Begums, Thugs and White Mughals

by Fanny Parkes

  When I retired to rest on my chārpāī, I found it difficult to drive away the fancies that surrounded me.

  The walls of the Fort, and those buildings within it that are of carved red freestone, were built by Akbar: the marble buildings were erected by Shāhjahān.

  The seat of the pādshāh is an immense slab of black marble, the largest perhaps ever beheld; it was broken in two by an earthquake. A Burā Bahādur, (illustrious officer) from this throne of the pādshāh, exclaimed, ‘I have come not to succeed Lord Auckland, but Akbar!’ The convulsion of the earth that split in two the throne of black marble could not have astonished it more than this modest speech – Allāhu Akbar!

  In front, and on the other side of the court, is the seat of the vizier; a slab of white marble. The seat on which the pādshāh used to sit to view the fights of the wild beasts in the court below is one of great beauty; the pillars and arches of the most elegant workmanship are beautifully carved; the whole plain and light.

  The steam-baths are octagonal rooms below, with arched roofs; three of these rooms are of white marble, with inlaid marble pavements; and there is a fountain, from which hot water springs up from a marble basin. The baths in the apartments below the palace, which most probably belonged to the zenāna, were broken up by the Marquis of Hastings: he committed this sacrilege on the past to worship the rising sun; for he sent the most beautiful of the marble baths, with all its fretwork and inlaid flowers, to the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV.

  Having thus destroyed the beauty of the baths of the palace, the remaining marble was afterwards sold on account of Government; most happily, the auction brought so small a sum it put a stop to further depredations.

  At sunrise from the Bridge of Boats nothing can be more beautiful than the view up and down the river: there are an hundred domed bastions jutting out from the banks amid the gardens and residences of the nobles of former days: the Fort, with its marble buildings peeping over the ramparts; the custom house, and many other prominent objects, form a magnificent tout ensemble.

  [An entire chapter is omitted here]

  CHAPTER XXXII

  REVELATIONS OF LIFE IN THE ZENĀNA

  WHOEVER HATH GIVEN HIS HEART TO A BELOVED OBJECT, HATH PUT HIS BEARD INTO THE HANDS OF ANOTHER

  FEBRUARY 1835 – Khasganj, the residence of my friend Colonel Gardner, is sixty miles from Agra: he wrote to me expressing a wish that I should visit him and regretting he was too unwell to meet me at Agra and conduct me to his house. I was delighted to accept the invitation, particularly at this time, as he informed me a marriage was to take place in his family which might interest me.

  His granddaughter, Susan Gardner, was on the eve of marriage with one of the princes of Delhi and he wished me to witness the ceremony. I was also invited to pay a visit en route to his son, Mr James Gardner, who was married to a niece of the reigning emperor, Akbar Shāh.

  Was not this delightful? All my dreams in the Turret of Noor-mahal were to be turned into reality. I was to have an opportunity of viewing life in the zenāna, of seeing the native ladies of the East, women of high rank, in the seclusion of their own apartments, in private life: and although the emperors of Delhi have fallen from their high estate, they and their descendants are nevertheless Timoorians and descendants of Akbar Shāh.

  I know of no European lady but myself, with the exception of one, who has ever had an opportunity of becoming intimate with native ladies of rank; and as she had also an invitation to the wedding we agreed to go together.

  February 21st – We started dāk for Kutchowra, the residence of Mr James Gardner. This is not that Kutchowra which yearly used to bring such treasure into the Company’s coffers in boatloads of cotton; but that Kutchowra which stopped and fought Lord Lake, and killed the famous Major Nairn of tiger-killing memory.

  We arrived at noon the next day; Mr James Gardner, whom I had never seen before, received us with much pleasure; his countenance reminded me of his father whom, in manner, he greatly resembled; he was dressed in handsome native attire, a costume he usually wore.

  His grounds contain two houses; the outer one, in which he receives visitors and transacts business and the second, within four walls, which is sacred to the begum, and has its entrance guarded night and day.

