This is the story of a dancer Noorbai at the Moghul Court, who with her matchless beauty and artistic accomplishments, had captivated the hearts of the Moghul Emperor Muhammad Shah and the infamous invader Nadir Shah who had taken a fancy to take her along on his way back to Iran. However, Noorbai made up her mind not to leave her country. The realistic picture of the agony of the country in the grip of disruption and unrest, serves as a backdrop to the romantic love between Noorbai and Mohan—a Jat guard and a commoner, the latter making the secret and dramatic escape, from the Red Fort, of the former possible. Mohan, the Jat hero of the novel is a remarkable common man who leads Noorbai to elevate and sublimate her life at Vrindavan by singing devotional songs addressed to Lord Krishna. Noorbai with her transformed spirit finally symbolises the magic touch of the liberal Hindu philosophy of adjustment and assimilation, without whose operation the broken thorns of divisiveness sticking deep into our body politic, even now in the present turbulent times, cannot be dislodged or dissolved easily to make us a united nation i.e. India of our vision. Her self-abnegation in throwing gold and jewellery into the river Yamuna re-establishes that spiritual values are supreme in life.
Vrindavan Lal Verma
Dr. Vrindavan Lal Verma, the celebrated litterateur of Hindi was born on January 9, 1889 in Mauranipur (Jhansi).
Histroy was his first love from his early childhood. Despite his different pursuits to make a living, he continued to take abiding interest in the study and writing of literature. He has as many as 70 published books to his credit and many of his literary works are yet to be published. Though he contributed to Hindi literature through his writings in almost all streams of literature viz. novels, stories, plays, one-act plays, biographies, etc., he was at his best as a historical novelist. It is generally said that in a historical novel, either the History or the novel itself is the casualty. But Dr. Verma belied this belief. In his historical novels, all the elements of history and novel have remained vibrant and unimpaired. His all-time famous novels Jhansi Ki Rani, Mrignayani, Garh Kundar, Kachnar, Virata Ki Padmini, Toote Kante, Madhavji Scindia, etc. are part of the invaluable treasure of Hindi literature. A good number of his novels have been translated not only in the main regional languages of India but also in Russian, English, Czech, Spanish, German and Chinese languages. Two of his novels, namely Jhansi Ki Rani and Mrignayni have already been serialised on TV and films have also been made.
Dr. Verma’s style of writing was so lucid and engrossing that it took the readers to a rapturous height and he is appropriately called ‘Sir Walter Scott’ of Hindi literature.
His literary services won him numerous awards and degrees. He has been honoured with ‘Padma Bhushan’ and the Agra University conferred on him the honorary degree of D.Lit. Sahitya Sammelan, Prayag adorned him with the title of ‘Sahitya Vachaspati’. He was also honoured with several other prestigious awards such as ‘Soviet Land Nehru Puraskar’. The President released a postal stamp in Dr. Verma’s honour on 9th January, 1997.
This titan of Hindi literature breathed his last on 23rd February, 1969 in Jhansi.
