The Thin Edge | Revisiting the restored, resplendent Humayun’s tomb
Humayun’s tomb / File picture
I have visited Humayun’s tomb several times, seeing it transform from its earlier decrepitude to the beautiful, sensitively restored monument-space it is today.
The tomb was one of my favourite old buildings even before the restoration — something about its clean lines, its proportions that manage to effortlessly mix intimacy with graceful grandeur, the restrained colour scheme of red sandstone interrupted by sparely deployed white marble, all of it has always nourished me more than the overwhelming, in-your-face beauty of many other Indian mausoleums and temples.
With the restoration now complete, the tomb itself and the ancillary buildings have also been given a context of green, well-tended gardens, which allow the other venerable monuments on the site — the trees and foliage — their own presence, their own visual Kabuki with the man-made masonry.
Recently, I went to see the tomb again, but this time with architect friends who were visiting the city. Like me, this couple had also visited earlier but they had not seen the finished restoration. Walking around the space with two pairs of somewhat differently-trained eyes was a lesson. Things I’d never noticed were pointed out: the exact alignment between the succeeding gateways; the ‘reveal’ as you cross the final threshold and can actually see the whole structure; and how different it was from what happens at, say, the Taj Mahal.
One of the friends spoke about how the white dome interacts with the sky, glowing sharply in the chiaroscuro of dawn and dusk, almost disappearing in muted top light, coming back into round vividity against dark clouds. Examined minutely were the almost invisible rain channels worked into the stone as well as the slope of the platform to coax away the monsoon water, none of which I’d noticed before. Explained was the way the sandstone slabs were placed with minimum mortar and the fact that they fronted a stuffing of lime and stone rubble.
To the east of the tomb stretched a tumult of trees, almost hiding the nearby gurdwara, with the railway line faint in the distance, while the north side had the view of the attendant water aqueducts and the lines of the water channels that must have inspired Louis Kahn and Luis Barragán in their design of the Salk Institute in California.
The spring morning light changed around us as groups of youngsters pranced up and down the stairs and sashayed across the flagstone, moving in unspoken group-selfie choreography, freezing from time to time without tangible signal into Instagram-mudras. Inside the shadowy central chamber, boisterous groups of young men yelled and blew klaxon whistles, bathing in the amazing acoustics before guards chased them away. On the grounds, on the benches under the quartet of pilkhan trees, a couple sat in chaste-canoodle mode while schoolgirls prowled around politely, looking for victims to interview for their class assignment. The austere beauty of the building, the lush, basant authority of the trees and the celebratory clusters of young people together made a whole that transcended architecture, arbour and holiday ardour.
The friends I accompanied are part of a loose movement of Indian architects drawing notice and accolades because of their alternative approach to building for our times.
This approach is defined by several things; a deep study of local grammar and traditions that inform any new design; a rigorous examination of the environmental impact of any new building, with innovative solutions to cooling and energy consumption becoming central to a project from the very beginning of conceptualization; an aim for genuine, non-grandiose beauty in the final design, all of this entirely subservient to who will use the building and how they will experience it in daily use. This movement is not confined just to India or to the subcontinent. A few days after my friends’ visit, came the welcome news that Diébédo Francis Kéré of Burkina Faso and Germany had won the Pritzker Prize, the most prestigious international recognition for architectural work.
This is not the place to detail Kéré’s work but what is important to note is that the architect has consistently built across some of the most deprived areas of Africa, working with local people, using the simplest local materials in the most inventive ways to produce buildings and projects which pair stunning design with amazing utility. Thus, a local school building may be made from compacted clay, with its ceiling and walls designed to cool the classrooms without any air-conditioning or glass cladding; a lighting scheme in another building may involve embedding into a ceiling traditional pots sliced into half; a Parliament building for Benin may echo a palaver tree under which people traditionally gather for meetings, while a proposed Parliament for Burkina Faso may be in the form of a ziggurat where the assembly is underground below a terraced public park, where the people are literally above the legislators. “I want people to take ownership over the parliament building,” Kéré has said and in that one sentence perhaps lies the core of his philosophy.
A few minutes drive from Humayun’s tomb brings you to the tin-sheet canyons that enclose the biggest heist of urban commons in the history of independent India. Here, at the Central Vista, the most pompously authoritarian, most ecologically damaging, most backward-looking glass and concrete office blocks, the prime minister’s mansion and the fortress-like new Parliament building are being constructed for a huge amount of public money at a time of grim scarcity. This area, for decades one of the few places where even the poorest of the city could walk in greenery, will now become a high-security showpiece for the bloated egos of those in power. In a city full of beautiful mausoleums, these future tombs for those ruling over us today will not stand any test or comparison. But meanwhile, whether in Kutch or Koudougou, in Dakar or Dhaka, human ingenuity, generosity and aesthetic grace will continue to produce architecture that re-affirms life and joy.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph Online / by Ruchir Joshi / March 22nd, 2022
Eight poets of the past capture Delhi’s joys and sorrows
Saif Mahmood’s Beloved Delhi: A Mughal City and Her Greatest Poets offers offers a window into the life, times, and poetry of Delhi’s greatest Urdu poets from the 18th and 19th centuries, with witty and critical insight, in a conversational style that has become Saif’s hallmark in many a literary gathering.