  Mr James Gardner married Nawāb Mulka Humanee Begum, the niece of the emperor Akbar Shāh and daughter of Mirza Sulimān Shekō (the brother of the present emperor), who lives at Agra.

  I was taken to the zenāna gates when three very fine children, the two sons and a daughter of Mr James Gardner, and the princess in their gay native dresses of silk and satin embroidered in gold and silver, ran out to see the new arrival. They were elegant little creatures and gave promise of being remarkably handsome. I was surprised to see the little girl at liberty, but was informed that girls are not shut up until they are about six years old, until which time they are allowed to run about, play with the boys and enjoy their freedom. Quitting the palanquins, we walked across the court to the entrance of the zenāna; there we took off our shoes and left them, it being a point of etiquette not to appear in shoes in the presence of a superior; so much so, that Mr Gardner himself was never guilty of the indecorum of wearing shoes or slippers in the presence of his wife.

  The begum was sitting on a chārpāī when we entered the apartment; when Mrs B— presented me as the friend of Colonel Gardner, she shook hands with me and said, ‘How do you do, kurow?’ – this was all the English she could speak. The begum appeared ill and languid: perhaps the languor was the effect of opium. I had heard so much of Mulka’s wonderful beauty that I felt disappointed: her long black and shining hair, divided in front, hung down on both sides of her face as low as her bosom, while the rest of her hair, plaited behind, hung down her back in a long tail.

  Her dress consisted of silk full trousers (pājāmas) over which she wore a pair of Indian shawls, and ornaments of jewellery were on her hands and arms. En passant, be it said that ladies in the East never wear petticoats, but full pājāmas: the ayahs, who attend on English ladies in the capacity of ladies’ maids, wear the petticoat; but it is a sign of servitude, and only worn to satisfy the ideal delicacy of English ladies, who dislike to see a female servant without a petticoat. The moment an ayah quits her mistress and goes into her own house, she pulls off the petticoat as a useless encumbrance and appears in the native trousers which she always wears beneath it.

  The room in which the begum received us was the one in which she usually slept; the floor was covered with a white cloth. She was sitting on a native bed (chārpāī); and as the natives never use furniture, of course there was none in the room.

  Two or three female attendants stood by her side, fanning her with large feather fans; the others drove away the mosquitoes and flies with chaunrīs made of peacocks’ feathers, which are appendages of royalty.

  Some opium was brought to her; she took a great bit of it herself and put a small bit, the size of half a pea, into the mouth of each of her young children; she eats much opium daily and gives it to her children until they are about six years old.

  Native ladies, when questioned on the subject, say ‘It keeps them from taking cold; it is the custom; that is enough, it is the custom.’

  If a native lady wishes to keep up her reputation for beauty, she should not allow herself to be seen under the effect of opium by daylight.

  When the Princess dismissed us from her presence, she invited us to pay her a visit in the evening; Mrs B—, with whom she was very intimate and to whom she was very partial, said ‘I trust, Mulka Begum, since we are to obey your commands and pay you a visit this evening, you will put on all your ornaments and make yourself look beautiful.’ The begum laughed, and said she would do so. On our quitting the apartments, she exclaimed, ‘Ah! you English ladies with your white faces, you run about where you will, like dolls, and are so happy!’ From which speech I conjecture the princess dislikes the confinement of the four walls. She always spoke Urdū, the court language, w
hich is Hindustani intermixed largely with Persian; her manners were very pleasing and very ladylike. So much for the first sight of the Princess Mulka Begum.

  The history I heard in the zenāna is as follows: Mulka Begum, the wife of Mirza Selīm, the brother of Akbar Shāh, was on a visit to her sister, the beautiful Queen of Oude; his Majesty fell in love with Mulka and detained her against her will in the palace; Colonel Gardner, indignant at the conduct of the King, brought Mulka from Lucknow and placed her in his own zenāna, under the care of his own begum. Marriages are generally dependant on geographical position; the opportunity Mr James Gardner had of seeing the Princess, added to her extreme beauty and the romance of the affair, was more than he could withstand; he carried her off from the zenāna. Colonel Gardner was extremely angry and refused to see or communicate with his son; they lived in the jungle for nearly two years. One day, Mr James Gardner, who had tried every method to induce his father to be reconciled to him in vain, seeing him in a boat swam after him and vowed, unless Colonel Gardner would take him into the boat, he would perish: Colonel Gardner remained unmoved until, seeing his son exhausted and on the point of sinking, paternal feelings triumphed; he put forth his hand and saved him. ‘Whatever a man does who is afflicted with love, he is to be excused for it.’

