White Mughals: A story of Love and Betrayal in 18th Century India
By William Dalrymple :
Published by Harper Perennial (2002)
This is the story of eighteenth century India, in the early stages of establishing the British rule. Written by a British citizen born in Scotland, who moved to Delhi in 1989 and lived there for six years this book has been written after significant research into the communications between the British citizens who were living in India to those who returned home during the period 1790 to 1889. In the early part, the East India Company with its headquarters in Calcutta had their representatives in New Delhi ( Mughal rule in the last phase), Hyderabad, (under Nizam), Pune (Maratha) and Madras.
The book is an unbiased and detailed historical report on the happenings in Hyderabad under the rule of Nizam. The war between the Tipu Sultan of Mysore with support from French and Marathas of Pune along with the defeats of the rulers with clever manipulation and connivance of the British have been brought about. The Shia Muslims of Hyderabad were fighting Tippu on the South and Hindu Marathas on the North West. British supported these wars and cleverly got their strong foot hold in Hyderabad eliminating the French in the process. Several treaties were signed between the Nizam and British with a resident posted at Hyderabad.
The early British who came to India were readily mixing with the Indians culturally and many of them had Indian wives or concubines and were giving due respect to the Indian culture and traditions. Some of them had even accepted Indian dress and wearing these in the courts of the local rulers. It is brought out that the early British were not intending to rule India, but only interested in promoting trade and commerce. However, the beginnings of British rule in India was brought by Lord Wellesley with his ruthless policies and even cleverly trying to make the local rulers fight among themselves so that the interests of the British were upheld. This was not liked even by some of the English officers in key positions in India who were getting Indianised against the wishes of company officials like Wellesley. Lord Wellesley who was in charge at Calcutta was promoting several ruthless wars in India supporting the fights of the local rulers resulting in heavy causalities to the British soldiers and at a huge expenditure to the British treasury. When some of the officers reported this to the King in London. Wellesley was withdrawn from India. Warren Hastings was posted in his place.
The historical novel reports the tragedy and tribulations of the love affair of James Achilles Kirkpatrik, the resident of Hyderabad with a beautiful young Muslim princess Khair Un Nissa. In spite of strong opposition and threats from Wellesley, he continued with the love affair and to suit the Shia customs even converted to Islam for marrying her at an early age. Khair Un Nissa was married to James at the age of seventeen in spite of opposition from her own uncle, but with support from her mother, grandmother, Nizam and his Chief minister. They had two children. After an eventful life in Hyderabad, James dies due to illness in Calcutta at an early age of 41, not even able to say good bye to his children, a boy and a girl who were sent to England for education. Khair Un Nissa who was just twenty one at that time comes to Calcutta hearing the death of her husband and with the help of her husband’s former assistant Russel, lives in there. He pretends to be loving her and helps her in getting back to Hyderabad but deserts her. With no information on her children who were sent abroad, may be of mental or physical depression Khair Un Nissa dies at the age of twenty seven at Hyderabad.
In the author’s own words: “The Most Excellent of Women, beloved wife of James Achilles Kirkpatrick and Henry Russel’s rejected lover, she had lived the saddest of lives. At a time and in a society , when women had few options and choices and little control over their lives, Khair had defied conventions, threatened suicide and risked everything to be with the man she had eventually succeeded in marrying even though he was from a different culture, different race, and initially from a different religion. Her love affair had torn her family apart and brought her, her mother , her grandmother and her husband to the brink of destruction. Then just when it seemed that against all odds, finally succeeded in realizing her dreams, both her husband and her children were taken away from her, forever, and in her widow hood she was first disgraced, then banished and finally rejected. When she died - this fiery passionate beautiful woman – it was much from a broken heart, from neglect and sorrow, as from any apparent physical cause.”
The history of the early stages of the British rule in India has been realistically portrayed by a British citizen without any bias as the former rulers of the country.
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