Focusing on eight poets, he allows us to touch Delhi’s past and rethink its present through Urdu. Each chapter on a poet is divided into two sections — the first is biographical and provides the reader with insight into Delhi’s material conditions through the vicissitudes of the poet’s life. Thus, the 18th century poets are nomadic because of the post-Nadir Shah instabilities of Delhi.
The 19th century poets lead more sedentary lives, as the British Residency of Delhi provides the military support, at least until the cleavage of 1857. This upsets the tradition of the classical Urdu ghazal, and so the last poet analysed is Daagh Dehlvi, already writing in 1857, and a step-grandson of the last Mughal King, Bahadur Shah Zafar. The book also records this decline visually through Anant Raina’s photographs of the current gravesites of these poets, exhibiting the absolute lack of public or state support toward heritage maintenance.
The second part gives an excellent commentary on their poetry.
Saif’s familiarity with the tradition and his capacities for literary criticism shine through, as the raconteur in him narrates the stories of these poets’ poetry with coherence, complexity, and lucidity. The book highlights Urdu poets who are well known to Urdu readers, but not to listeners of ghazals or those interested in the literature from the outside.
Apart from Ghalib (described by Saif as ‘Master of Masters’), and Mir Taqi Mir (‘the Incurable Romancer of Delhi’), poets such as Sauda (‘the Great Satirist’), Mir Dard (‘Urdu’s Dancing Dervish’), Ustad Ibrahim Zauq (‘The Poet Laureate’), Bahadur Shah Zafar (the ‘Emperor’ who has an ‘Affair with Urdu’), and Daagh (‘the Last Casanova of Delhi’) get the attention they deserve.
The collection also brings out the specificities of their poetry including the great licence, often through satire, that many of these commanded with the ruling powers as dissenters. Tolerance for such criticism today rests uneasy with the crown. The poets extol the city of Delhi as picturesque, showing colours unimaginable, but also to be lamented after each violent tragedy, with a sense of loss, sometimes in a dedicated genre, the shahr-ashob or city-lament.
Beloved Delhi is for keeps and must be read by all with the remotest of interests in Urdu, Delhi, or poetry and poets.
Beloved Delhi: A Mughal City and Her Greatest Poets ; Saif Mahmood, Speaking Tiger, ₹599.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Books> Reviews / by Maaz Bin Bilal / November 03rd, 2018
REST IN PEACE Akbar and Mariam’s tomb are in close proximity at Sikandra
With a Goan professor claiming her to be a Portuguese lady, the contentious issue of Jodha Bai’s existence refuses to fade away
The controversy over Jodha Bai never seems to die down. After the film Jodhaa Akbar, a Goan Professor of History, Luis de Assis Correia has claimed in his new book “Portuguese India and Mughal Relations 1510-1735” that she was actually a Portuguese lady, Dona Maria Mascarenhas. She and her sister Juliana were rescued from pirates by the Portuguese and handed over to Bahadur Shah of Gujarat who presented them to the court of Akbar.
According to the book, Akbar, then 18 married Maria (17) but the Portuguese were loathe to admit that one of their own was living in the harem. The Mughals on the other hand could not accept that a firangi had wed the Emperor. “Hence the myth of Jodha Bai was created.” However the “myth” did have some substance. As the name suggests, she was the bai from Jodhpur, “daughter of Mota Raja Uday Singh”.
Mughal records pre-dating the book say that Maria and Juliana were honoured ladies of the harem. Juliana was in charge of the Seragilo as harem physician while Maria occupied the position of Akbar’s confidante and companion. Juliana’s was married off by Akbar to the fugitive French prince, Jean Philippe de Bourbon and both died in Agra, leaving behind the Indian branch of Bourbons.
In the old Agra cemetery is the grave of Juliana’s so-called niece, Bibi Ammiana while that of Maria (no longer traceable) was in the graveyard behind Akbar’s Church, a mile or so away. Imagine a Portuguese lady giving birth to the Great Moghul’s heir apparent at the wilderness abode of Sheikh Salim Chisti! Sounds implausible.
