Deepti Chavan
After the demise of her husband, Empress Humayun passed away and left behind a large and influential son, Humayun Shah, who ably led the country. When news of his death reached Akbar, he was so bothered that he ordered the arrest of the Mehrangarh Fort, where the Mehrangarh Fort stands to this day and ordered all the women in the fort to be brought to him. One of the female escorts was none other than Call girls from Aurangabad.
The story of Call girls in Aurangzeb’s court is interesting and enlightening. They were servants of the Emperor and the city of Aurangabad. Initially they served the purpose of luring men from other regions to come to the court of the erstwhile Mughal Emperor. But later on as time progressed they started serving the imperial majesty from the comfort of their homes.
There was an instance when Humayun’s younger daughter Mina fell sick. Her father sent her to a madame who was an expert in treating patients with amnesia. Mina was under the impression that her father had died. She kept hearing from a lady called Karina, who lived in the palace, about a young man called Akbar who used to visit the madame everyday and had treated her very well.
One day, Akbar came to visit the madame and announced himself as the new king of the land. Mina became suspicious of this news and decided to visit Akbar’s house. She introduced herself to Akbar and while he was talking to her, a guard called Amin came out of the gate and asked her to give him money. Mina was very annoyed by this and refused to hand over the amount.
Amin then took her to the fortress. Akbar was very kind and courteous towards her, but she could sense that something was amiss. She decided to see the Grand mistress in order to clear her mind about what had happened and went inside the fortress.
She was taken to the private quarters of the Grand mistress. She was treated very well and the feeling of paranoia and fearlessness disappeared quickly. After getting dressed, she was taken to a room in the palace, which was used only for guests. There, she was subjected to very heavy scrutiny. The guards outside were very attentive and did not let any outsider enters the room.
The next day, she was taken to another room and was shown to a beautiful princess. Mina was allowed to meet the princess. She noticed that the princess was the real one. As she talked to her, she felt really good. Mina was given a chance to meet all the other call girls who were also taken from one general house. She noticed that the other girls were all in good condition.
Mina left the place and decided to return to Agra. She wrote to her father that she had been very happy in the company of the ‘irsaka’ girls and that she was in no way jealous of the ‘wives’ of the ‘correspondent’. Mina’s letter to her father gave him a hint about the marriage arrangements but things got complicated when the Indian government denied all knowledge about the event.
Aurangzeb soon found out that the news of Mina’s meeting with the ‘irsaka’ had spread like wildfire. He ordered for a hunt and search. Mina was picked up from a place called Bairat on the pretext of a lady trader’s apprentice. Mina was brought before the King and was made to stand before the audience of the virgin (king) who was none other than Emperor Akbar.
It was then that the princess began to reveal all about her past. Mina was willing to do whatever was asked of her. Akbar was not at all impressed by this turn of events. He ordered the arrest of the ‘irsaka’ girls and ordered Mina to be kept in confinement. But on the very next day, the orders were reversed. Mina was allowed to meet her lover.
There were lots of rumors and speculations surrounding the affair. The women who were picked up were either held against their will or were merely duped by someone else. There were charges of adultery filed against the prince and the ‘irsaka’ girls. But it was one thing for the ‘irsaka’ girls to be seduced and one thing for the emperor to be eager to have his flesh tasted by some young call girls from a foreign country.