Sepoy Indian infantry private, in this case in the employ of the British East India Company. The word derives from sipahi, the Persian for soldier
Shadi Marriage feast or party
Shagird A pupil in poetry apprenticed to a master or ustad
Shahzada Princes
Shamiana Indian marquee, or the screen formed around the perimeter of a tented area
Shanai Oboe-like Hindustani instrument
Sharif Princely or noble
Shi’a One of the two principle divisions of Islam, dating back to a split immediately after the death of the Prophet, between those who recognised the authority of the Medinian caliphs and those who followed the Prophet’s son in law Ali (Shi’at Ali means ‘the party of Ali’ in Arabic). Though most Shi’ites live in Iran, there have always been a large number in the Indian Deccan, and Hyderabad was for much of its history a centre of Shi’ite culture
Shikar Hunting, hence shikari, hunter
Shikastah An elaborate Persian and Urdu cursive script or calligraphy (lit. ‘broken writing’). Popular in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, shikastah is an elaborate and personalised form of nasta’liq script in which the natural pauses between letters and words are blurred by the writer joining up the normally empty passages of the verse or sentence, often making it very difficult to read
Shir mal Sweet naan
Shorba Soup
Shwebo Wun Burmese provincial governor
Sirdar Nobleman
Sogh Mourning clothes
Subahdar Indian senior officer in a sepoy regiment
Sufi Muslim mystic
Surahis Traditional tall, elegant North Indian water and wine cooler/flask
Taal The beat in Hindustani music
Tahsildar District official in charge of revenue and taxation
Tasbih Rosary, hence Tasbih Khana, an oratory or prayer room
Tawaif The cultivated and urbane dancing girls and courtesans who were such a feature of late Mughal society and culture
Ta’wiz A charm
Tehkhana Cool underground room or network of cool rooms
Thammo Stop!
Thana Police post or station, presided over by a Thanadar
Tilangas This word apparently derives from Telingana, in modern Andhra Pradesh, where the British originally recruited many of their sepoys during the Carnatic Wars of the eighteenth century. In Delhi the name seems to have stuck as an appellation for British trained troops although the British had long since replaced Telingana with Avadh as their principle recruitment field, so that in 1857 most sepoys would have come from modern Uttar Pradesh and parts of Bihar. Purbias (qv), which in Delhi was used alternately with Tilangas, simply means Easterners. Both words carry the same connotations of foreignness, implying ‘these outsiders from the East’
Tulwar Indian curved sword
Ukases Decrees
‘Ulama In Arabic, the ‘ulama means ‘the ones possessing knowledge’, hence the ‘community of learned men’. In effect it means the Islamic clergy, the body of men with sufficient knowledge of the Koran, the Sunna and the Sharia to make decisions on matters of religion. ‘Ulama is an Arabic plural – the singular is ‘alim, a learned man
‘Umbara Covered elephant howdah (qv)
Umrah Nobleman
Unani Ionian (or Byzantine Greek) medicine, originally passed to the Islamic world through Byzantine exiles in Persia and still practised in India today
‘Urs Festival day
Ustad The master (or teacher) of an art
Vakil Ambassador or representative (though in modern usage the word means merely lawyer)
Vilayat Province, homeland
Zamindar Landholder or local ruler
Zenana Harem, or women’s quarters
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. MANUSCRIPT SOURCES IN EUROPEAN LANGUAGES
Oriental and India Office Collections, British Library (formerly India Office Library), London (OIOC)
Edwardes Papers, Mss Eur E 211
Chichester Letters, Mss Eur Photo Eur 271
Hardcastle Papers, Mss Eur Photo Eur 31 1B
Johnson Diaries, Mss Eur A 101
John Lawrence Papers, Mss Eur F 90
Metcalfe Papers, Mss Eur D 610
Montgomery Papers, Mss Eur D 1019
Saunders Papers, Mss Eur E 185–187
Vibart Papers, Mss Eur F 135/19
The City of Delhi during 1857, translation of the account of Said Mobarak Shah, Eur Mss B 138
Home Miscellaneous, vol. 725, Kaye Mutiny Papers
Delhi Gazette
Delhi Gazette Extra
