saw the shock and revulsion on her tear-stained, kohl-smudged face ... he began to grasp what he had tried to do. 'Jahanara ... I didn't mean ...' He took a step towards her but she backed away, the breeze blowing in from the terrace behind her ruffling her pink muslin skirt.

'No ... don't come any closer!' Her voice sounded strange hoa.r.s.e and high-pitched and he saw her glance towards the doors leading from his apartments, but he was blocking her path. He let go of the pillar and was about to move aside when he stopped. How could he let her go like this? He must make her listen to him ... 'Let me explain ...'

'No!' She stared at him, then without warning turned and darted out on to the terrace.

'Jahanara ...' Shah Jahan staggered outside. At first his eyes couldn't focus as he peered into the soft light of the oil lamps and wicks burning in their saucers of oil, but then a noise told him where she was near a stairway at the far end of the terrace that led directly down to the haram. 'Wait ...'

For a moment she looked back at him, then gathering her muslin skirt she turned and ran towards the stairs. Suddenly she lost her footing and tumbled forward, putting out her hands to try to save herself. As she came crashing down, the hem of her skirt brushed a naked flame. Shah Jahan watched in horror as a tongue of orange fire spread into the fabric and his daughter began to scream.

Shah Jahan half ran, half lurched forward, but before he could reach Jahanara female haram attendants who must have heard her cries ran up the stairs. Seeing what was happening, two dropped to their knees beside Jahanara, one trying to beat out the flames with her bare hands, the other trying to remove the burning skirt. They had some success until one leaned right over Jahanara and her long hair caught light and she too began screaming and clawing at her head. Almost simultaneously the second attendant's clothes caught fire and as she rose and ran towards a fountain a breeze fanned the flames, turning her into a human torch.

By now other servants were pouring ewers of water over Jahanara, dousing the flames before turning to help the other two women. But Shah Jahan had eyes only for his daughter. Kneeling low over her, he began peeling away the shreds of burnt clothing, fearful of what he was about to see. She was lying on her face, parts of her back and left leg horribly burned and much of her once lovely hair frazzled. As the smell of scorched flesh caught his nostrils, he began to heave.

'Your hakims are coming, Majesty,' he heard someone say. With the fumes of intoxication dissipating under the shock and tears coursing down his face, he tried to stand as strong arms reached out to help him. Minutes later, he watched as two hakims bent over Jahanara. 'She's breathing, but the burns are bad,' one said at last.

'Where should we take her, Majesty? Back to her own mansion?' asked the other.

'No ... Prepare apartments for her in the imperial haram here in the fort. Also give every attention to her attendants they risked their lives to help her.' Shah Jahan watched as, following the hakims' instructions, attendants covered Jahanara and her two waiting women with cotton sheets soaked in water and lifted them carefully on to litters. As they carried them from the terrace Shah Jahan followed slowly. Glancing for a moment towards the Jumna river he made out the pale shape of Mumtaz's half-built tomb. 'Don't let my daughter die like her mother,' he found himself praying. 'Punish me, instead. I deserve it.'

Chapter 10.

Shah Jahan leant closer as Jahanara muttered something. Briefly her eyelids flickered but then she lay quiet and still again in the half-light of the sick chamber. Though she was getting no worse the hakims were worried. Her periods of full consciousness were brief and her burns, pink and suppurating beneath their dressings, terrible to look at. So it had been for the past ten days. He was spending all the time he could by her bedside, making only the briefest of appearances in his audience chamber. As he sat head bowed, his mind returned again and again to that night. In his opium-laced longing and confusion he had mistaken Jahanara for Mumtaz and tried to make love to her, his own daughter, a sin before G.o.d and man. He could not forgive himself and therefore how could he ever expect Jahanara to do so?

Dara and Murad often joined him in the sickroom. Soon Aurangzeb would arrive from Burhanpur and Shah Shuja from Bengal. His family would be reunited again, but in what terrible circ.u.mstances. How could he admit to them what had really happened? Where was that aura of good fortune he had striven to preserve on his return to Agra after Mumtaz's death? ... Yet it wasn't that fate had turned against him. He had cast her off through his own weakness, and even if she survived Jahanara's scars would remind him for ever how he had betrayed his daughter's trust. He was so lost in his thoughts that at first he didn't hear one of the hakims enter the room and he started when the man came close and whispered, 'Majesty?'

