It was an unusual love affair between a woman of Portuguese origin and a Mughal prince. And such was the intensity of their love that the Portuguese woman, Dona Juliana Dias Da Costa, held sway over Aurangazeb’s son, Shah Alam, and she not only helped safeguard Christians in the then Mughal-ruled India but also assisted in spreading on the faith in Portuguese India Juliana Nama, a book by former director of National Museum in Delhi Madhukar Tewari and archivist Raghuraj Singh Chauhan, has for the first time pieced together information from five different languages, including Persian and Portuguese, to bring to light the role of this lady-in-waiting to Shah Alam. Tewari and Chauhan stumbled upon the diplomatic role of this Portuguese Catholic lady in the eighties and spent four decades to write arguably the most comprehensive documentation of Mughal, Portuguese, British, Dutch and French interaction in India. They narrate the Portuguese tactics for survival with the Mughals through the story of the love affair between Juliana and Shah.From the time they established a settlement in Hugli with the favour of Mughal emperor Akbar, the Portuguese were comfortably living there till they managed to annoy his son with their transgressions, leading to him sacking the settlement in 1632. As a result, “4,000 Christians were taken captives in lamentable conditions” to Agra. Juliana’s parents, according to the book, are said to have been among these prisoners and so Juliana was born in Agra around 1645, by which time her mother was attached to one of the ladies in Shah Jahan’s harem.Following her parents’ death, Juliana was brought up by Father Antonio de Magalhanes in Delhi.And this upbringing under the patronage of Jesuit Fathers, including years spent in Goa, according to the authors, made her proficient in skills that would make her a diplomat par excellence. “Skills like her proficiency in languages, international exposure to the happenings around the world, including the knowledge of international trade and merchandise, knowledge of medicine and surgery as the Fathers had in their company Portuguese doctors from Goa, and above all the royal manners and customs,” helped her gain experience, write Tewari and Chauhan.Though Juliana was married, she was widowed young, paving the way for her entry to the Mughal court through Father Magalhanes in 1681-82.“Aurangzeb entrusted the education of Prince Muazzam (later Shah Alam), his second son, to Juliana. She was 17 and his youngest tutor. Muazzam was 18 and was filled with remorse for the merciless imprisonment of his grandfather Shah Jahan,” says Tewari, and the seeds of a lifelong love affair were sowed.The book provides Portuguese letters written by the viceroy in Goa to the King in Portugal telling him of the favour Juliana holds in the Mughal courts.Juliana, states the book, moved wherever Shah Alam was posted by Aurangzeb, including to Goa to put an end to the threat posed by the Maratha leader, Sambhaji. When later Shah Alam was suspected of treason by Aurganzeb and jailed, Juliana is believed to have risked her life to make his seven years in prison comfortable by smuggling items of luxury.This loyalty bore fruit when Shah Alam finally ascended the throne after his father Aurangzeb’s death.The book elaborates the role of Juliana in helping Shah Alam win the battle to the throne against his own brothers. Juliana is said to have got Shah Alam to deploy Portuguese gunners in his artillery, which proved a successful move.The book says of her correspondence with the Portuguese viceroy in Goa as her influence rose in the Mughal court under Emporer Shah Alam, “What becomes more than clear from the exchange of these letters to and from Juliana is not only the higher position attained by her at the Mughal court after the release of prince Shah Alam, but her continued devotion in making favours to the cause of Christianity from the Mughal territories as well.”Besides her diplomatic services, the book also documents the financial help extended by Juliana to the Portuguese. “It was around 1707 that she is said to have given the province of Goa a great fortune variously estimated to the tune of 40 to 150 contos. In 1734, when she died, the Goan Personnel report of 1735 hailed her as the ‘Worthy Benefactress of the College and Mission of Agra’ in a most unusual statement.”The book mentions another incident of her help in Portuguese survival.When Emperor Shah Alam Bahadur Shah ascended the throne in 1707, he planned to raise a modernized fleet under a French general for the Mughal navy. But the insecure Portuguese sought to avert the future threat the French would pose. They employed the services of Juliana to convince Shah Alam against collaborating with the French. A feat she successfully achieved.