Captive Princess : Zebunissa, Daughter of Emperor Aurangzeb

"The heroine of our book, Zebunissa has remained almost completely ignored by chroniclers and historians. In the prime of her life, her father, the Emperor Aurangzeb incarcerated her in the fortress prison of Salimgarh, where she languished for twenty years until her death. Yet before she fell from grace she had been his favourite daughter. Everything about her life seems shrouded in mystery, and historians have tried in vain to penetrate the obscurity of her life. Only her poems give us an indication of her character. She seems to have been a very humane person, with weaknesses, passions, and an indomitable pride, but dressed in the black veils for which she was noted. In the end, with all her learning and experience, she was incarcerated in Salimgarh, with only the high walls, the yellow sand blowing in the hot breeze, and the tepid waters of the Yamuna glistening in the blazing sun. Here, in isolation and anguish, she contemplated, and plumbed the depths of her heart till finally she confronted the infinity of the Creator."--BOOK JACKET.

Annie Krieger Krynicki is Docteur d'Etat in Public Law. After a career as barrister at law in Paris she also served as a professor at the University of Paris IX Dauphine and at Sorbonne-Nouvelle 3. She is a graduate in Urdu (Inalco, Paris) and has written numerous books and articles about the constitutional and political life in Pakistan. She has been awarded the Knight of Merite and the Sitara-e-Quaid-i-Azam for her studies on Pakistan.