White Mughals

by William Dalrymple

  Sydenham seems in fact to have defined himself and his style in direct opposition to that of James Kirkpatrick.hp When he bought two of James’s silver elephant howdahs which had once belonged to Tipu Sultan’s father, Haidar Ali, he felt it necessary to send a despatch to Calcutta explaining that he had no intention of going the way of Kirkpatrick, despite the impression that might have been created by the purchase: ‘the dignity and respectability of the British Representative should be made to rest—as indeed it does rest—on more solid foundation than the maintenance of state and splendour borrowed from the manners and habits of the natives of Asia [which are] in great degree inconsistent with our national character’, he wrote.20

  There are also hints that there was some sort of financial scandal in which Sydenham believed the old regime to be indirectly implicated. The exact details are unclear, but Sydenham decided that Munshi Aziz Ullah was responsible and had sacked him on the spot, even before initiating a proper investigation. This summary treatment horrified and disgusted Henry Russell, who had great respect for the munshi, admired his negotiating skills, and knew the degree to which he was responsible for the small print of all three of the treaties James had signed. Indeed he described the munshi to his brother Charles as ‘a man of uncommon character and acquirements, whose abilities did more for the Company than any European unaided could ever have done, and whose integrity was confirmed and secured by his pride … For all the important measures he [James Kirkpatrick] carried through he was ultimately indebted to Uzeez Oolah; [indeed] no one but himself could have been so indebted with such impunity.’21hq

  Russell’s theory was that the scandal was the creation of Captain William Hemming, the commander of James’s bodyguard, whom he and James had long disliked and distrusted. Moreover, Russell believed that it was part of Hemming’s ongoing attempt to smear James’s memory:If there was reason to suppose that abuses existed in any department of the treasury at H [i.e. the Hyderabad Residency] it was unquestionably wise to institute an enquiry. But whatever may be the result, I am convinced that no imputation of blame can be affixed to the character of Colonel Kirkpatrick. I am almost as much assured of the integrity of Uzeez Ullah … It is an extraordinary circumstance that every charge that I have ever heard urged against the Colonel [Kirkpatrick] or the Moonshy, and every suspicion which ever entered my mind against either of them, were communicated to me by Hemming; and its surely honourable to the character of both the Colonel and the Moonshy, that the most unrelenting and virulent malignity has been unable to prove a single instance of his misconduct against either of them … I am convinced that we shall be able to defeat all the malice of the poor Colonel’s enemies with plain and simple matters of fact.22

  Russell personally disliked both Hemming and Sydenham, and one of his principal hopes in coming to Calcutta, while ostensibly only taking a short period of leave from the Residency to sort out Kirkpatrick’s will, was to find more congenial employment elsewhere in India. To this end he spent many of his evenings in Calcutta away from his Hyderabadi friends, attending a succession of levées and dinners at Government House in an attempt to find a suitable opening.23

  Russell may have had his faults, but disloyalty was not one of them. For the rest of his life he remained unwaveringly true to James’s memory, and vigorously defended him whenever his style or record was attacked. While in Calcutta he was constantly enquiring of his brother Charles in Hyderabad how people were talking about Kirkpatrick and wanting to know how loyal or not James’s other old friends were being. In one letter, for example, he asks about ‘the Engineer’ (as the architect Samuel Russellhr was known):

  How does the Engineer conduct himself? And what part does he take in any discussions that arise regarding the Colonel? He is perhaps too weak to persevere in proposing that gratitude which he ought to feel; but it would be painful to me to think that among the many to whom the poor Colonel was kind, you and I are the only two that cherish the memory of his goodness... 24

  When Charles replied that the Engineer was indeed joining in the merriment and making jokes about James, Henry was incandescent:Your account of the Engineer’s conduct has gratified me exceedingly and what you say has caused me more pain than surprise. Perhaps I may be too sanguine, but I cannot help indulging a hope that some day I may be Resident at Hyderabad. If that day should arrive, he will find ample cause to deplore it, for he may be assured that my vengeance shall descend upon him, and that I will give him good reason to know [that] there is no crime which I will [deplore more?] highly, than that of Ingratitude to the Memory of a Benefactor.25

  Five years later when Russell did indeed become Resident, he made a great point of bringing back all the usages of James’s time—including the maintenance of strict caste rules in the kitchens—and kept to his promise to refuse to employ anyone who had been in any way disloyal to his old friend and patron.26

  By the end of May 1806, once the Hyderabad party were settled in their Chowringhee house, they began to receive visitors.

