Few Women Characters
Muhammad Tughlaq, history tells us, did not have any deep knowledge of the human heart. That is why few women characters appear in the play. It is only the step-mother who is of any significance and who plays an important role in the play.
Step-mother: Her Love of the Sultan
She loves the Sultan deeply and is always worried about his welfare. She makes her first appearance at a time when Muhammad is looking attentively at a chess board. She lovingly tells the Sultan that she is much worried about his late nights. These days he does not seem to go to bed at all. She wants to know the reason for it. When the Sultan tells her that he is worried about his people and requests her not to ask him to get married and breed a family. She bursts into laughter and says:
“I don’t know what to do with you. I can’t ask a simple question without your giving a royal performance.”
Her Care and Worry for the Sultan
She is very much worried to know that Ain-ul-Mulk is invading Delhi. When after the Sultan and Najib go out of the palace room and the step-mother is left alone with Barani she takes Barani into confidence and tells him about her concern for Muhammad:
“I am worried about him. You know what he is like. He is such an intelligent boy and he works so hard for the people. He doesn’t even go to sleep these days. But he is so impulsive and when he gets into one of his moods I don’t know what he’ll do next. You are a sober man, Barani, level-headed and honest and he needs friends like you.”
She does not like many of Tughlaq‘s advisers and so she requests Barani to promise her not to leave the Sultan, whatever he does. Barani is driven to tears by her maternal concern.
She is highly disturbed and much concerned when the Sultan leaves Delhi for Kanauj to fight Ain-ul-Mulk. When Ratan Singh who was in the front rank of the army all of a sudden comes back to Delhi and he and Shihab embrace each other in great excitement. She only wants to know about the welfare of her son.
Her Anxiety about the Welfare of the Sultan
She has always the interest of the Sultan and the state uppermost in her mind. She abhors killing. She thinks that Najib is responsible for all the killings in the state and all the mal-administration. She agrees with Barani that Najib’s influence over the Sultan is immense. She is bothered about it and she says:
“I know, I am watching. I’ll wait for a few days. If he goes on like this, I won’t wish his fate even for a day.”
She doesn’t hide her hatred of Najib from Shihab-ud-din also. When he takes over the administration in the absence of Tughlaq who has left for the war-front, she expresses her happiness at the choice and says,
“He couldn’t have chosen a better man.” When Shihab gives credit to Vizier Muhammad Najib, she retorts: “Oh, don’t tell to me about him. Thanks to you, I didn’t have to deal with him.”
Sultan’s Cruel Punishment
After having learnt about the murder of Imam-ud-din and Shihab-ud-din she manages the murder of Najib and owns it before Tughlaq who is shocked. He gives order for her being sent to prison and stoned to death, as an adulteress.
A Good Adviser
The step-mother was a good adviser to the Sultan. When he speaks of being killed in war she asks him to shut up and not to speak ominous words. She advises him not to joke about murders. She is not much concerned about the happenings outside that she tells him of his great mistake of introducing copper coins in the state. She requests him to stop the funeral of the corpses and also the hounding of the Amirs for the death of Najib and she has to pay with her life. Her death agonises Tughlaq and he prays:
“God, God in Heaven, please help me. Please don’t let go of my hands. My skin drips with blood and I don’t know how much of it is mine and how much of others. I started in your path, Lord, why am I wandering naked in this desert now?… Raise me, Clean me. Cover me with your Intimate Mercy… Have pity on me. I have no one but You now. Only you.”
Conclusion
So the step-mother is a sane and affectionate mother and a balanced advisor. But she too falls a victim to the senseless violence of her son which she attributes to the evil influence of Najib.
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