Lahore Chronicle
Bengal Wills 1780–1804 L/AG/34/29/4–16
Madras Inventories L/AG/34/29 185–210
Bengal Regimental Orders IOR/P/BEN/SEC
Bengal Political Consultations IOR/P/117/18
British Library
Wellesley Papers, Add Mss 13,582
South Asian Studies Centre Library, Cambridge
Campbell Metcalfe Papers
Bodleian Library, Oxford
Jennings Papers
Archives of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG)
National Army Museum Library, London
Ewart Papers, 7310–48
Gambier Letters, 6211–67
Gardner Papers, 6305–56
Coghill Letters, 6609–139
Lt Gen. F. C. Maisey, “The Capture of the Delhi Palace’, 6309–26
Spy Letters, 6807–138
Col. E. L. Ommaney’s Letters and Diaries, 6301–143
Wilson Correspondence, 5710–38, NAM
Nottingham University Library
Bentinck Papers, PW JF 1537–1556
National Archives of India, New Delhi
Precis of Palace Intelligence, Foreign, Foreign Dept Misc., vol. 361
Mutiny Papers
Dehli Urdu Akhbar
Siraj ul Akhbar
Ahsan ul Akhbar
Lahore Chronicle
Secret Consultations
Political Consultations
Foreign Consultations
Foreign Miscellaneous
Secret Letters to Court
Secret Letters from Court
Political Letters to Court
Political Letters from Court
Delhi Commissioners’ Office, Archive, New Delhi
Mutiny Papers
Mubarak Bagh Papers
Myanmar National Archives, Yangon
Records of the Delhi State Prisoners
Files on the Grave of the King of Delhi
Punjab Archives, Lahore
Delhi Residency Papers
Punjab Mutiny Papers
Private Archives
Fraser Papers, Inverness
2. UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS AND DISSERTATIONS
Ghosh, Durba, ‘Colonial Companions: Bibis, Begums, and Concubines of the British in North India 1760–1830;’ (unpublished PhD, Berkeley, 2000)
Hashmi, Shakila Tabassum Hashmi, ‘The Trial of Bahadur Shah Zafar: Representation and Reality in Mughal-British Relations’ (unpublished B.A. Honours thesis, Department of History, National University of Singapore 1, 1998/99)
Nizami, Farhan Ahmad, ‘Madrasahs, Scholars and Saints: Muslim Responses to the British Presence in Delhi and the Upper Doab 1803–1857’ (unpublished PhD, Oxford, 1983)
Shorto, Sylvia, ‘Public Lives, Private Places, British Houses in Delhi 1803–57’ (unpublished dissertation, New York University, 2004)
3. PERSIAN AND URDU SOURCES
A. Manuscripts
Oriental and India Office Collections, British Library (formerly India Office Library), London (OIOC)
The calligraphy of Zafar and Mirza Fakhra, OIOC: 3577 and 2972/42
Private family papers in the haveli of the late Mirza Farid Beg, Old Delhi
Bankipore Oriental Library, Patna
Farasu, Zafar-uz Zafar (also known as the Fath Nama-I Angrezi), Ms 129, Oriental Library, Bankipur
B. Published Texts
Ahmad, Naim, Shahr ashob, New Delhi, 1968
Ali, Ahmed, The Golden Tradition: An Anthology of Urdu Poetry, New York, 1973
Azad, Muhammed Husain (trans, and ed. Frances Pritchett and Shamsur Rahman Faruqi), Ab-e Hayat: Shaping the Canon of Urdu Poetry, New Delhi, 2001
Dehlavi, Zahir, Dastan i-Ghadr: Ya Taraze Zaheeri, Lahore, 1955
Faizuddin, Munshi, Bazm i-Akhir, Yani sehr e-Delhi ke do akhiri badshahon ka tareeq i-maashrat (The Last Convivial Gathering – The Mode of Life of the Last Two Kings of Delhi), Lahore, 1965
Farrukhi, Aslam, Muhammad Husain Azad, 2 vols, Karachi, 1965
Ghalib, Mirza Asadullah Khan, Dastanbuy (trans. Khwaja Ahmad Faruqi), New Delhi, 1970
Khairabadi, Allamah Fazl ul-Haqq, “The Story of the War of Independence, 1857–8’, in Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society, vol. 5, January 1957, part 1
Khan, Hakim Ahsanullah, ‘Memoirs’, in Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society, vol. 6, 1958
Khan, Dargah Quli, The Muraqqa’ e-Dehli (trans. Chander Shekhar), New Delhi, 1989
Khan, Sir Sayyid Ahmad, Asar us Sanadid, New Delhi, 1990
Khan, Sir Sayyid Ahmad, The Causes of the Indian Revolt, Translated into English by his Two English Friends, Benares, 1873 (reprint edition introduced by Francis Robinson, Karachi, 2000)
Lal, Jeewan, A Short Account of the Life and Family of Rai Jeewan Lal Bahadur, Late Honorary Magistrate of Delhi, with extracts from his diary relating to the time of the Mutiny 1857 compiled his son, New Delhi, 1902
