Mandu -The Romance of Roopmati and Baz Bahadur

Set in sixteenth century India,  this is the true story of  the young Sultan Baz Bahadur and the beautiful peasant girl Roopmati who come together over their common love for classical music. He is a man who can have any woman,  and she a woman too proud to ever be part of his harem.

But night after night, as they sing together in the enchanting world of Mandu, the fortress city lit up with lanterns and throbbing to the beat of ghungroos and tablas, a magic begins to happen. Baz and Roopmati fall in love. Alas, far away, in Agra, the Mughal Emperor Akbar is planning his campaigns and Mandu has been pinned on his map as a kingdom to be captured. Will Baz be able to protect his capital, and more importantly, the woman he loves from the enemy forces?

‘If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, you must be the one to write it.’ Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison’s words resonate with my own thoughts. As a travel enthusiast who often takes the narrow road, I have come upon stories that fascinate and intrigue me. History, legend, folklore…these tales are born of events that once happened …or may never have… but we can sense them like ghosts flitting between the pillars of crumbling palaces, hear them like half whispers echoing in the depths of step wells. They lisp through the lips of the ancient and sing through the ballads of minstrels.
The legend of Roopmati and Baz Bahadur is a part of the very consciousness of Malwa.. a story sung by women as they work in the fields or winnow their grain. Roopmati to them, even today, remains the ideal woman, beautiful, gifted and pure of heart.
In the abandoned fortress city of Mandu perched on the Malwa plateau, one can visualise how this vast complex of palaces and lakes would have looked four hundred and fifty years ago. How its markets and gaming houses would have hummed with noise, and the zananas with song and dance. I knew I had to recreate it. To know what made a Sultan forget his kingdom for his lady, and his lady to forgo the world for him. To explore the nuances of power in Akbar’s court and to imagine the game plan that brought the Mughal forces to the doorstep of Mandu.
And that is just what I have done. This, the story of Sultan Baz Bahadur and Roopmati is my offering to every reader who loves to be whisked away to another era and live other lives between the covers of a book. Welcome to Mandu.