Dr Ram Nath, former Head of the History Department of Rajasthan University, tends to agree that there is no mention in history of Akbar having wed Jodha Bai, though she is sometimes referred to as one of Jahangir’s wives, with a Mahal in Fatehpur Sikri adorned with the Star of David (also representing the six Ritus). Dr Shireen Moosvi of Aligarh Muslim University also emphasises that there is no mention of Jodha Bai in the “Akbarnama”. The Rajput princess Akbar married was the daughter of Raja Baarmal of Amber, the aunt of Maharaja Man Singh I, and she is only referred to by her title of Mariam-uz-Zamani, mother of Salim (which prompted some to aver that she was the Emperor’s Christian wife as Mariam corresponds to the name of the Virgin Mary, mother of Christ).
Dr Nath says, Akbar was 20 when he married his fourth wife in 1562. He contracted three other marriages thereafter. The names of all the wives are faithfully recorded and Maria is not among them. “Noteworthy is the fact that the so-called daughter of Raja Baarmal was only 10 or 12 years of age when she was married to Akbar. She lived for 61 years thereafter, and died in 1623, as her son Jahangir has recorded. That Raja Baarmal had a 10 or 12 years’ old daughter in 1562, when even his grandson Mansingh was 12, is neither a historical record, nor is warranted by circumstances as a reasonable proposition,” says Dr Nath. Incidentally, this Rajput princess is commemorated in a mausoleum built near Akbar’s tomb at Sikandra and known as Mariam’s maqbara (in keeping with her title of Mariam-uz-Zamani). This monument housed Sindhi refugees in Agra after Partition and suffered some damage as a result. Even now it is in urgent need of repairs.
Sarai and baoli
“Mariam Zamani (elaborates Dr Nath) is recorded to have built a large sarai (inn) with a monumental gate, a baoli (step-well) and a garden at Barah, a village situated 5 km from Bayana (Rajasthan) in 1613. Jahangir, her son, noted these buildings in his memoirs. The baoli and its Persian inscription have survived. It is surprising, nay, intriguing that she did not raise any building at Agra and Fatehpur Sikri where she mostly lived. She appears to have been more sentimentally attached to this village, than to Amber or any other place. This raises the question: why did the Queen of Akbar and mother of Jahangir prefer this remote obscure hamlet to large metropolitan Mughal towns as Agra, Delhi, Ajmer and Lahore, for this purpose, and how was she connected with this place ? Was she born there? It is all very mysterious as were, in fact, the secrets of the medieval Rajput raniwas and the Mughal ḥarem.”
Facts, however, suggest that Mariam belonged more to Barah than to Amber, asserts Dr Nath, though film-maker Gowarikar has tried to show Akbar’s wife in the form of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, “an incarnation of feminine beauty who looks more like the mythical Menaka or Urvashi, rather than an ethnic Rajput lady from Rajasthan.” Authenticity, says Dr Nath, “is in fact the most tragic casualty of the Jodhaa Akbar film, an anti-thesis of Mughal-e-Azam where history has been distorted.” As for Dona Maria Mascarhenas, Prof Correia’s claim will add to the riddle of Jodha Bai, who also had a palace and temple in the Agra Fort, not known as Maria Mahal or Firangi Mahal but Jahangiri Mahal.
The Mughals did keep their secrets close to their heart, among them (sic) the mystery of “Akbar’s Christian wife”. After all he had 3,000-odd zenana , including a Turkish Sultana. Maria was one of them but certainly not Salim’s mother, whom the prince called “Jagat-Gosain”.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society> History & Culture> Down Memory Lane / by R.V. Smith / April 17th, 2017
Hyder Ally (Anglicised version of Haidar Ali) was a popular exotic name in the 1770s when the fledgling United States of America was fighting for its independence from Britain. There were racehorses named after this ruler of the Mysore Kingdom in South Asia as well as his warrior son Tipu Sultan.
In the early 1780s, Haidar Ali’s bravery was invoked in one of the earliest documented recruitment for the US Navy. A ship named after him gave the USA one of its greatest naval victories during the same time. His name was chanted on the streets of America, in 1781. Let’s travel back in time to understand this.
In 1775, a great upheaval shook thirteen British colonies on the east coast of North America as its residents rose against the Government of Great Britain, declared independence and flew their own flag (1, 2). Apparently, the first flag of the Union, now the US national flag- the Stars and Stripes, sent to the state of Maryland was hosted on a sailboat by teenager Joshua Barney at Baltimore in October 1775. Barney had just started his service with the US Navy.
Rocket Warfare, by Charles H. Hubbell (1898–1971) captures the humiliation of the British at the Battle of Pollilur (Sep. 1780) by Mysorean war rockets.