  Durd ishk-e kushīdu’um ki m’ purs

  Zahir hijree chush’du’um ki m’ purs.

  Hum ne dil sunum ko dya

  Phir kissee ko kya?

  I have felt the pain of love, ask not of whom:

  I have felt the pangs of absence, ask not of whom:

  I have given my heart to my beloved,

  What is that to another?

  Mulka was divorced from Mirza Selīm and legally married to her present husband. We dined with Mr Gardner in the outer house; the dinner was of native dishes which were most excellent. During the repast, two dishes were sent over from the begum, in compliment to her guests, which I was particularly desired to taste as the Timoorian ladies pride themselves on their cookery and on particular occasions will superintend the making of the dishes themselves; these dishes were so very unlike, and so superior to any food I had ever tasted, that I never failed afterwards to partake of any dish when it was brought to me with the mysterious whisper, ‘It came from within. It would be incorrect to say, ‘The begum has sent it;’ ‘It came from within,’ being perfectly understood by the initiated.

  In the evening we returned to the zenāna, and were ushered into a long and large apartment, supported down the centre by eight double pillars of handsome native architecture. The floor of the room was covered with white cloth; several lamps of brass (chirāgh-dāns) were placed upon the ground, each stand holding, perhaps, one hundred small lamps. In the centre of the room a carpet was spread and upon that the gaddī and pillows for the begum; the gaddī or throne of the sovereign is a long round pillow which is placed behind the back for support, and two smaller at the sides for the knees; they are placed upon a small carpet of velvet, or cloth of gold (kimkhwāb); the whole richly embroidered and superbly fringed with gold. Seats of the same description, but plain and unornamented, were provided for the visitors. A short time after our arrival, Mulka Begum entered the room looking like a dazzling apparition; you could not see her face, she having drawn her dupatta (veil) over it; her movements were graceful and the magnificence and elegance of her drapery were surprising to the eye of a European.

  She seated herself on the gaddī and throwing her dupatta partly off her face, conversed with us. How beautiful she looked! How very beautiful! Her animated countenance was constantly varying and her dark eyes struck fire when a joyous thought crossed her mind. The languor of the morning had disappeared; by lamplight she was a different creature; and I felt no surprise when I remembered the wondrous tales told by the men of the beauty of Eastern women. Mulka walks very gracefully and is as straight as an arrow. In Europe, how rarely – how very rarely does a woman walk gracefully! Bound up in stays, the body is as stiff as a lobster in its shell; that snake-like, undulating movement – the poetry of motion – is lost, destroyed by the stiffness of the waist and hip, which impedes the free movement of the limbs. A lady in European attire gives me the idea of a German mannikin; an Asiatic, in her flowing drapery, recalls the statues of antiquity.

  I had heard of Mulka’s beauty long ere I beheld her, and she was described to me as the loveliest creature in existence. Her eyes, which are very long, large and dark, are remarkably fine and appeared still larger from being darkened on the edges of the eyelids with soorma: natives compare the shape of a fine eye to a mango when cut open. Her forehead is very fine; her nose delicate and remarkably beautiful – so finely chiselled, her mouth appeared less beautiful, the lips being rather thin. According to the custom of married women in the East her teeth were blackened, and the inside of her lips also, with antimony (missee) which has a peculiarly disagreeable appearance to my eye and may therefore have made me think the lower part of her countenance less perfectly lovely than the upper: in the eye of a native, this application of missee adds to beauty. Her figure is tall and commanding; her hair jet black, very long and straight; her hands and arms are lovely! Very lovely.