'What is it?'

'The foreigner says he knows of a European doctor who might be able to help Her Highness. I'm doubtful but I promised to pa.s.s his message to you.'

'What foreigner? ... Do you mean Nicholas Ballantyne?'

'Yes, the Englishman.'

'Send him to me at once. If he knows anyone or anything that might help I want to hear about it.'

Half an hour later Nicholas stood before him on his terrace, just a few feet from where Jahanara's skirt had caught alight.

'Well? I understand you know a doctor who you think can help the princess?'

Nicholas nodded. 'He's a French physician now settled here in Agra. I met him many years ago he helped cure my master Sir Thomas when he was racked by stomach fluxes and I know he is highly skilled. I told him about the Lady Jahanara's burns and he described a remedy that he invented to help soldiers burned by flaming arrows or exploding cannon during battle. It combines medicines from Arabia, from his own country and from Hindustan and he swears that it reduces the pain. He also says that if applied soon enough it encourages the burnt skin to renew itself. He's outside. I brought him with me in case you wished to speak to him I could interpret. He speaks little Persian.'

'Bring him in.'

The physician was a short, squat man and his dark belted robe was stretched tight across a rounded belly.

'What treatment d'you propose?'

Nicholas translated, then listened carefully to the physician's response before turning back to Shah Jahan. 'Before he can decide what to recommend, he says he must examine the patient. He asks whether it's true that her shoulders, back and legs have been severely burned?' Shah Jahan nodded. The doctor reflected a moment then spoke again. 'He says he's treated similar cases here in Agra where thatched roofs are so dry that a few sparks can ignite them. Last month just such a fire swept through a row of houses in the north of the city. Several women died because they feared to break purdah by leaving their homes but he was able to save a few ... As well as the salve I told you about he has invented other treatments, all of which can ease the patient's suffering.'

'He talks of easing pain. Can he restore the sufferer to health? My daughter's two attendants have died of their burns.'

'I know the answer to that, Majesty I asked him myself. He says he will try but he can make no promises at least not until he has seen the princess.'

'And the disfigurement? If my daughter does survive, can he lessen that?'

Nicholas consulted the physician. 'No, Majesty. He cannot obliterate the scarring that inevitably results from burns.'

'That is a lesser matter. Tell him that if he saves my daughter's life I'll give him anything he wants.'

After a further whispered exchange Nicholas replied, 'He asks how soon he can see her?'

'She is being cared for here in the imperial haram. Only in the most extreme circ.u.mstances are my own hakims allowed to enter. No foreign man has ever been admitted. Though such rules are foolish in desperate times like these, I must show some regard to them. I will allow the two of you to visit the haram, but my eunuchs will lead you with your heads covered until you reach my daughter's room.'

The Frenchman was saying something else and Nicholas lowered his head to catch the words. 'Majesty, he asks for complete control over everything the princess eats or drinks.'

'Tell him my daughter is barely conscious and that all that has pa.s.sed her lips since the accident has been a concoction of water and opium to deaden her pain, especially when the dressings are changed.'

'The doctor insists she must eat as soon as she is able mashed fruits, especially bananas but in particular she must also be made to drink as much water as possible. Her body needs fluids.'

Half an hour later Nicholas put his hand on the shoulder of the French doctor, standing directly in front of him, as the khawajasara instructed. Then a eunuch smooth-faced and willowy arranged a piece of green brocade over both the foreigners' heads, twitching it into place until satisfied that neither would be able to see anything when they entered the haram. The brocade tickled the back of Nicholas's neck as at the khawajasara's command he and the doctor stepped slowly forward, the doctor's hand resting on the eunuch's shoulder.

'I was in a haram some years ago,' the Frenchman whispered, 'in the household of the Moghul Governor of Gujarat. One of his wives thought she had been poisoned. In truth, she had simply over-eaten and I recommended a purge. But I've never forgotten how difficult it was to take the woman's pulse. She had so many ropes of pearls wound round her arms that at first I couldn't find it.'

