Vagabond Princess - The Great Adventures of Gulbadan

A captivating biography of one of the world-s greatest adventurers, the itinerant Mughal Princess Gulbadan, based on her long-forgotten memoir Longlisted for the 2024 Cundill History Prize -Ruby Lal coaxes the remarkable Gulbadan out from the shadows of history.--Sara Wheeler, Wall Street Journal Situated in the early decades of the magnificent Mughal Empire, this first ever biography of Princess Gulbadan offers an enthralling portrait of a charismatic adventurer and unique pictures of the multicultural society in which she lived. Following a migratory childhood that spanned Kabul and north India, Gulbadan spent her middle years in a walled harem established by her nephew Akbar to showcase his authority as the Great Emperor. Gulbadan longed for the exuberant itinerant lifestyle she-d known. With Akbar-s blessing, she led an unprecedented sailing and overland voyage and guided harem women on an extended pilgrimage in Arabia. Amid increasing political tensions, the women-s -un-Islamic- b