Authors: William Dalrymple
White Mughals (2 page)
The legendary Chand Bibi (d.1599), painted in Hyderabad,
c
.1800.
(OIOC, BL Add. Or 3899, 433)
c
.1800.
(OIOC, BL Add. Or 3899, 433)
A Deccani prince with his women. From Bijapur,
c
.1680, by Rahim Deccani.
(Reproduced by kind permission of the Trustees of the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin; MS 66 no. 1)
c
.1680, by Rahim Deccani.
(Reproduced by kind permission of the Trustees of the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin; MS 66 no. 1)
Nizam Ali Khan crosses the causeway from Hyderabad to his citadel of Golconda,
c
.1775.
(The Bodleian Library, Oxford: MS. DOUCE Or. b3 Fol.25, 31)
c
.1775.
(The Bodleian Library, Oxford: MS. DOUCE Or. b3 Fol.25, 31)
The Handsome Colonel with George and James Kirkpatrick at Hollydale,
c
.1769.
(Private collection)
c
.1769.
(Private collection)
William Kirkpatrick in Madras as Wellesley’s Private Secretary in late 1799.
(Courtesy of the National Gallery of Ireland)
(Courtesy of the National Gallery of Ireland)
James Achilles Kirkpatrick, the British Resident at Hyderabad, 1799, by Thomas Hickey.
(Private collection)
(Private collection)
The Nizam and his durbar ride out on a hunting expedition
c
.1790, by Venkatchellam.
(Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad)
c
.1790, by Venkatchellam.
(Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad)
Aristu Jah at the height of his powers,
c
.1800, by Venkatchellam.
(V&A Picture Library, I.S. 163-1952)
c
.1800, by Venkatchellam.
(V&A Picture Library, I.S. 163-1952)
Henry Russell,
c
.1805, by Venkatchellam.
(Collection of Professor Robert Frykenberg)
c
.1805, by Venkatchellam.
(Collection of Professor Robert Frykenberg)
The two youngest sons of the Nizam, princes Suleiman Jah and Kaiwan Jah,
c
.1802, by Venkatchellam.
(Private collection)
c
.1802, by Venkatchellam.
(Private collection)
Nizam Ali Khan consults Aristu Jah and his son and successor Sikander Jah,
c
.1800, by Venkatchellam.
(Private collection)
c
.1800, by Venkatchellam.
(Private collection)
Ma’ali Mian, Aristu Jah’s eldest son and the husband of Farzand Begum, by Venkatchellam.
(Private collection)
(Private collection)
The young Maratha Peshwa Madhu Rao with his guardian and effective jailor, the brilliant and ruthless Maratha Minister Nana Phadnavis. By James Wales, 1792.
(Royal Asiatic Society/Bridgeman Art Library)
(Royal Asiatic Society/Bridgeman Art Library)
Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore,
c
.1790.
(V&A Picture Library, I.S. 266-1952)
c
.1790.
(V&A Picture Library, I.S. 266-1952)
Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, by J. Pain Davis,
c
.1815.
(By courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London)
c
.1815.
(By courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London)
Mir Alam.
(Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad)
(Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad)
James Achilles Kirkpatrick,
c
.1805, attributed to George Chinnery.
(Courtesy of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd)
c
.1805, attributed to George Chinnery.
(Courtesy of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd)
General William Palmer in old age,
c
.1810.
(Courtesy of the Director, National Army Museum, London)
c
.1810.
(Courtesy of the Director, National Army Museum, London)
General William and Fyze Palmer with their young family in Lucknow, painted by Johan Zoffany in 1785.
(OIOC, BL)
(OIOC, BL)
James and Khair’s children, Sahib Allum and Sahib Begum, painted by George Chinnery in 1805.
(Courtesy of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd)
(Courtesy of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd)
The mercenary Alexander Gardner in his tartan
salvar kemise
.
salvar kemise
.
The tomb of Michel Joachim Raymond.
The hill of Maula Ali.
Hyderabad state executioners in the 1890s.
Medicine men.
Amazon harem guards and band members.
Raymond’s Bidri-ware hookah.
(Private collection)
(Private collection)
William Kirkpatrick.
(Strachey Trust)
(Strachey Trust)
William Linnaeus Gardner.
William Fraser.
James Achilles Kirkpatrick as a young man.
(Strachey Trust)
(Strachey Trust)
William Palmer the Hyderabad banker as a disillusioned old man.
(Private collection)
(Private collection)
Kitty Kirkpatrick.
Henry Russell on his return to England.
Thomas Carlyle.
(Strachey Trust)
(Strachey Trust)
The south front of the Hyderabad Residency in 1805.
(Strachey Trust)
(Strachey Trust)
The south front of the Residency today.
The north front of the Residency today.
The
naqqar khana
gateway into Khair un-Nissa’s
zenana
.
naqqar khana
gateway into Khair un-Nissa’s
zenana
.
Hyderabad’s Char Minar in the 1890s.
THE SHUSHTARIS
THE KIRKPATRICKS
White Mughals
Dramatis Personae
1 . THE BRITISHThe Kirkpatricks
Colonel James Kirkpatrick (‘The Handsome Colonel’, 1729-1818):
The raffish father of William, George and James Achilles. A former colonel in the East India Company army, at the time of James’s affair he had retired to Hollydale, his estate in Kent.
