By Audrey Fong
Chitra Divakaruni is the award-winning author of 20 books. Her latest novel, The Last Queen, follows the story of Rani Jindan, the youngest wife of the first Maharajah of the Sikh Empire, Ranjit Singh, and the mother of the last Maharajah, Dalip Singh. The novel follows her whole life including her courtship with the Maharaja, her time as queen regent of Punjab, and her final years reunited with her son in England. Fans of Jane Austen novels will appreciate the intricacies of court life detailed during Rani Jindan’s courtship and time as queen, while history fans will enjoy the way Divakaruni covers a critical time in the history of Punjab and the way she shifts the lens in which we understand how the British Empire came to colonize the Indian subcontinent.
Below, Divakaruni discusses how she first learned of Rani Jindan, the Koh-i-Noor, and more.
Audrey Fong: When did you first learn of the story of Rani Jindan? And how did you decide to write a novel about her?
Chitra Divakaruni: I learned Rani Jindan’s story only by chance. She had been forgotten by history to such an extent that I never read about her in my school history books although her husband, the heroic Maharajah Ranjit Singh, and son, the tragic Dalip Singh, were prominently featured. That is what made me decide to write about this smart, feisty woman who stood up for herself and her son after her husband died and fought valiantly against the British.
AF: You cover most of her life from early childhood to death. That’s a lot to cover in a few hundred pages. How did you decide which parts of her life to include and which parts to exclude?
CD: It was a tough choice! Finally I listed the most dramatic moments, both private and public, of her life and created an arc from them. I put special emphasis on events that illustrated her unusual —yet very human—personality.
AF: What was the research process like for The Last Queen? And since the novel — except for the last chapter — are all written from Rani Jindan’s perspective, what was the process of finding her voice like?
CD: The research was particularly challenging since there is so little direct material on her. I had to search through books that depicted the times or analyzed her husband’s contributions to India. I would find a passage here and a passage there. I carefully collected all of these. I was fortunate to discover the diaries of Lady Login, who became Dalip Singh’s guardian, along with her husband, when he was taken away from his mother by the British. She had a lot of good details in it. And she was very frank; I guess she didn’t think people would be reading her diary a hundred years later. So that was a great source. I also made full use of photographs of the time, paintings and maps. For instance, the map of Lahore Fort helped me create the scenes that take place inside the fort very clearly. I could visualize where, for instance, the women’s area was, where the main court building was, where the stables were, etc.
It always takes me a while to find the protagonist’s voice, so I wrote and rewrote the first chapter numerous times until it seemed to click. Again, I kept in mind the major characteristics I wanted to highlight, as well as her age since she is a girl when the novel begins.
AF: One thing that I enjoyed was the specificity of the food everyone ate! What was the thought process behind including food and naming each item specifically throughout the novel?
CD: I love food, and I love putting food in my books. Food is such an important part of our lives and our cultures. It can be used in fiction to tell us so much about characters and relationships. For instance, Maharajah Ranjit Singh came from a simple background and loves peasant food. The fact that Jindan, too, came from a humble background and knows how to cook these simple, hearty dishes is an added bond between them.
AF: The Koh-i-Noor, one of the largest diamonds in the world, is a prominent feature in the book. It belonged to Jindan’s husband and then when the British took over Punjab, they took the diamond away from her son, who was a child monarch at the time. Towards the end of the novel, the diamond becomes an even more important part of the story as both Jindan and Dalip are angry that the diamond has been stolen and cut up by Queen Victoria. For those who don’t know, could you explain the diamond’s importance and why you chose to make it a key part of the novel?
CD: The Koh-i-noor has an amazing story behind it. It might just be the most fabled diamond in the world. It was stolen from an Indian temple and has a history of bad luck attached to it—all its previous owners, before Maharajah Ranjit Singh, came to bad ends. Only Ranjit Singh was able to wear this diamond for years without any negative results. It is supposed to be one of the largest and most beautiful diamonds in the world. I felt it was extremely unjust that the British took this diamond from the child Dalip, especially as they had recently signed a treaty stating that Punjab, his kingdom, was a protectorate. (The British were supposed to ‘protect’ it for Dalip until he became an adult.) And then, when the diamond comes to Queen Victoria, she and her husband decide it would look better if it were cut up and made smaller and shinier for her crown—without any respect for this historic jewel. I felt this was an important example of the injustices of imperialism.
AF: One line that hit me hard was when Dalip had to give in to the British government’s requests regarding him returning to India to bury Jindan properly, “He had no option. He had to give in, despite the fact that the blood of the greatest king Punjab had known flowed in his veins.” The Last Queen touches on the many injustices shown to both Dalip and Jindan and how in many cases, there was nothing reasonable they could do to fight back. What do you hope readers will take away from these examples?
CD: I am glad that the part you mention resonated with you. It was important for me, too. One of the messages of this book is that we need to fight back, the best we can, against injustices that are perpetrated—often against the weak or against minorities—even today, in our world. And that the way to fight back is through solidarity. When we are divided among ourselves, that is when we fail. That was the tragedy of India under colonial rule—infighting among factions, treachery and the inability to see eye-to-eye within each kingdom allowed the British to manipulate the situation. I think that is a valuable lesson for us today, in America.
The Last Queen is available from Book Cellar, Bookshop, City Lights Bookstore, Laguna Beach Books, Talking Leaves, and Vroman’s Bookstore.
Audrey Fong is a writer, interested in food, coming of age stories, and Asian American narratives. She earned her B.A. in English from UC Irvine and is currently pursuing an M.F.A. in creative writing from Chapman University. She is the co-founder and co-editor of Soapberry Review.