Latif, Abdul, 1857 Ka Tarikhi Roznamacha (ed. Khaliq Ahmed Nizami), Nadwatul Musannifin Series (68), New Delhi, 1958
Nizami, Khwaja Hasan, Begmat ke Aansu (Tears of the Begums), New Delhi, 1952
Parvez, Aslam, Bahadur Shah Zafar: Anjuman Taraqqi-e Urdu Hind, New Delhi, 1986
Qamber, Akhtar, The Last Musha’irah of Delhi: A Translation of Farhatullah Baig’s Modern Urdu Classic Dehli ki Akhri Shama, New Delhi, 1979
Quraishi, Salim al-Din, Cry for Freedom: Proclamations of Muslim Revolutionaries of 1857, Lahore, 1997
Qureshi, Salim and Ashur Kazmi (trans, and ed.), 1857 ke Ghaddaron ke Khutut, New Delhi, 2001
Rizvi, S. A. and M. L. Bhargava (eds.), Freedom Struggle in Uttar Pradesh, 6 vols, Lucknow, 1957
Russell, Ralph, The Oxford Ghalib: Life, Letters and Ghazals, New Delhi, 2003
Server ul-Mulk, My Life, Being the Autobiography of Nawab Server ul Mulk Bahadur (translated from the Urdu by his son, Nawab Jiwan Yar Jung Bahadur), London, 1903
Taimuri, Arsh, Qila-i Mua’lla ki Jhalkiyan (ed. Dr Aslam Parvez), New Delhi, 1986
Zafar, Bahadur Shah II, Emperor of Hindustan, Kulliyat-I Zafar, or the complete poetical works of Abu Zafar Siraj al-Din Muhammad Bahadur Shah, Lucknow, 1869–70
Zakaullah, Tarikh-I-Uruj-e’Ahd – I Sultanat-I-Inglishiya, New Delhi, 1904
4. CONTEMPORARY WORKS AND PERIODICAL ARTICLES IN EUROPEAN LANGUAGES
Andrews, C. F., Zakaullah of Delhi, Cambridge, 1929
Anon, [probably Robert Bird], Dacoitee in Excelsis, or the Spoilation of Oude by the East India Company, London, 1857; Archer, Major, Tours in Upper India, London, 1833
Ball, Charles, History of the Indian Mutiny, 2 vols, London, 1858–9
Barter, Richard, The Siege of Delhi, London, 1984
Bas, C. T. Le, ‘How we escaped from Delhi’, Fraser’s magazine, February 1858 Bayley, Emily, The Golden Calm: An English Lady’s Life in Moghul Delhi, London, 1980
Beames, John, Memoirs of a Bengal Civilian, London, 1961
Bernier, François, Travels in the Mogul Empire, 1656–68 (ed. Archibald Constable, trans. Irving Brock), Oxford, 1934
Blomfield, David (ed.), Lucknow – The Indian Mutiny Journal of Arthur Moffat Laing, London, 1992
Bourchier, Colonel George, CB, Eight Months Campaign against the Bengal Sepoy Army During the Mutiny of 1857, London, 1858
Campbell, Sir George, Memoirs of My Indian Career, London, 1893
Chick, N. A., Annals of the Indian Rebellion 1857–8 and Life in the Fort of Agra During the Mutinies of 1857, Calcutta, 1859 (reprinted London, 1972)
Coopland, Mrs R. M., A Lady’s Escape from Gwalior in 1857, London, 1859
Dunlop, Robert Henry Wallace, Service and Adventure with the Khakee Ressalah or Meerut Volunteer Horse During the Mutinees of 1857–8, London, 1858
Eden, Eden, Journals, reprinted as Tigers, Durbars and Kings, London, 1988
Eden, Emily, Up the Country: Letters from India, London, 1930
Fergusson, James, History of Indian & Eastern Architecture, London, 1876
Greathed, H. H, Letters Written During the Siege of Delhi, London, 1858
Griffiths, Charles John, The Siege of Delhi, London, 1910
Haldane, Julia, The Story of Our Escape from Delhi in 1857, Agra, 1888
Heber, Reginald, A Narrative of a Journey Through the Upper Provinces of India from Calcutta to Bombay, 1824–1825, 3 vols, London, 1827
Hodson, Major W. S. R., Twelve Years of a Soldier’s Life in India, London, 1859
Holmes, T. Rice, A History of the Indian Mutiny and of the Disturbances which Accompanied it among the Civil Population, London, 1898
Huxley, Aldous, Jesting Pilate, London, 1926
Imperial Records Department, Press List of Mutiny Papers 1857, Being a Collection of the Correspondence of the Mutineers at Delhi, Reports of Spies to English Officials and other Miscellaneous Papers, Calcutta, 1921
Ireland, William W., A History of the Siege of Delhi by an Officer who served there, Edinburgh, 1861
Jacob, E., A Memoir of Professor Yesudas Ramchandra of Delhi, vol. 1, Cawnpore, 1902
Jacquemont, Victor, Letters From India (1829–32), 2 vols (trans. Catherine Phillips), London, 1936
Kaye, J. W., A History of the Sepoy War in India 1857–8, London, 1877
Khan, Sir Sayyid Ahmad, The Causes of the Indian Revolt (reprint edition introduced by Francis Robinson), Karachi, 2000
