KARACHI, Feb 21: French author Kenize Mourad gave a riveting account of Begum Hazrat Mahal, the unsung hero of the 1857 revolt, during a talk based on her book on the begum at the Alliance Francaise Karachi on Thursday evening.
Ms Mourad said her book was titled ‘In the City of Gold and Silver’ not because gold and silver represented wealth and opulence but because the city of Lucknow was the centre of culture and arts. Lucknow was also a city where the Ganga-Jamuna civilizations met and Hindus and Muslims lived in harmony. It was the land of culture and openness. Begum Hazrat Mahal was the wife of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, the ruler of Oudh.
Ms Mourad said the begum lost her mother at an early age and her father also died thereafter. She was brought up by an uncle who sent her to a school of courtesans.Wajid Ali Shah was into arts and poetry and was himself a kathak dancer. He was a Muslim ruler but had no qualms about playing the part of Krishna in a stage play. When the British took over Lucknow, they exiled Wajid Ali Shah and he was sent to Calcutta (now Kolkata).
Ms Mourad said once her husband had gone, accepting the request of those who were against British rule, she agreed to take charge of Oudh. She was 35 years old at the time. She made her son replace his father and she herself joined the fight against the occupation forces. She was a strong and intelligent person who formed some smart military strategies. Not just that, she acted against black marketeers and even hanged them.
Ms Mourad said after nine months of fierce fighting the British reclaimed Lucknow and the begum had to retreat. She did not stop fighting though and indulged in a different kind of warfare. She fought the British for two years. When she lost her army the British made her some offers. She turned them down. She was semi-captured in Nepal where she stayed for the rest of her life and died in 1879. Her son was poisoned, some believed due to inter-family feud.
After the brief introduction to the book and Begum Hazrat Mahal, Ms Mourad told the audience why she wrote the book. She said she wanted to pen the begum’s story because she felt the woman, despite her feats and strength, was a forgotten heroine. Everybody knew about the Rani of Jhansi and Razia Sultan but no one was familiar with the begum. The author said that some historians had suggested that had the begum been properly supported by rulers of other states or had she not been betrayed by some, she might have succeeded in driving out the British.
Ms Mourad said once Lukcnow was captured by the British, it was destroyed to a great extent. There was no one to write or recount her tale. The British kept it undisclosed because they did not want to recognize the fact that a woman had kept them at bay for two years. Then at the time of independence India did not acknowledge her owing to the fact that she was a Muslim woman, though she advocated tolerance between Hindus and Muslims.
As to how she was able to write the book, Ms Mourad said in order to research for the project she went to libraries in London, Oxford and Cambridge and found nothing.Then she went to Delhi and found very little. When she landed in Lucknow she was able to gather some substantial material. In the 1960s, when she was in Lucknow, a man had come to meet her father. He was the begum’s great grandson. And from there she got the idea of bringing her back into the limelight.
Ms Mourad said it was at the Lucknow library that she was able to get some documents, praising the begum here and there. She, however, admitted that the romantic portion in the book was a figment of her imagination.