A few years later- in 1780, in the far-away Mysore Kingdom, the East India Company was suffering one of the worst reverses in its military history. This was at the hands of Haidar Ali and his son Tipu Sultan who were supported by the French, an ally of America. The humiliation of the British at the Battle of Pollilur in September 1780 reverberated in America where the news reached the country (3). On 19 October 1781, the British land force led by Charles Cornwallis surrendered to the Americans led by George Washington (incidentally a decade later in India, Cornwallis gave EI Company and its Indian allies victory over Haidar Ali’s son Tipu Sultan in the 3rd Anglo Mysore War). Nine days later Cornwallis’ surrender, along with that of Haidar Ali’s victories in India, was celebrated at Trenton, New Jersey. The town on that day was decorated with American colours. Inhabitants including the Who’s Who attended a service at the Presbyterian Church, where a discourse highlighting the occasion was delivered by a Reverend. In the afternoon the gathering drank 13 toasts accompanied with a discharge of artillery, number eleven of which was for ‘The great and heroic Hyder Ali, raised up by Providence to avenge the numberless cruelties perpetrated by the English on his unoffending countrymen, and to check the insolence and reduce the power of Britain in the East Indies‘ (ibid., ref. 3).
The other toasts were raised and artillery was discharged for the below. Quote: 1. The United States of America; 2. The Congress; 3. The king of France; 4. General Washington and the American army; 5. The Count de Rochambeau and the French army; 6. The Count de Grasse and the French fleet; 7. General Greene and the Southern army; 8. The friends of liberty throughout the world; 9. The memory of Generals Warren, Montgomery, and all the other heroes who have fallen in the defence of the liberties of America; 10. Peace on honorable terms, or war forever; 12. The governor and State of New Jersey; 13. The glorious 19th of October, 1781. At seven in the evening the company retired, and the rejoicings were concluded by a brilliant illumination. Unquote. (ibid., ref. 3).
Hyder Ally and America’s struggle to reclaim its seas from the British
Sketch of action between American naval ship USS Hyder Ally and English warship General Monk in 1782. Source: Life of Commodore Joshua Barney, Hero of the US Navy (1776-1812), 1912.
Despite this, America was far from being an independent nation. The British still ruled the seas. They kept a keen watch on the ships entering and exiting the ports of northeast USA, often capturing the vessels and looting goods. General Washington an American sloop-of-war was captured by Admiral Arbuthnot, and placed in the king’s service under a new name The General Monk, which was then used to pirate American ships. By 1782 the commerce of Philadelphia City, as well as the ordinary life of the residents of the coast and nearby streams, was deteriorating. The fledgling American Union was not in a position to protect the affected vessels. Therefore the State of Pennsylvania, at its own expense, fitted a number of armed vessels that operated in waters leading to Philadelphia. The state purchased Hyder Ally, a small sloop (single mast ship) equipped with sixteen six-pounder guns to help protect the American vessels. 23-year old Lieutenant Joshua Barney, now in the US navy, arrived at Philadelphia where he was honoured with the command of Hyder Ally (4). Assigned with recruiting men, Barney used a poem penned by Philip Morin Freneau to attract young American men to the ship. The poem exalted Haidar Ali’s bravery against the British with the following lines (5):
Come, all ye lads who know no fear,
To wealth and honour with me steer
In the Hyder Ali privateer,
Commanded by brave Barney.
From an eastern prince she takes her name,
Who, smit with freedom’s sacred flame,
Usurping Britons brought to shame,
His country’s wrongs avenging;
Come, all ye lads that know no fear.
With hand and heart united all
Prepared to conqueror to fall.
Attend, my lads! to honor’s call —
Embark in our Hyder-Ally!
And soon Barney led a force of a hundred and ten men. On April 8, 1782, he received instructions to protect a fleet of merchantmen to the Capes just before the sea, at the entrance of Delaware Bay. Dropping the convoy at Cape May road he was awaiting a fair wind to take the merchant ship to sea when he saw three ships (6) which he realised were waiting to plunder the convoy. Barney immediately turned the convoy back into the bay, using Hyder Ally to cover the retreat. Soon the bigger General Monk under the command of Captain Rogers of the Royal Navy nearly doubled his own force of metal, and nearly one-fourth superior in number of men caught up with Hyder Ally. Despite being fired upon, Barney held Hyder Ally’s fire till within pistol shot when both the two vessels got entangled. A short but desperate fight ensued. Lasting 26 minutes, it resulted in the lowering of flags by General Monk indicating her surrender. Both vessels arrived at Philadelphia a few hours after the action bearing their respective dead. The Hyder Ally had four men killed and eleven wounded. The General Monk lost twenty men killed and had thirty-three wounded including Captain Rogers himself, and every officer on board, except one midshipman ! (7)
‘Surrender of Baillie to Hyder Ali, 1780’, illustration from Cassell’s Illustrated History of England (20th century), 1780.