As the doctor chuckled, Nicholas heard doors thrown open and warnings shouted ahead that two foreigners were approaching and the haram inmates should keep out of sight. As he and the doctor shuffled forward, he felt soft carpets beneath his booted feet and smelled the spicy sweetness of frankincense. A few twists and turns and then he caught a rasping of hinges as more doors were opened. This wasn't how he had imagined entering the exotic, erotic world of the haram. Lurid stories of these s.e.xual pleasure grounds had fascinated him ever since he'd arrived in India. Now, though, his thoughts returned to the injured, possibly dying, princess. Of all Shah Jahan's children, Jahanara and her brother Dara Shukoh were the ones he remembered most clearly from their childhood. Jahanara had especially enjoyed questioning him about customs in his own country how women lived and how one had become its sole ruler.

Suddenly, Nicholas was blinking in soft candlelight as the cloth was pulled from his head. He and the doctor were in a large room smelling of herbs and camphor. He looked around for Jahanara. All he could see were three serving women holding up a length of silk to screen something. It must be her sickbed.

'The doctor may approach Her Highness to examine her wounds,' announced the khawajasara, 'but the interpreter must remain on this side of the screen.' Nicholas watched as the doctor pulled his leather satchel from his shoulder and took out a pair of thick-lensed spectacles which he stuck on the end of his nose. Then, as one attendant raised the silk a little, he ducked beneath it. Nicholas paced up and down anxiously. After what seemed an age, but was probably no more than fifteen or twenty minutes, the doctor re-emerged.

'Well? Can you help her?' Nicholas asked.

'Her burns are serious and weeping I have applied the salve and will leave two jars of it here for her attendants to use but the injuries are not quite as bad as I feared. My guess is that she will live. Her pulse is regular and her breathing good, but her recovery will still take time and much dedicated care.'

'The emperor has promised you everything you need, any reward you desire.'

'I know. These great men think their wealth can buy them anything or anyone, but in this case the princess's youth and strength will be her greatest help, not me.'

Jahanara re-read the verse before laying the ivory-bound book down on the coverlet. She had been curious to read poems written by Dara himself. How wonderful to open her eyes one day and find her brother by her bedside. When she had smiled, tears had p.r.i.c.ked his eyes whether tears of happiness that she was alive or of sorrow for her disfigurement she wasn't sure. Reaching for the small mirror she kept by her bed, she examined her face. The skin of her left cheek was scarred by a smooth, shiny red mark that broadened as it spread down her neck. What her back and left leg looked like she'd no idea she was still too weak and stiff to twist to see but she could guess.

At least the pain was gradually growing less and her mind was clearing, though that brought problems of its own. The memory of Shah Jahan's behaviour on the night of the fire was as fresh and sharp as if it had only been three days ago instead of six weeks ... her horror and revulsion as her father had grabbed her breast ... the strength of his grip ... the pa.s.sionate look in his eyes. Her only thought had been of flight ... she recalled lashing out with some object and running from him but after that all was shadow and searing pain. As she had returned to longer periods of full consciousness, she had vague recollections of her father sitting by her bed and of hearing him and the hakims discussing her progress. At first, weak as she was, she hadn't realised what had happened to her, but from their conversation she had gradually pieced together that she had been badly burned because her muslin skirt had caught alight.

Once her recovery was beyond doubt, she had noticed that her father had ceased coming to her room alone. Someone usually Dara, Murad or Roshanara accompanied him. When sleep evaded her and she lay in the darkness, her mind returned again and again to that terrible night, seeking an explanation that she could reconcile with the love that, despite everything, she still felt for her father. How could he have been so lost to everything as to treat her, his daughter, like that?

Of course she'd spoken to no one about what had happened not Satti al-Nisa, old and trusted confidante though she was, not her brothers, not Roshanara ... Even her sister might not believe her, and, if she did, might not understand.

'How are you today, Jahanara? You look better!'

She hadn't heard Aurangzeb enter. He was carrying something concealed beneath a yellow cloth. She suppressed a smile probably yet another gift. Her brothers seemed to be competing to keep her amused as if they thought her a sick child needing to be distracted by baubles. Yesterday, Shah Shuja had presented her with a necklace of coral and pearls from Bengal.

'Every day I feel an improvement.'

'Good. Look what I have for you.' Aurangzeb lifted the cloth to reveal a gold birdcage. Sitting on a perch of carved ivory was a dove with feathers of palest mauve and a collar set with amethysts.

'It's beautiful. Thank you.'

'What's this?' Aurangzeb picked up the book she'd been reading and flicking it open began to scan its pages.

'Some poems Dara's written. On his way to Surat he met a Sufi mystic whose teachings inspired him to write these verses. He's invited the Sufi to Agra so that they can talk further.'