Lang, Arthur Moffat, Lahore to Lucknow: The Indian Mutiny Journal of Arthur Moffat Lang, London, 1992
Mackenzie, Col. A. R. D., Mutiny Memoirs – being personal reminiscences of the Great Sepoy Revolt of 1857, Allahabad, 1891
Maisey, Lt Gen. F. C, ‘An Account by an eyewitness of the taking of the Delhi Palace’, in Royal United Services Institution Journal, 1930
Majendie, Vivien Dering, Up Among the Pandies or A Year’s Service in India, London, 1859
Maunsell, F. R., The Siege of Delhi, London, 1912
Metcalfe, Charles Theophilus, Two Native Narratives of the Mutiny in Delhi, London, 1898
Montgomery, Martin R., The Indian Empire, 6 vols, London, 1860
Muter, Mrs, My Recollections of the Sepoy Revolt, London, 1911
Norman, Sir Henry W. and Mrs Keith Young, Delhi 1857, London, 1902
Nugent, Lady Maria, Journal of a Residence in India 1811–15, 2 vols, London, 1839
Panday, Sitaram, From Sepoy to Subedar: being the life and Adventures of Subedar Sita Ram, A Native Officer of the Bengal Army, Written and Related by Himself (trans. Lt Col. J. T. Norgate), London, 1873
Parkes, Fanny, Wanderings of a Pilgrim in Search of the Picturesque, London, 1850
Peile, Mrs Fanny, The Delhi Massacre: A Narrative by a Lady, Calcutta, 1870
Polier, Antoine, Shah Alam II and his Court, Calcutta, 1947
Proceedings on the Trial of Muhammad Bahadur Shah, Titular King of Delhi, Before a Military Commission, upon a charge of Rebellion, Treason and Murder, held at Delhi, on the 27th Day of January 1858, and following days London 1859.
Records of the Intelligence Department of the Government of the North West Provinces of India During the Mutiny of 1857, Edinburgh, 1902
Reid, Major Charles, Defence of the Main Piquet at Hindoo Rao’s House as recorded by Major Reid Commanding the Sirmoor Battalion, London, 1957
Lord Roberts of Kandahar (Fred Roberts), Forty One Years in India, London, 1897
Rotton, John Edward, The Chaplain’s Narrative of the Siege of Delhi, London, 1858
Russell, W. H., My Diary in India, London, 1860
Sleeman, Major General Sir W. H., Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official, Oxford, 1915
Thornhill, Mark, Personal Adventures and Experiences of a Magistrate, during the Rise, Progress and Suppression of the Indian Mutiny, London, 1884
Trotter Lionel J., A Leader of Light Horse: A Life of Hodson’s Horse, Edinburgh, 1901
Trotter, Lionel J., The Life of John Nicholson, Soldier and Administrator, London, 1898
Turnbull, Lt Col, John, Letters Written During the Siege of Delhi, London, 1886
Tytler, Harriet, An Englishwoman in India: The Memoirs of Harriet Tytler 1828–1858 (ed. Anthony Sattin), Oxford, 1986
Vibart, Edward, The Sepoy Mutiny As Seen by a Subaltern from Delhi to Lucknow, London, 1858
Wagentrieber, Florence, The Story of Our Escape from Delhi in May 1857, from personal narrations by the late George Wagentrieber and Miss Haldane, Delhi, 1894
White, Col. S. Dewe, Indian Reminiscences, London, 1880
Wilberforce, R. G., An Unrecorded Chapter of the Indian Mutiny, London, 1894
Wilkinson, Johnson and Osborn, The Memoirs of the Gemini Generals, London, 1896
Wise, James, The Diary of a Medical Officer During the Great Indian Mutiny of 1857, Cork, 1894
Young Mrs Keith, and Sir Henry Norman, Delhi 1857, London, 1902
5. SECONDARY WORKS AND PERIODICAL ARTICLES
Ahmed Aziz, Studies in Islamic Culture in the Indian Environment, Oxford, 1964
Alam, Muzaffar and Seema Alavi, A European Experience of the Mughal Orient: The I’jaz-I Arslani (Persian Letters, 1773–1779) of Antoine-Louis Henri Poller, New Delhi, 2001
Alavi, Seema, The Sepoys and the Company: Tradition and Transition in Northern India 1770–1820, New Delhi, 1995
Allen, Charles, God’s Terrorists: The Wahhabi Cult and the Hidden Roots of Modern Jihad, London, 2006
Allen, Charles, Soldier Sahibs: The Men Who Made the North-West Frontier, London, 2000
Anderson, Olive, ‘The Growth of Christian Militarism in Mid-Victorian Britain’, in English Historical Review, Vol. 86, 1971
Archer, Mildred, Company Drawings in the India Office Library, London, 1972
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