A hero is celebrated
Philadelphia burst in celebrations. Ballads were made upon this brilliant victory and sung through the streets of the city! And echoing with Barney’s name was that of Hyder Ally (ibid., ref. 1).Here are some lines:
And fortune still, that crowns the brave
Shall guard us over the gloomy wave —
A fearful heart betrays a knave!
Success to the Hyder-Ally!
While the roaring Hyder-Ally
Covered over his decks with dead!
When from their tops, their dead men tumbled
And the streams of blood did flow,
Then their proudest hopes were humbled
By their brave inferior foe.
A small sword with mountings of chased gold- the guard of which on the one side had a representation of the Hyder Ally, and on the other the General Monk was ordered by the Legislature of Pennsylvania and a vote of thanks was passed for Captain Barney in 1782. This gold-hilted sword was presented to him in the name of the state by Governor Dickinson. Source: Life of Commodore Joshua Barney, Hero of the US Navy (1776-1812), 1912
In 1782 the Legislature of Pennsylvania passed a vote of thanks to Captain Barney and ordered a gold-hilted sword to be prepared, which was afterwards presented to him in the name of the state by Governor Dickinson. It was a small sword with mountings of chased gold- the guard of which on the one side had a representation of the Hyder Ally, and on the other the General Monk (ibid., ref. 1). Barney was the last officer to quit the Union’s service, in July 1784, having been for many months before the only officer retained by the United States.
Barney was sent by the American Government to Paris. A reception was given in France him as a hero of dashing naval exploits during the Revolutionary War (8). A painting representing the action between the two ships was executed in 1802 by L. P. Crepin in Paris by order of Barney, while in the service of the French Republic. The same was presented by him on his return to the United States, to Robert Smith, Esquire, then secretary of the navy (9). The painting is now in the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland (ibid., ref. 1). Barney was an intimate friend of Count Bertrand, one of Napoleon’s generals (ibid., ref. 2). Napolean incidentally had an alliance against the British with Haidar Ali’s son Tipu Sultan, during the latter’s lifetime (10).
Barney was appointed a Captain in the Flotilla Service, US Navy on 1814 April 25 (11). He took part in seventeen battles during the Revolutionary War and in nine battles during the War of 1812. A British Musket-ball lodged inside his body in battle at Bladensburg, Maryland in August 1814 (12). He passed away on December 1, 1818, aged 60.
The world today is considered a global village thanks to the scaling down of boundaries between nation-states and individuals alike. But it may surprise us even in the 18th century seemingly local political events and humans made an impact on lands and societies far away. The name Haidar Ali, after an adventurer from an obscure place in the erstwhile Kingdom of Mysore who gave many a lesson in military and political strategies to global colonial powers of England and France, echoing across the proverbial seven seas in distant North America for nearly a century is a testament of this (13, 14).
Painting of Commodore Joshua Barney at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Life of Commodore Joshua Barney, Hero of the US Navy (1776-1812), 1912.
70 years after Hyder Ally’s victory over General Monk, James Cooper wrote “This action has been justly deemed one of the most brilliant that ever occurred under the American Flag. It was fought in the presence of a vastly superior force that was not engaged, and the ship taken was in every essential respect superior to her conqueror.” (ibid., ref. 4)
Sources/ Notes:
1. Barney, Mary., A biographical memoir of the late Commodore Joshua Barney, 1832, Mary was a sister of Joshua Barney. Her book provides in-depth information about the latter’s personal and military life. Born on July 6, 1759, 13-year old young Philadelphia Joshua Barney set sail on his maiden merchant ship journey to Ireland in 1771 with his brother in law Captain Thomas Drysdale. He sailed back home the following year and made trips to ports in Europe again. He set sail for Nice, France in December 1774 during which journey Captain Drysdale died. He took control of the ship which needed urgent repairs and therefore docked at Gibraltar, Spain instead. In a few months, he sailed to Algiers, Algeria from Alicant, Spain to deliver Spanish troops during which he witnessed the annihilation of these troops by the Algerians which made him return to Alicant soon. He immediately set sail across the vast Atlantic Ocean for Baltimore, USA. As he entered the Chesapeake Bay on 1st October he was surprised by the British Sloop of war Kingfisher. An officer searched his ship and informed him that Americans had rebelled and that battles were being fought. He was fortunate enough to escape detention. Returning to Philadelphia he was determined to serve the Americans fight against the British. At that time a couple of small vessels were under at Baltimore ready to join the small squadron of ships stationed then at Philadelphia and commanded by Commodore Hopkins. Barney offered his services to the commander of the sloop Hornet, one of these vessels. He was made the master’s-mate, the sloop’s second in command. A new American Flag, the first ‘Star-spangled Banner’ in the State of Maryland, sent by Commodore Hopkins for the service of the ten gun Hornet, arrived from Philadelphia. At the next sunrise, Barney unfurled it in all pomp and glory. In 1776, Robert Morris, President of the Marine Committee of the Congress offered him a letter of Appointment as a Lieutenant in the Navy of the United States in recognition of his efforts during a naval battle engagement in Delaware. 