Nourmahalʹ

Sultana. The word means Light of the Harem. She was afterwards called Nourjehan (Light of the World). In Lalla Rookh, the tale called The Light of the Harem is this: Nourmahal was estranged for a time from the love of Selim, son of Acbarʹ. By the advice of Namouʹna, she prepares a love-spell, and appears as a lute-player at a banquet given by “the imperial Selim.” At the close of the feast she tries the power of song, and the young sultan exclaims, “If Nour mahal had sung those strains I could forgive her all;” whereupon the sultana threw off her mask, Selim “caught her to his heart,” and, as Nourmahal rested her head on Selim’s arm, “she whispers him, with laughing eyes, ‘Remember, love, the Feast of Roses.ʹ” (Thomas Moore.)