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The mystifying presence of Anarkali has loomed large in history and in folklore. Only a handful of dubitable details mark her story, the most legendary among which remains the tragic end that her life and love for Prince Salim, the son of Emperor Akbar, met.
In Anarkali, Sumant Batra ventures to piece together the puzzle that surrounds this woman whose silhouette is all that we have known, giving her an identity, a name, a family, and a life beyond the tragic love affair she has come to be identified with. What comes forth is a saga, fresh and compelling, reflecting the experience of a woman navigating social structures in the Mughal Empire and bearing the consequences of asserting her desires.
At the same time it honours the romance that originally earned Anarkali her name in history and in myth, inspiring within the narrative a treatise on a love earnest and pure, all-consuming and transcendental.
A labour of love that expertly fuses research and imagination, Sumant Batra’s evocative prose and attention to period detail are sure to appeal to all lovers of historical fiction.
Sumant Batra is India’s leading insolvency lawyer and among the top thirty globally, as rated by Global Restructuring Review. He has worked as senior international consultant to the IMF, World Bank Group, OECD and other development institutions. His book on corporate insolvency is considered the most authoritative work on the subject. For his leadership and contribution in the field, he has been conferred the prestigious title of International Fellow by the American College of Bankruptcy, the only Indian thus far to have been bestowed such honour.
A champion of cultural initiatives, Sumant is the founder and architect of a number of innovative projects to promote Indian heritage and literature, including the popular Kumaon Literary Festival.
He is the author of The Indians, a bestselling coffee-table book that includes a foreword by Cherie Blair; and co-author of An Actor’s Actor: The Authorized Biography of Sanjeev Kumar. His new book, Anarkali, a historical fiction was launched in December, 2023.
Sumant lives in New Delhi.
More about him can be found on www.sumantbatra.com
T E S T I M O N I A L S
“The story of Anarkali is inextricably intertwined with facts and fiction. Even her tomb in Lahore where there is a soul-stirring inscription of Jahangir is shrouded in controversy. Sumant Batra crafts the amazing story of this beautiful and intelligent lady with consummate skill, recreating and weaving a chapter of the Mughal era.
Padma Shri K.K. Muhammed -
Author, historian and archaeologist“Is Anarkali fact or fiction? History or myth? Sumant Batra’s evocative rendition paints a portrait of this fascinating figure using a colour palette of legend, history, fiction, and rationale, deftly reimagining this enduring love story.
Ashwin Sanghi -
Bestselling Author“Sumant Batra’s storytelling skills and vivid description of characters, setting, and events could well ignite the imagination for another grand film on Anarkali.
Rahul Rawail -
veteran film-maker and author of raj kapoor; the master at work“For all those who know their Anarkali only from Mughal-e-Azam, Sumant Batra’s historical novel is an eye-opening and welcome addition. He sifts through fact and fiction expertly to provide a fascinating portrait of a doomed love.
Rekha Bhardwaj -
Singer and Seeker“Devotees of Sufi Saint Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti believe that he intercedes on their behalf to the almighty. Janab Sumant Batra has eloquently articulated Sufism as a paradigm of eumenical tolerance and spiritual transcendence in his book while telling this monumenal story from the sixteenth century.