2. Adams, William Frederick., Commodore Joshua Barney: many interesting facts connected with the life of Commodore Joshua Barney, hero of the United States navy, 1776-1812, 1912. Adams provides a good summary of Mary Barney’s book in this book. 3. Moore, Frank., Diary of the American Revolution, Volume 2, 1860. 4. Cooper, James Fenimore., History of the Navy of the United States of America, 1853. 5. Freneau., Poems written and published during the American Revolutionary War, 1809. 6. Two ships and a brig- a sailing vessel with two masts. 7. As explained by Barney himself in his painting of this war commissioned later. 8. Bowen, A., The Naval Monument,1815, Concord, MA. This book gives an account of the reception received by Barney in France. 9. The painting was accompanied by a description, in the handwriting of Commodore Barney, which is reproduced in Mary Barney’s book. 10. Ahmed, Nazeer., https://historyofislam.com/tippu-sultan/ (downloaded October 13, 2017). 11. Record of Service, Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department, United States Navy. 12. The conduct of Commodore Barney, at the Battle of Bladensburgh, was appreciated by his military opponents as well. He was wounded in the engagement and was taken prisoner by General Ross and Admiral Cockburn but paroled on the spot. At the time of his death in 1818, the ball was extracted and given to his eldest son. For the valuable services of her husband, Congress granted Mrs. Barney a pension for life. 13. Goold, William., Portland in the past, 1886. This book has information on at least one more well-known ship named Hyder Ally built in the US in the 1800s after the one described in this story. This ship, like many other US ships, resorted to pirating British ships in the Indian Ocean all the way up to the island of Sumatra and around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa in the run-up to the British-American War of 1812. 14. Corbett’s Annual register (1802) documents the ship ‘Tippoo Saib’ registered in Savannah, Georgia, the southernmost of the 13 colonies that declared independence from the British in 1776 and formed the original ‘United States of America’.
source: http://www.thecognate.com / The Cognate / Home> History / by Ameen Ahmed / December 27th, 2021
Majority of domiciles and secularists of Hyderabad State love and respect HEH The Nizam even today.
source: commons.wikimedia.org
The Nizam of Hyderabad Deccan His Exalted Highness Mir Osman Ali Khan Siddiqui was the last Ruler of the Asaf Jahi Dynasty who ruled the largest princely state of Hyderabad & Berar by population and the second largest by size.
Factual stories about HEH the last Nizam of Hyderabad’s riches are well documented worldwide. He reportedly used a £50m ostrich-egg sized diamond as a paperweight.
HEH The Nizam VII was the second Indian to be featured on the cover-page of Time Magazine February 22nd1937 edition as the Richest Man of the world.
HEH The Nizam VII was a secular Ruler, a philanthropist & a genius architect of modern-day Hyderabad.
During the period of war, HEH The Nizam donated truckloads of gold coins to the National Defence Fund of India & as a philanthropist his generous donations of large sums of money to the Benares Hindu University & other Hindu institutions are irrefutable evidences of his secular rule.
Time Magazine with Nizam’s Cover Photo
The majority of domiciles & secularists of Hyderabad State love and respect HEH The Nizam even today; whereas his adversaries especially India’s Hindutva Rightwingers never leave an opportunity to malign his name ®ularly try to distort the history of HEH The Nizam & other Muslim Rulers of erstwhile Indian Empire.
Nevertheless, even today HEH The Nizam & his golden era is highly regarded & commands great respect worldwide to an extent that even today any antiques and works of art of HEH The Nizam’s era are highly sought-after, command a high price and every antique collector’s delight. High value bidding at international auction houses to acquire Nizam’s era antiques are a common sight wherein collectors from around the world and new generation of super rich Hyderabadis vie to own a piece of Hyderabad’s heritage & bring it back to the City of Pearls – Hyderabad.
It’s worth mentioning here that during the last eight decades, a huge quantity of immensely valuable antiques of Nizam’s era were sold at throw away prices by some of the Nizam’s descendants, stolen or looted and smuggled out of the country and sold unlawfully by the caretakers of the Nizam’s Estates, taken away as war booty by the British Indian forces and few others received them as gifts bestowed by The Nizam’s Government & passed on to the future generations as family heirlooms.
