The last episode of Kösem Sultan was aired on 9th April, 2018, Monday at 10:30 pm, on local television channel, Urdu 1.
Kösem Sultan (1589 – 1651) was one of the most powerful woman in Ottoman history. Kösem achieved power and influenced politics of the Ottoman Empire when she became Haseki Sultan as favourite consort, later legal wife of Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I (who reigned from 1603–1617), Valide Sultan as mother of Murad IV (who reigned from 1623–1640) and Ibrahim (who reigned from 1640–1648), and grandmother of Mehmed IV (who reigned from 1648–1687). She was one of the prominent figures during the Sultanate of Women.
The more I watched the show (a biopic of her life), the more and more I began to admire her.
The show focused on many themes such as love, hate, jealousy, how the element of pride can drown one, how power struggle becomes the reason of the death of many, and how people lose their innocence, amongst many others.
It was a journey where we saw how a Prince fell in love with a girl and how in order to get her, she is snatched away from her parents’ hands and taken to a palace to one day become the most powerful woman in history. It showed us how the fairy tales that we’ve read are in reality, so fake. We learn that princes and princesses are not always leading the life they want, and in fact, they have no choice but to live the way they are living, or they may face worse circumstances otherwise. Most importantly, the show set forth an example in front of us of how high the status of women is in Islam is and how women, if permitted and use their mind in a correct direction, can rule the world. One of the lessons at the end was that life is difficult and painful for all, even if you’re a Queen or a King. Also, no matter who you are and what you not own in the world, our destiny is our grave and that which truly matters is what’s in our hearts.
I don’t admire Kosem’s character, because she was in power, but because she used her power positively for humanity. It’s true that she too had her flaws and made mistakes like all of us, but that was because she was human.
‘I am Anastasia, I saw and found in this old palace, the most painful grief inside the world’s greatest wealth, the darkness inside the sparkling of the most perfect and dazzling gems, the devils behind the most beautiful faces, and inside the world’s most powerful ruler, a pure and mighty heart – deep and clear as the waters’
She was, is, and will remain an inspirational character for me: a character I’d learn from, a character that taught me life from different angles. Kosem was magnificent and graceful.
We saw how she was a girl whose innocence had no equivalent, and how it paved her way to become a powerful Queen. We saw all stages of her life. Kösem (in her youth as Anastasia) thought that life was simple, that queens and kings lived a life with luxuries. But as she grew older, she learnt how to see beyond the apparent truth. She saw how people’s masks fell off, and how the powerful queen, Safiye Sultan, who inspired her, turned out to be a tyrant. Then when one night, there was trouble in the palace, she saw her favourite Safiye Sultan transform into a selfish lady, leaving the palace in shatters only for the sake of her survival.
Seeing the true faces of the people living in the palace, the transformation of Anastasia (Kösem’s birth name) to Kösem took place. Kösem witnessed the realities of life in the majestic Topkapi Palace and narrated the following:
“I am Anastasia, I saw and found in this old palace, the most painful grief inside the world’s greatest wealth, the darkness inside the sparkling of the most perfect and dazzling gems, the devils behind the most beautiful faces, and inside the world’s most powerful ruler, a pure and mighty heart – deep and clear as the waters.”
The above quote from the series also teaches us the reality of life.
Kosem traced her footsteps through all the seasons, through all the times and miseries that fate put her through; she endured everything with patience. Her husband died at a young age, and she was left all by herself to take care of the Ottoman Kingdom. Kosem took responsibility of it and faced many a challenge, yet didn’t give up, because the fire in her didn’t allow her to give in to her enemies.
The second season showed the challenges that she encountered during the reign of her son Murad IV. Murad was a very strong Sultan. He did not want to share power with his mother, as he was ridiculed by others to be a child who followed in his mother’s path and didn’t take his own lead. Therefore, he removed Kösem from the post of Naib-i-Sultanat. Murad grew to be a very powerful Sultan; his name is even written in history as the Conqueror of Baghdad, which proved his power.
We also saw how Kösem had slightly turned weak enough to give in to the pressures of the people of the kingdom to give her consent in the execution of her last son, Sultan Ibrahim. The latter was exploited and eventually removed from power, because he was mentally weak.
We saw a numb and cold-hearted Kösem at the end, where she was ready to kill and overthrow the kingdom of her grandson, to have a conformity of her life. And finally, when she is brought before her rival (Turhan Sultan) and executed by her rival’s people, we saw her thinking to herself.
She thinks to herself: “Innocence….Innocence … but it was the first thing to be taken from my hands when I got power. How painful it is to remember… oh the grief! They say “the way they died, is the way they are remembered”…. Is that really true? A woman fits into many attributes in life, and she is someone else in every moment. She becomes a child, a woman, a mother, and if she is a beloved, intelligent servant of God, then she can even become a Sultana. I saw and lived through all of those, thank God. I tasted them all. But what capacity shall I be remembered as? What attribute shall describe me? What will they say about me centuries later? An innocent girl who fell in love with Sultan Ahmet, and who was torn away from her name? A powerful, charitable Valide Sultana who gave the imperial house of Osman four princes, kept the tent of the state standing, and kept the bellies of twenty thousand people full in her foundation? Or…a cruel woman, who for the sake of the sultanate went crazy for her own ambition and didn’t even spare her own children?”
She did not accept her defeat, but in fact, accepted the fact that the power she possessed made her numb, made her forget that she too is mortal, and she too will one day have to give in to death and leave the world, in which she thought she’d stay forever.
All in all, this show taught me that in life enemies can become friends, friends can become enemies, and those you could sacrifice anything for could also backstab you. It taught me how the simplicity of a person’s character can be manipulated, how innocence can win any war in life, how people place stones in one’s path, but you have to be smart and wise enough not to stumble upon them and use them constructively.
I also learnt how people could exploit your weaknesses and try to push you to the ground, how people could pretend to take the road leading you to your dream but end up betraying you and clipping your wings, how people could go against you, and you could still win. And if your intentions are clear, God will write victory for you, in your fate.
Actresses Nurgül Yeşilçay, Beren Saat, and Anastasia Tsilimpiou played the titular role in three different ages of Kosem’s life, and all three did an absolutely flawless job. Hats off to Tims Productions for such a great and meaningful TV show.
The writer can be reached at [email protected]