The raffish father of William, George and James Achilles. A former colonel in the East India Company army, at the time of James’s affair he had retired to Hollydale, his estate in Kent.
Lieutenant Colonel William Kirkpatrick (1756-1812):
Persian scholar, linguist and opium addict; former Resident at Hyderabad and in 1800 Military Secretary and chief political adviser to Lord Wellesley; illegitimate half-brother of James Achilles Kirkpatrick.
Persian scholar, linguist and opium addict; former Resident at Hyderabad and in 1800 Military Secretary and chief political adviser to Lord Wellesley; illegitimate half-brother of James Achilles Kirkpatrick.
George Kirkpatrick (1763-1818):
James’s elder brother, known as ‘Good honest George’. A pious and humourless man, he failed to make a success of his career in India and never rose higher than the position of a minor Collector of taxes in Malabar.
James’s elder brother, known as ‘Good honest George’. A pious and humourless man, he failed to make a success of his career in India and never rose higher than the position of a minor Collector of taxes in Malabar.
Major James Achilles Kirkpatrick (1764-1805):
Known in Hyderabad as Hushmut Jung—‘Glorious in Battle’—Nawab Fakhr-ud-Dowla Bahadur; the thoroughly Orientalised British Resident at the Court of Hyderabad.
Known in Hyderabad as Hushmut Jung—‘Glorious in Battle’—Nawab Fakhr-ud-Dowla Bahadur; the thoroughly Orientalised British Resident at the Court of Hyderabad.
William George Kirkpatrick (1801-1828):
Known in Hyderabad as Mir Ghulam Ali, Sahib Allum. After arriving in England, he, fell into ‘a copper of boiling water’ in 1812 and was disabled for life, with at least one of his limbs requiring amputation. He lingered on, a dreamy, disabled poet, obsessed with Wordsworth and the metaphysics of Coleridge, before dying at the age of twenty-seven.
Known in Hyderabad as Mir Ghulam Ali, Sahib Allum. After arriving in England, he, fell into ‘a copper of boiling water’ in 1812 and was disabled for life, with at least one of his limbs requiring amputation. He lingered on, a dreamy, disabled poet, obsessed with Wordsworth and the metaphysics of Coleridge, before dying at the age of twenty-seven.
Katherine Aurora Kirkpatrick (1802-89):
Known as Noor un-Nissa, Sahib Begum in Hyderabad and subsequently as Kitty Kirkpatrick in England; daughter of James and Khair un-Nissa; sent to England 1805; married Captain James Winslowe Phillipps of the 7th Hussars on 21 November 1829; died in Torquay in 1889 at the age of eighty-seven.
The WellesleysKnown as Noor un-Nissa, Sahib Begum in Hyderabad and subsequently as Kitty Kirkpatrick in England; daughter of James and Khair un-Nissa; sent to England 1805; married Captain James Winslowe Phillipps of the 7th Hussars on 21 November 1829; died in Torquay in 1889 at the age of eighty-seven.
Richard Colley Wellesley, Marquess Wellesley (1760-1842):
Governor General of India. Originally a great hero of James Kirkpatrick, his bullying imperial policies came to disgust James and led him to resist with increasing vigour the Company’s attempts to take over the Deccan.
Governor General of India. Originally a great hero of James Kirkpatrick, his bullying imperial policies came to disgust James and led him to resist with increasing vigour the Company’s attempts to take over the Deccan.
Colonel Arthur Wellesley (1769-1852):
Governor of Mysore and ‘Chief Political and Military Officer in the Deccan and Southern Maratha Country’. Greatly disliked the Kirkpatrick brothers. Later famous as the Duke of Wellington.
Governor of Mysore and ‘Chief Political and Military Officer in the Deccan and Southern Maratha Country’. Greatly disliked the Kirkpatrick brothers. Later famous as the Duke of Wellington.
Henry Wellesley (1773-1847):
Assistant to his brother the Governor General, and Governor of the Ceded Districts of Avadh.
The PalmersAssistant to his brother the Governor General, and Governor of the Ceded Districts of Avadh.
General William Palmer (d.1814):
Friend of Warren Hastings and James Achilles Kirkpatrick, and Resident at Poona until he was sacked by Wellesley. Married Fyze Baksh Begum, a begum of Oudh. Father of William, John and Hastings.
Friend of Warren Hastings and James Achilles Kirkpatrick, and Resident at Poona until he was sacked by Wellesley. Married Fyze Baksh Begum, a begum of Oudh. Father of William, John and Hastings.
Fyze Baksh, Begum Palmer (aka Sahib Begum, c.1760-1820):
Daughter of‘a Persian Colonel of Cavalry’ in the service of the Nawabs of Oudh. Her sister Nur Begum was married to General Benoît de Boigne. Fyze married General Palmer and had four sons and two daughters by him, including William Palmer the banker, whom she lived with in Hyderabad after the General’s death. Best friend of Khair un-Nissa: when the latter died, she locked herself up for a month, saying ‘she had lost the only real friend she ever had’.
Daughter of‘a Persian Colonel of Cavalry’ in the service of the Nawabs of Oudh. Her sister Nur Begum was married to General Benoît de Boigne. Fyze married General Palmer and had four sons and two daughters by him, including William Palmer the banker, whom she lived with in Hyderabad after the General’s death. Best friend of Khair un-Nissa: when the latter died, she locked herself up for a month, saying ‘she had lost the only real friend she ever had’.
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