  Fyze and the General were the first to call. The two were now getting older, and beginning to feel their age. The General was also depressed—both by the disappointments that Wellesley had brought to the end of his career, and by the financial constraints that his new, reduced salary had imposed upon him. Throughout his life Palmer had always had debts, and as his worried son John wrote, despite ‘knowing the insecurity of his income, he never dreamt of saving one six pence out of it; and he has continued just as careless under the precarious enjoyment of his pension: every dumree of it goes somehow or somewhere’.27

  Palmer’s financial situation was in fact rather worse than John had feared. It was becoming increasingly clear that the old General no longer had the income to service his debts and obligations, and as he wrote to Warren Hastings around this time, ‘I sincerely accuse myself for having neglected to secure a provision for my family & repose for my old age.’28 This was something, naturally enough, that worried his family too, and their anxiety was compounded by both the General and his wife refusing to change their courtly lifestyle to match their newly reduced circumstances. William, Fyze’s eldest child, took it upon himself quietly to put money aside for Fyze’s old age (as she was twenty years younger than the General it was naturally expected that he would die before her), knowing full well that his father would never have sufficient funds to do so. This was something that his half-brother John agreed was sadly very necessary. Writing to William, John said that he greatly

  approve[d] of your proposed plan of making a settlement on your mother for her life … [Perhaps] she should [now] forgo the allowance of Rs. 700 or more that she receives from the General and from whom she draws every other supply she requires … I confess however that I despair of the good sense and the moderation of the one [the General] or the economy & fortitude of the other [Fyze, who was always regarded as ‘magnificent’, i.e. enjoying life’s little perks] & that your benevolence would be abused without the slightest relief to my father is my rooted belief …

  Despite this, John was able to report that both ‘the old lady’ and her husband were in fine fettle:I have however the happiness of assuring you that his constitution is nothing impaired & that few men 15 years his junior have a fairer chance of life. He sleeps and eats well—and though occasionally inconvenienced by a severe tritius auditus [spells when he heard ringing in his ears], their duration is short and a yet shorter time restores his vigor and health.29

  Staying around the corner from the Hyderabadis in John Palmer’s lavish Loll Bazaar mansion (notorious, incidentally, for its mosquitoes, which compelled lady supper-guests to cover their legs with thick stockings during dinner),hs Fyze and the General came over regularly to see Khair, though Russell reported to his brother Charles that Fyze was upset with him for forgetting to bring ‘a parcel of soosunee [coloured embroidery] and other things from her son in Hyderabad. I recollect William telling me he intended giving me a present of that sort; but I cannot find it anywhere, and am
strongly inclined to think that he neglected to send it to me. Ask him and let me know what he says.’30

  Another frequent caller at the house was William Kirkpatrick’s beautiful daughter Isabella Buller, in whose home James had died the previous year. Isabella was now heavily pregnant with her first child, and she and the Begum struck up a firm friendship from the moment they first met: ‘Since the Begum arrived in Calcutta, Mrs Buller has been extremely civil in calling on her, and paying her every Attention in her power,’ wrote Russell in June. ‘[Khair] is therefore desirous to evince her sense of this kindness, by gratifying Mrs Buller’s wishes to get some handsome native dresses, and as she left five very rich suits with her grandmother at Hyderabad, she thinks it is better to get them forwarded to Calcutta, than to incur the expense of making them up here.’31