  On the cloth before Mulka were many glass dishes filled with sweetmeats, which were offered to the company, with tea and coffee, by her attendants. Mulka partook of the coffee; her huqqa was at her side, which she smoked now and then; she offered her own huqqa to me, as a mark of favour. A superior or equal has her huqqa in attendance, whilst the bindah khāna furnishes several for the inferior visitors. Mrs Valentine Gardner, the wife of Colonel Gardner’s brother, was of the party; she lives with the begum.

  Mulka’s dress was extremely elegant, the most becoming attire imaginable. A Musulmān wears only four garments:

  Firstly, the angīya: a bodice, which fits tight to the bosom and has short sleeves; it is made of silk gauze, profusely ornamented.

  Secondly, the kurtī: a sort of loose body, without sleeves, which comes down to the hips; it is made of net, crêpe or gauze, and highly ornamented.

  Thirdly, pājāmas of gold or crimson brocade, or richly-figured silk; made tight at the waist, but gradually expanding until they reach the feet, much after the fashion of a fan, where they measure eight yards eight inches! A gold border finishes the trouser.

  Fourthly, the dupatta: which is the most graceful and purely feminine attire in the world; it is of white transparent gauze, embroidered with gold and trimmed with gold at the ends, which have also a deep fringe of gold and silver.

  The dupatta is so transparent it hides not; it merely veils the form, adding beauty to the beautiful by its soft and cloudlike folds. The jewellery sparkles beneath it; and the outline of its drapery is continually changing according to the movements or coquetry of the wearer. Such was the attire of the Princess! Her head was covered with pearls and precious stones most gracefully arranged: from the throat to the waist was a succession of strings of large pearls and precious stones; her arms and hands were covered with armlets, bracelets, and rings innumerable. Her delicate and uncovered feet were each decorated with two large circular anklets composed of gold and precious stones and golden rings were on her toes. In her nose she wore a n’hut, a large thin gold ring, on which was strung two large pearls with a ruby between them. A nose-ring is a love token, and is always presented by the bridegroom to the bride. No single woman is allowed to wear one.

  In her youth Mulka learned to read and write in Persian, but since her marriage has neglected it. Music is considered disgraceful for a lady of rank, dancing the same – such things are left to nāch women. Mulka made enquiries concerning the education of young ladies in England; and on hearing how many hours were devoted to the piano, singing, and dancing, she expressed her surprise, considering such nāch-like accomplishments degrading.

  A native gentleman, describing the points of beauty in a woman, thus expressed himself: ‘Barā barā nāk, barā barā ānkh, munh jaisa chānd, khūb bhāari aisa.’ A very very larg
e nose, very very large eyes, a face like the moon; very very portly, thus! – stretching out his arms as if they could not at their fullest extent encircle the mass of beauty he was describing!

  When a woman’s movements are considered peculiarly graceful, it is often remarked, ‘She walks like a goose, or a drunken elephant.’

  Mr Gardner has a fine estate at Kutchowra, with an indigo plantation: his establishment is very large, and completely native. I imagine he is greatly assisted in the management of his estate by the advice of the begum: with the exception of this, she appears to have little to amuse her. Her women sit round her working and she gives directions for her dresses. Eating opium and sleeping appear to occupy much of her time. Sometimes her slaves will bring the small, silver cauldrons and cooking pots (degchas and hāndīs) to her and, guided by her instructions, will prepare some highly-esteemed dish over charcoal in a little moveable fireplace, called an angethī.

  Her husband, who is very proud of her, often speaks of her being a descendant of Timur the Tartar. Timurlane, as we call him, which is a corruption of Timurlung, or the lame Timur: he was a shepherd and as he sat on the mountain one day watching his flocks, a fakīr came up who, striking him on the leg, said ‘Arise, and be King of the World.’ He did so, but was lame ever after from the blow. The Timoorians are remarkable for their long, large and fine eyes. English dresses are very unbecoming, both to Europeans and Asiatics. A Musulmān lady is a horror in an English dress; but an English woman is greatly improved by wearing a native one, the attire itself is so elegant, so feminine and so graceful.