'Why's Dara so interested? And just look what he's written here: "I rejoice that it is for every man to find G.o.d in his own way."'

Aurangzeb's contemptuous tone surprised her. 'Isn't Dara right? Surely each of us has a duty to strive for spiritual knowledge ... spiritual peace ... in whatever way we can.'

'What about the holy mullahs and their writings? They are our conduits to G.o.d. Ignoring them and their judgements to pursue our own path is not only presumptuous and misguided it's heretical.'

'Is it? Dara thinks some mullahs are obstacles on the road to enlightenment they insist on interposing themselves between the people and G.o.d merely to preserve their own power. I agree with him.'

'That's dangerous nonsense.' Aurangzeb snapped the ivory covers of the book shut and tossed it back on to her bed. 'When your body and your mind are stronger you'll realise that.'

'Perhaps. Or maybe because I've been nearer to death than you, you'll accept that I may be nearer to understanding the true nature of existence. Don't be angry with Dara and me just because our beliefs aren't your own ...'

'I could never be angry with you. But since I've been back at court I've seen how arrogant Dara's become and how he disregards the views of others. He was bad enough as a child, always thinking he knew best and telling the rest of us what to do. He doesn't realise the bad example he's setting. Since I've been in the south, I've had time to observe the Muslim kingdoms like Golconda, Bij.a.pur and Ahmednagar. To suppress and bind them into our empire we must show our power not only our military strength but our religious strength as followers and promoters of the true faith. One of the excuses for their rebellions against our father is that he is three-quarters Hindu and married a Shia Muslim ...'

'Our father is the emperor. It's not for them to question his birth. As for our mother, Sunni or Shia, she was a devout Muslim, kind and good to all ...' Jahanara's voice shook with anger. 'If we allow ourselves to be influenced by such narrow, bigoted talk not only do we defile her memory but we'll alienate the majority of our subjects.'

'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to agitate you ... let's talk about something else.' Aurangzeb knelt by her bed. 'You told me when I first returned that a foreign doctor aided your recovery with a "miracle" ointment. Who was he?'

'A friend of Nicholas Ballantyne he recommended him. He has remarkable powers for an infidel,' she couldn't resist adding. A flash in Aurangzeb's dark eyes showed her little barb had found its mark. Good. Aurangzeb meant well but even if he was right that Dara could sometimes seem patronising he himself was growing narrow-minded and intolerant.

Two hours after Aurangzeb had left her, when her attendants were lighting the oil lamps in the niches around her room, Jahanara heard cries of 'The emperor approaches' and a few moments later Shah Jahan entered. He was alone. 'Leave us,' he told the elderly hakim sitting in the corner to keep watch over Jahanara. As the double doors closed behind the doctor, she felt suddenly nervous as the memory of what her father had tried to do returned in all its vividness. She wished someone else was in the room with them.

Instead of coming to her bedside Shah Jahan walked to an open cas.e.m.e.nt and for a while stared out into the dusk. The only sound was the mournful shriek of a peac.o.c.k roosting in a neem tree in the courtyard outside. Then, slowly, he turned to face her, but it was still some moments before finally he spoke and when he did his voice sounded hoa.r.s.e. 'So many times I've been on the point of coming to beg your forgiveness or at least to ask for your understanding ... I never realised I was a coward until I found I lacked the courage to do so. Now that I have come, it's so hard ... my feelings overwhelm me and the words won't come ...'

'No, please ...' The bleak look on his face banished her fear of him. 'Let's not speak of that night ... we must both try to forget it.' Jahanara sat up, wincing with a pain that was more mental than the physical result of the stretching of the not yet fully healed scars from her burns.

'You are too generous. You nearly died because of me ... because I violated all the natural bonds between father and daughter. That is why I must speak ... I can't bear to think you might ever look at me again the way you looked at me that night. I make no excuses, but I was confused by the opium I had taken to help me sleep. I was in another world ... in my semi-conscious state I thought you were Mumtaz and had returned to me ... I thought I was reaching out to her. I never meant to violate my own daughter ... I didn't know it was you until it was too late and you were fleeing from me.'

'You thought I was my mother?'

'Yes. I'd been dreaming of her and confused my longings with reality. It will never happen again, I promise you. Not a drop of wine or grain of opium has pa.s.sed my lips since your accident.'