  Reverting to his role as the Begum’s self-appointed private secretary, Russell went on to give his brother more specific instructions about the consignment:The enclosed letter to the old lady points out the things the Begum wishes to be despatched and desires that they may be very carefully packed and sent to you without delay. I will thank you to take it yourself to the old girl [Durdanah Begum], and to desire that she not be any time in complying with her daughter’s wish, as the season for sending things by sea is now nearly over. Take care also that they are well packed; and if you should not be satisfied with the Begum’s precautions, incur, on my account, any expense that may be requisite to secure the dresses not only from damp, but even from the sea air, which would be apt to tarnish the silver trimmings. When you get them, send them as expeditiously as possible to Alexander [the Company agent at Masulipatam], and check that he will send them consigned to me by the first vessel that may sail for the port of Calcutta.32

  Many other similar commissions on behalf of Khair un-Nissa soon followed. A week later, for example, after Isabella Buller gave birth to a little girl, Henry was writing to Hyderabad asking Charles to send ‘two lots of choorees [bangles], one for Mrs Buller, and the other to accompany whatever dupatta the Begum is making up for dear little Rose [Isabella’s baby daughter]’.33

  One thing that comes across very clearly in these letters is the strength of the bonds linking all these women: between Fyze, Isabella Buller and Khair, but also, more intensely and remarkably still, between Khair, her mother and her grandmother. The two Calcutta Begums are constantly writing to Durdanah Begum in Hyderabad, and a whole succession of small domestic requests (and even, apparently, on one occasion, a large helping of halwa carrot pudding34) go backwards and forwards between Hyderabad and Calcutta, up and down the east coast via the two Russell brothers. The false rumour that Khair has died brings on a further succession of frantic letters. ‘I mentioned to the Begum the anxiety which had been caused to her family by the reports that have been prevalent about her illness,’ writes Henry in June,but her mother is so fidgety, and so much distressed at anything that it is likely to occasion uneasiness to the old Begum, that I did not like to communicate it to her [Sharaf un-Nissa]. The old lady’s mind will have been set at ease by so many letters which she must have received before this time; but the Begum and I both thought it would be prudent to express to her grandmother some regret for the distress she has suffered from a premature report.

  Russell and Khair ‘after consulting together’ therefore hatched a small family conspiracy to fake a letter from Sharaf un-Nissa to her mother, something which Russell reported to Charles was easily achieved as ‘the old lady always gets her letters written through me, and I had not much difficulty in accomplishing what we wished’.ht He goes on: ‘Send the enclosed letter to the old lady immediately … You may also safely assure her that neither her daughter nor her granddaughter were ever in better health in their lives. The season has been uncommonly favourable and mild... ’35

  It is increasingly apparent throughout these letters that it is Khair who seems to be the dominant force among the women. It is she, not her mother, who is writing the letters;hu and it is she who is always ordering the various items from Hyderabad. There is absolutely no question of Khair un-Nissa being some sort of powerless ex-concubine: this is a beautiful, charismatic Mughal noblewoman behaving according to her rank, with a pair of senior British officials running around to do her bidding. In her widowhood, she clearly still retained her magnetism and her effortless ability to get her way with all those who were drawn into her orbit. Henry Russell, who treated her both protectively and with the greatest of respect, seemed no more able or willing to resist her requests than her mother, grandmother or late husband had been before him. At times, indeed, Khair seems to treat Russell as if he is some sort of junior milliner’s assistant, dictating to him long precise details of her requests which he uncomplainingly passes on to his younger brother at the Residency:The enclosed piece of husmah [material] was given me with a request that I would get her some of the same pattern. You will oblige me by consulting the old Begum on the subject. I understand that she will be able to extend you useful assistance, and that a female servant of hers, named Jagumma is particularly au fait at procuring husmah. One dress, which is all I want at present, will require six yards … get it done, that is a great fellow, as soon as you can, and send it to me carefully packed by dawke.36

  Pages full of further details follow, laying down exactly the measurements, patterns, colour and trimmings that the hapless Charles was supposed to find, and where he should go with Jugumma to get them.

