The Great Adventures of Gulbadan
Vagabond Princess
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” behavior forced their return, lengthened by a dramatic shipwreck in the Red Sea.
Gulbadan wrote a book upon her return, the only extant work of prose by a woman of her times. A portion of it is missing, either lost to history or redacted by officials who did not want the princess to have her say.
Vagabond Princess contemplates the story of the missing pages and breathes new life into a daring historical figure. A portal to a richly complex world, rife with movement and migration, where women’s conviviality, adventure, and autonomies shine through.
Available March 26, 2024
— Reza Aslan
Praise for Vagabond Princess
Nikita Mohta, The Indian Express: Gulbadan’s pilgrimage… became a defining moment in Mughal history… highlighting the agency of women within imperial structures. Lal captures the weight of Gulbadan’s thoughts…
KHABAR: Vagabond Princess… takes readers on an exhilarating journey
MS. MAGAZINE: Vagabond Princess among the Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2024. Original, trailblazer, rediscovery
“Lal manages to recreate [Gulbadan’s life] beautifully. . . . A very vivid book.”
—Sophie Roell, Five Books, Nonfiction Books to Look Out for in Early 2024
“[Vagabond Princess] draws back the veil that has for so long obscured the influential women of the Mughal regime. Meticulously researched and demonstrating Lal’s impressive skills as a translator…Lal’s research into previously hidden worlds is at the forefront of an exciting academic movement”
—Lucy Moore, Literary Review, Escape to Mecca
At a time when the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is reducing Mughal history content in school history textbooks in India, it is all the more important to continue bringing the lives of Mughal women to the attention of the world. Ruby Lal has succeeded in giving us a biography of an extraordinary life that women in the twenty-first century in India and the world can draw inspiration from.
—Lopamudra Basu, India Currents, Read the full review.
Vogue India: “Lal is one of those fine historians who connects bygone events as a thread that firmly binds humans through time. …Her tenacity in chasing this manuscript over two decades across continents and finally sharing it in this lucid form with present-day readers is admirable… Vagabond Princess brings alive an eternally fascinating dimension of 16th-century India.”
“Like a meticulous and careful detective… Lal unearths clues … writes with authority and panache… Gulbadan’s character emerges impactfully… strong-willed, deeply loyal to her family, keen-sighted. A woman who had known freedom and adventure.”
— Madhulika Liddle, Frontline, The unique memoirs of Mughal princess Gulbadan Begum
“Ruby Lal crafts her biography of Gulbadan as a work taking shape in those archival traces that began to connect in unexpected ways. The Vagabond Princess thus emerges as a book that lays bare the tenuous processes of its own making. It invites historians and readers into a serendipitous archival quest and offers new ways of writing history in a self-reflexive mode. There is perhaps no better way of reclaiming the lives of women from the disregard of the historical record.”
— Madhumita Mazumdar, The Telegraph, Life & history reclaimed
“Ruby Lal crafts her biography of Gulbadan as a work taking shape in those archival traces that began to connect in unexpected ways. The Vagabond Princess thus emerges as a book that lays bare the tenuous processes of its own making. It invites historians and readers into a serendipitous archival quest and offers new ways of writing history in a self-reflexive mode. There is perhaps no better way of reclaiming the lives of women from the disregard of the historical record.”
— Madhumita Mazumdar, The Telegraph, Life & history reclaimed
“The subject of study and indeed life’s work, of the renowned feminist historian, Ruby Lal… Vagabond Princess will go a long way in establishing Gulbadan Begum as a daring princess and consummate explorer whether it be new territories or old traditions”
—Rana Safvi, Scroll.in, ‘Vagabond Princess’: Ruby Lal’s biography of Mughal princess Gulbadan is lush and evocative
“Lal engages… with deep curiosity and attention. Building a richer history from the archives than has ever been told of Gulbadan… Lal excels at creating a story of baffling and fascinating contradictions… Vagabond Princess is buoyed by a remarkable visuality”
—Urvashi Bahuguna, OPEN, Free Spirit
“Lal breathes gorgeous life into a figure and her time and place in a history that has long been dominated by men’s actions and words.”
—India-West Journal
“Gulbadan, literate, observant, intelligent, a central observer to the establishment of the Mughal Empire, is a historical figure well worth discovering. Lal’s enthusiasm for her is infectious. . . . [Lal] is a fluent writer, with a good grasp of atmosphere and description [and who] knows how to tell a good story.”
—Peter Gordon, Asian Review of Books, “Vagabond Princess: The Great Adventures of Gulbadan” by Ruby Lal
“The Epic voyage of a daring Mughal Princess.”
—Cherylann Mollab, BBC, Gulbadan Begum: The epic voyage of a daring Mughal princess
“The Remarkable Princess Gulbadan, flower of the Mughal Court.”
—Anthony Sattin, The Spectator, The remarkable Princess Gulbadan, flower of the Mughal court
“A fascinating account of an exciting woman from an interesting period of Mughal history.”
—Sushila Ravindranath, The Hindu, Review of Ruby Lal’s Vagabond Princess