Mr. Amarbir Singh – a Numismatic Expert&Authority on Nizam era Hyderabad currency and co-author of ‘Indian Paper Money’says, “Nizam’s Hyderabad had its own railways, airways, central bank, currency, including paper notes, army, and a high court.
After Operation Polo and subsequent trifurcation of Hyderabad State, it lost a bit of its sheen which is now regained by the efforts of the experts and enthusiasts of heritage and history.
Technology has given the impetus to the curiosity and the collection interests of lot of people, many who do not even have their roots in the Hyderabad State. The coins, currency, medals, tokens, stamps, and militaria issued by the Nizam’s Government are very sought-after collectibles today. So, are the vintage books related to Hyderabad and the 1937 Time Magazine which are getting rarer by the day.”
Dr. Mohammed Safiullah – City’s well-known Historian says, “The entire world came to know about the existence of two large Gold Mohurs from Mughal era weighing 11.200 kgs and 2.240 kgs from the Nizam’s treasures after they were put up for sale in an auction three decades ago in 1986. But due to the intervention of the Indian Government, it was withdrawn by the Fine Arts Auctioneers – Habsburg Feldman of Geneva, Switzerland and later sold privately.”
In June 2019, in a single largest auction that lasted for 12 hours at Christie’s, over 700 crores worth of Nizam’s antique jewellery and regalia were sold. Among them a ceremonial sword of the Nizam of Hyderabad for a huge price tag of over $1.5M, The Nizam of Hyderabad Necklace for over $2M, Sarpech for over $1.5M apart from many other antiques.
A lesser price antique “A large Guilded Firman in the name of the Nizam of Hyderabad Sikandar Jah was sold for £1500 at Christie’s in 2016. A large and highly detailed design of the Osmania General Hospital based on the Islamic Architecture of South India by Esch was sold for over £6875 in 2011 at Christie’s also. Vincent Jerome Esch, (1876-1950) was engaged by the Nizam of HyderabadcHEH Mir Osman Ali Khancin 1914 as an Architect to assist in the redevelopment of Hyderabad city following its devastation by floods and plague in 1908 and 1911.
Mr. Ahmed Rahmatullah Khan, a Hyderabadi Techy who works for HP is one among new generation of collectors who recently acquired a rare historic military medal in an Australian auction spending over 180 AUD. The medal has an interesting story behind it as it was issued by HEH The Nizam of Hyderabad for the safe deliverance of Lord and Lady Hardinge’s (Viceroy of India and his wife) after they escaped a bomb attack by the Indian revolutionaries in 1912 while travelling on an elephant in Delhi. The medal was expected to sell for 60-90 AUS but due to the historical story and the Nizam’s tag attached to it, it was sold much over the expected price for 140 AUS plus the auction house fees and logistics.
Muzammil Rizwan Khan based in Australia is a newer generation of Hyderabadis and a proud owner of the Nizam of Hyderabad’s 650 Flintlock Cavalry-Pistol made in the year 1825 and was in the personal possession of the Nizams until 1974. Rizwan purchased the antique gun after spending few thousand pounds last year in a UK auction and imported it to Australia. Whilst the Hindutva Rightwingers are inciting hate with their rhetoric to forcibly revert Indian Muslims to Hinduism (GharWapsi), Indian origin Hyderabadi Muslims like Rizwan exerting efforts employing their resources, time & money to bring back the lost heritage &antiques of Hyderabad & India. As he proudly stated in the unboxing video on his Facebook page “Mein ne Hyderabad ki cheez Hyderabad Alhamdulillah GharWapis le aayahoon. This pistol is just not owned by me but it belongs to all Hyderabadis and I have bought it back home and in the hands of a Hyderabadi again.”
In another recent auction on 17th of December 2021, a small white metal silver plate place holder depicting a young Edward VIII (Prince of Wales) on his Royal tour of India and HEH the Nizam measuring approximately 8 inches was sold by East Bristol Auctions in UK for £110. The antique piece had some minor damages, one of the figurines of the tiger on the Coat of Arms of HEH The Nizam had a tail missing & the coloured photo of HEH the Nizam was considerably faded.
“The picture of HEH Nizam VII is hand coloured and depicts the Star of India Robes awarded in July 1914 decorated with orders and garters – a hierarchy of awards and medals granted to the Rulers, Princes, Nobles and Chiefs of the princely states of India. HH Nizam VI and HEH Nizam VII both were awarded the Star of India Robes by the then British Monarch, Dr. Mohammed Safiullah added.
On 29th October 2020 a commemorative silver scroll holder dedicated to the Nizam of Hyderabad dated 1903 from the Anjuman-i-Islam of Bombay was sold much over the expected price for £1,125 plus fees and vat.