  In all ages, in all families, younger brothers are rarely treated with much deference by their elder siblings. Few however can have been so comprehensively patronised as Charles Russell, who was now Assistant Secretary at the Hyderabad Residency and so a diplomat of some standing and seniority in his own right,hv but who nevertheless at this stage seems to have spent a great deal of his professional time running errands for the two Begums between the Residency, Durdanah Begum’s deorhi in Irani Gulli, and the various textile bazaars of the old city of Hyderabad, as well as trotting out to fetch any other personal items that Khair un-Nissa had forgotten to pack before leaving home, such as her paan set: ‘What is become of the chicknee, suparu and cardamoms [I ordered] for the Begum?’ demands Henry at one point. ‘I will thank you to send the enclosed letter to the Old Begum,’ begins another. ‘It contains a desire that she will give you a small box of medicine which her daughter is in the habit of taking, and which she cannot procure in Calcutta. It will be of very small dimensions, and I therefore beg you will forward it to me by dawke... ’37

  Intriguingly, amid all these letters between the women, there is never a single mention of Bâqar Ali Khan, nor of Khair’s brothers or uncles; and there is certainly no mention of Khair ever writing to them. The strongest bonds, quite clearly, were those within the zenana—although it could also be of course that Bâqar and the men of the family had broken off relations with their unusually strong-minded and somewhat ungovernable womenfolk.hw

  But increasingly—and perhaps inevitably—there is another bond in the air: that between Russell and Khair. Khair had spent eighteen months in mourning. She had lost her children—there is no indication that William Kirkpatrick encouraged them to write to her, though she presumably had news of them via William’s daughter Isabella Buller—and she had lost her husband. After the scandal of her affair with James, and the disgrace that Mir Alam had suffered in its wake, she was now very vulnerable to the Mir’s vengeance and was completely unprotected. Moreover she was only twenty, still regarded as a great beauty, and there is no stipulation in Islam against the remarriage of widows.hx Indeed, Muslim tradition encourages it, and suggests that the late husband’s brother is usually the ideal second husband.

  James’s two brothers were now in England and so unavailable; but his closest friend and Assistant was at hand, and seems to have needed little persuasion to have become more intimate with the ‘poor Begum’.

  From the start, even before he arrived in Calcutta, Henry Russell had always been extremely solicitous to Khair un-Nissa.


  In his letters to Charles on his way to Calcutta, Henry worries that as Ure and the other executors are taking so large a percentage of Kirkpatrick’s will as commission, the Begum is unlikely to get her full legacy. He therefore decides to claim his commission and give it straight to Khair, ‘both in order to remunerate her for the loss of the provisional bequest, and as the most fair and creditable mode of disposing of that money which nothing but Ure’s shabbiness and rapacity would have induced me to have requested from the estate’.hy

  Henry also takes it upon himself to get the new diwanhz in Hyderabad, Rajah Chandu Lal, to pay up the money owed to the Begum from her jagirs (estates), while he personally advances her the legacy from James’s will from his own funds ‘in order to prevent the Begum suffering any financial embarrassment’.38

  The news that Khair had unveiled for Russell is the first hint that the two were becoming intimate. By July they were clearly discussing more personal matters. In the middle of the month, a letter arrived for Henry from Hyderabad telling him that his Hyderabadi concubine, by whom he had a son, had again become pregnant. There seemed to be no suggestion that the father was anyone but him,‡ yet he still wrote a slightly chilling reply to Charles, saying that ‘your account of my girl’s conduct gives me much pain, and I am exceedingly dissatisfied to hear she is with child’. He adds: ‘On me she has not many claims, but the Begum has interceded very warmly for her; and at her particular request, I have consented to restore to the girl her full monthly allowance of 30 rupees she originally received from me. I will therefore thank you to pay her that sum in future, and to tell her that I expect her gratitude to the Begum, as well as to me, will induce her to behave better than she has done lately.’39