History is so fascinating that the more you read the more there remains to be discovered. In Indian history, the delights of discovery are plenty. Having read about the Mughals in primary school and slugging along the boring pages, I never thought that there were fascinating untold stories of 18th century buried among the tales of the usual giants - Marathas, Sikhs and British. Julia Keay's well researched and carefully unwound story of a nautch girl turned empress Begum Sumru in 18th century India is an important lesson in Indian women's history.
Descent and Ascent
Farzana Zeb-un Nissa was born into an impoverished Kashmiri family in Kutana, Meerut. In an volatile but obscure journey she reached a kotha in Chawri Bazar, Delhi and became a courtesan at the age of 15. Charmed by her beauty but more by her wit, peculiar for women in that time, a certain visitor Walter Renhardt Sombre made her his concubine. Sombre, 45, from Luxembourg, was a mercenary with a professional army of Indians and Europeans was known as The Butcher of Patna for his massacre of 150 Englishmen.
Couple of Shenanigans
Escaping from one place to another and now with the new Begum, his fate changed when the enigmatic lady with her daring, her ability to influence people and her effortless leadership skills made the couple favorites of Jats and Mughals. His comrade in arms not only helped Sombre in this journey of counter intrigue from Rohilkand, Agra, Deeg and Bharatpur, ingratiated them both to most high ranking officials and emperors, but also after his death became head of the army and successfully reigned over Sardhana (Meerut) yielding 90000 pounds per annum.
Called Joanna Nobilis Sombre after she converted to Christianity later in life, sometimes referred to as India's only Catholic princess and Umdat al Arakin, also called Farzana Zeb-un Nissa, the title Farzand e-Azizi was one of the most esteemed for an Indian women in that time of purdah, dominion and etiquette. The title, which means beloved daughter, was bestowed on her by Mughal King Shah Alam whom she had rescued from an attempted bloody coup. This enigmatic lady had seen and kissed danger at the hands of the Marathas, Sikhs, Rajputs, Jats, Britishers and the Mughals making friends and foes with a chameleon skill.
The novel draws sources from diverse academic papers, articles and historians. I felt the silhouette drawn of the Begum is nothing less than magic and one of inspiration. To be such a resistant and resilient empress in a conformist time is nothing less than wizardry and path breaking. Just as the title says, the story is indeed tempestuous and nothing short of storm in the 18th century Indian teacup!
The lady who rescued a trapped emperor, trained an army, became comrade in arms, used her influence to gain territory, dined with who's who of the North Indian map, ruled and prospered over a state for 30 years and built an Italian style basilica in Sardhana.
Farzana by Julia Keay is easily among my historical books collection. As an avid reader especially of historical books, I post pictures of books, reading and talk about many lesser known classic and contemporary books on my Instagram page.
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