White Mughals by William Dalrymple: Impressions

The last time I read a William Dalrymple tome, (The Last Mughal), Bahadur Shah Zafar stayed with me for many months. This time, though, the central characters Col. James Achilles Kirkpatrick and Begum Khair Un Nissa may not have such a long memory life. Dalrymple, in his characteristic style, writes such detailed accounts of every historical figure he comes across in the love story of a white (and a) Mughal, that the reader often forgets whose story he is reading. The author seems to have a compulsive need of shoving every little piece of research down the reader's throat, as the tiresome number of lengthy footnotes will suggest.

That said, the information that one gathers from reading a Dalrymple book is phenomenal, and White Mughals is no exception. The first chapter is an exhaustive recce of the instances of cross fertilisation of cultures that took place between the Indians and her many colonisers before the 18th century. Throughout the rest of the book, a comprehensive view of the political, economical and social (cultural) aspects of the late 18th century India emerges, as the author painstakingly puts together facts long forgotten. As one trudges along the voluminous 500 pages in small print, one discovers the many nuances of a Hyderabadi nobleman's life and an East India Company officer's days. Interesting little details of the food, dress, climate, language, architechture and manners of the time are thrown into the narrative, to ensure the reader 'stays' with the plot.

The main story, though, is of the handsome Col. James Achilles Kirkpatrick, a British resident at the court of Nizam Ali Khan of Hyderabad, with whom the beautiful teenaged noblewoman, Khair Un Nissa falls hopelessly in love. With help from her mother and grandmother, Khair Un Nissa seduces the colonel,  eventually marries him and has two children by him. The affair, however, causes great upheaval in the court and even threatens the delicate political balance maintained between the Nizam's dominion, the East Indian government, and to a certain extent, the Maratha kingdom as well. The effects of the scandal are so far reaching, that not one, but three full blown inquiries are conducted, putting Kirkpatrick's reputation and career at stake. The duo emerge from the storm, but their happiness is short-lived. Their children are sent away to England for education, Kirkpatrick dies at the young age of 41 due to ill health during an official trip, and Khair Un Nissa is left all alone, with many enemies to fend off.

Khair Un Nissa finds love again in the arms of her husband's assistant, Henry Russell, albeit for a short time. Russell ditches her for another woman, while Khair is in exile. Khair manages to return to Hyderabad after the death of her vengeful cousin, Mir Alam, but in the end dies of loneliness and a broken heart, aged just 27.

But the story isn't about just one tragic love affair. Dalrymple shows us glimpses of a world before Governer General Wellesley, a world before terrible racial prejudices set in, a world where love between a saheb and a bibi was possible.  

  

The Last Mughal by William Dalrymple: Impressions

19.01.08

After months of grappling with William Dalrymple's THE LAST MUGHAL, I finally put to rest the life and times of Bahadur Shah Zafar in my head and the near 500-'strong' page book.

Nearly four months ago, the book was bought by me to combat boredom at the airport due to an obviously delayed flight; and was largely a result of forgetfulness. The White Mughals by the same author was what I had been intending to buy for a while. But in the airport chaos, what remained with me was 'something' Mughal and instead of a fair maiden on the cover, the old frail Mughal of an emperor came home with me.

Since then, evening after evening- preceded by long days at office - I took one tired step after another through the palaces and bylanes of the Delhi of 1857 as Mr. Dalrymple guided me slowly, throwing often unnecessary references along the way. The learning and earnestness of research of the author though, is commendable.

With my patience, or rather lack of it, the journey seemed quite cumbersome more often than not, as the narrative moved back and forth from the confines of Zafar's palace to the cubicles of the different British officials' offices. Shattering the heroic credits attributed singularly to the 'Pandy' Mangal Pandey for the 1857 Uprising, Dalrymple etches with clarity, the confusion and the causes of the rebellion. But the pace of the book was like the slow sizzle of moist firewood - never warm enough for comfort, never cold enough for frustration. The book neither allows you to abandon it nor read it on with full gusto.

I often contemplated putting away the book for good and very often used irritating excuses of lack of time and tiredness...the bottom line being - I WAS BORED! But as I said, the book never let off the gnawing and I kept returning to it to find out the grim details of the falling someone's fortune.

In the last one week, since I came home, I took to the book and the book took to me too - especially the poor dear, Zafar. One cannot help but feel pity for the eighty-two year old man who is as helpless against his falling teeth as he is against his falling dynasty. Stuck between being the symbol of power for the rebel armies of Hindoostan and a dependent-on-British-pension; between the royal habits of luxury and the glaring reality of poverty; between his favourite queen - the manipulative Zinal Mahal & her son Mirza Jawan Bakht and his eldest children, Zafar is ground into pathetic grain throughout.

Dalrymple successfully makes one oscillate between feeling joy when the rebels have an upper hand and victory seems close and agony when the Brits bounce back and drive 'us' out. The narrative tugs at the most sensitive humanitarian strings and one cringes with equal disgust as the Pandies ravage the properties and modesties of the British and later the British inflict with twice the vengeance the same wounds. The brutal murders, cuttings, hackings, shootings and hangings make your stomach churn even as the stink of heaped and rotting corpses waft up to evoke nauseous feelings. The tales of courage on the one hand and murder and treachery on the other makes one love and hate humans at the same time.

Dalrymple beautifully sums up the book pointing to and co-relating the fundamental problems of the Hindu-Muslim divide and the Islamic fundamentalist-Western imperialist strife, making clear in the simplest way the most complicated situations of contemporary world politics...

Definitely worth the effort!