Reinterpreting Zafar

It is only after reading The Last Mughal that you realise how little we have been told about what happened in Delhi during 1857. For British historians, it was nothing more than a sepoy mutiny, a part of a larger Muslim conspiracy against the East India Company, which was dealt with swiftly and efficiently. Their accounts resound with tales of British courage and determination, in which the Indian tragedy is somewhat lost.

Indian historians like to call it the first war of independence (the idea was floated by Subhash Chandra Bose) that united various factions under Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor of Delhi. At times, it tends to be overzealous and simplistic.

William Dalrymple tells things as they happened. His last two books (The White Mughals and now The Last Mughal) mark his transformation from a riveting travel writer to a historian of repute. It is difficult to think of anyone else who has done it so admirably. He writes with an unmatched passion for India and is still objective in his observations.

The Last Mughal is the story of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the emperor of Hindustan whose rule did not extend beyond the village of Palam, a reluctant leader of mutinous soldiers, a sufi and a poet of repute, a father of 15 (he sired his last child when in his late-60s) and a husband who was under the total control of his favourite wife, Zeenat Mahal.

To this, Dalrymple has added the tales of other dramatis personae: British residents of Delhi like the Tytlers and the Metcalfs, war heroes like Nicholson and Hodson and citizens like the poet Asad-ullah Khan "Ghalib" who were close to the Mughal court.

Ghalib (Dalrymple calls him a rake) became Zafar's teacher after the death of Ibrahim Zauq, his bitter rival. His couplets resound with the backhanded thanks on the elevation.

Ghalib was amongst the few eminent Muslims of Delhi who managed to escape punishment after the fall of Delhi. There were two reasons for this: One, he had earlier sent a couplet to Victoria, Queen of England, in her praise; and two, he lived in Ballimaran, which was under the protection of the king of Patiala, who had come out in support of the British.

It is details like these that make The Last Mughal more readable than anything else written on the subject. Dalrymple has gone through mounds of records in New Delhi's National Archives, British correspondence, English and Urdu newspapers of the time and innumerable personal diaries to put together this story of sadness, intrigue and retribution.

In doing so, he has exploded some widely believed myths and answered some unexplored questions. One, why didn't the British hang Zafar instead of sending him on exile to Rangoon? Dalrymple says that the famous Major William Hodson had got into a deal with Zafar that his life would be spared if he could take him a prisoner.

Two, Zafar did not write his famous couplets in Rangoon, though he was in the habit of scribbling with a burnt stick on the walls. Drawing from evidence, Dalrymple says that even at the time of his trial, Zafar had become insane, incapable of thinking, let apart writing, coherently. (In fact, one school of thought suggests that Zafar's best couplets were written by some other ghost writer.)

Three, Zeenat Mahal was far from being a doe-eyed beauty devoted to her old and feeble husband. Right through the tumultuous months, she was in secret correspondence with Hodson, offering to throw in her lot with the British if her son, Jawan Bakht, was allowed to succeed Zafar. It was also rumoured that she had a hand in the death of several people, British as well as Mughal, who were opposed to this idea of hers.

Four, not all Mughal princes were incapable men devoted to a life of sloth and debauchery. In the book, Mirza Mughal, Zafar's son from an earlier marriage, comes across as a man of considerable energy who played a key role in organising the city's defence against the British forces.

Five, the rebels were not a united lot, neither under Zafar nor under Bakht Khan. Had there been no differences in their ranks, the British would have had to fight much harder for all the victories they earned.

In the final analysis, Zafar was neither a bloodthirsty savage, nor a charismatic leader. The carnage of English women and children, who were kept in safe custody by him, took place against his wishes, though he did nothing to stop it. This incident led to the bloody retribution wreaked by the British (and their native troops) once Delhi fell. His life's story is best summarised in this couplet:

Umr-e-daraz laye the mang ke chaar din,
Do arzoo main guzar gaye, do intezaar mein
(I was granted but four days in this life, Two were lost in pleading, two in waiting)

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The Last Mughal
The FALL OF A DYNASTY, DELHI, 1857

William Dalrymple
Penguin
Price: Rs 695; Pages: 579