Collectors crave to acquire Nizam era Hyderabad related antiques is ever growing and has reached to an extent in the last 80 years since India’s independence millions worth of Nizam’s antiques were traded at the international private and public auctions as well as local auctions, but there isn’t any data to give an exact figure or value of the trade.
Ahmed Shareef Askander is a Researcher based in London, UK.
source: http://www.siasat.com / The Siasat Daily / Home> Opinion / by Guest Contributor – Ahmed Shareef Askander / January 07th, 2022
Sultana Begum works on a garment inside her house in Kolkata. (Photo by Dibyangshu Sarkar / AFP)
Sultana Begum’s case rests on her claim that her late husband’s lineage can be traced to Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last emperor to reign
After a massive rebellion blamed on an already frail Zafar in the 1850s, British forces executed 10 of the ruler’s surviving sons despite the royal family’s surrender
Kolkata :
A destitute Indian woman who claims she is heir to the dynasty that built the Taj Mahal has demanded ownership of an imposing palace once home to the Mughal emperors.
Sultana Begum lives in a cramped two-room hut nestled within a slum on the outskirts of Kolkata, surviving on a meagre pension. Among her modest possessions are records of her marriage to Mirza Mohammad Bedar Bakht, purported to be the great-grandson of India’s last Mughal ruler.
His death in 1980 left her struggling to survive, and she has spent the past decade petitioning authorities to recognize her royal status and compensate her accordingly.
“Can you imagine that the descendant of the emperors who built Taj Mahal now lives in desperate poverty?” the 68-year-old asked AFP.
Begum has lodged a court case seeking recognition that she is rightful owner of the imposing 17th-century Red Fort, a sprawling and pockmarked castle in New Delhi that was once the seat of Mughal power. “I hope the government will definitely give me justice,” she said. “When something belongs to someone, it should be returned.”
Sultana Begum reacts while holding a picture of last Mughal Emperor of India Bahadur Shah Zafar in her house in Kolkata. (Photo by Dibyangshu Sarkar / AFP)
Her case, supported by sympathetic campaigners, rests on her claim that her late husband’s lineage can be traced to Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last emperor to reign.
By the time of Zafar’s coronation in 1837, the Mughal empire had shrunk to the capital’s boundaries, after the conquest of India by the commercial venture of British merchants known as the East India Company.
A massive rebellion two decades later — now hailed as India’s first war of independence — saw mutinous soldiers declare the now frail 82-year-old as the leader of their insurrection. The emperor, who preferred penning poetry to waging war, knew the chaotic uprising was doomed and was a reluctant leader.
British forces surrounded Delhi within a month and ruthlessly crushed the revolt, executing all 10 of Zafar’s surviving sons despite the royal family’s surrender.
Zafar himself was exiled to neighboring Myanmar, traveling under guard in a bullock cart, and died penniless in captivity five years later.
Many of the Red Fort’s buildings were demolished in the years after the uprising and the complex fell into disrepair before colonial authorities ordered its renovation at the turn of the 20th century. It has since become a potent symbol of freedom from British rule.
India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru hoisted the national flag from the fort’s main gate to mark the first day of independence in August 1947, a solemn ritual now repeated annually by his successors.
Begum’s court case hinges on the argument that India’s government are the illegal occupants of the property, which she says should have been passed down to her.
The Delhi High Court rejected her petition last week as a “gross waste of time” — but did not rule on whether her claim to imperial ancestry was legitimate. Instead the court said her legal team had failed to justify why a similar case had not been brought by Zafar’s descendants in the 150 years since his exile.
Her lawyer Vivek More said the case would continue. “She has decided to file a plea before a higher bench of the court challenging the order,” he told AFP by phone.
Begum has endured a precarious life, even before she was widowed and forced to move into the slum she now calls home.
In this picture taken on December 22, 2201, Sultana Begun walks by an alley in the locality she lives in Kolkata. (Photo by Dibyangshu Sarkar / AFP)
Her husband — who she married in 1965 when she was just 14 — was 32 years her senior and earned some money as a soothsayer, but was unable to provide for their family. “Poverty, fear and lack of resources pushed him to the brink,” she added.
Begum lives with one of her grandchildren in a small shack, sharing a kitchen with neighbors and washing at a communal tap down the street.
For some years she ran a small tea shop near her home but it was demolished to allow the widening of a road, and she now survives on a pension of 6,000 rupees ($80) per month.
But she has not given up hope that authorities will recognize her as the rightful beneficiary of India’s imperial legacy, and of the Red Fort.
“I hope that today, tomorrow or in 10 years, I will get what I’m entitled to,” she said. “God willing, I will get it back… I’m certain justice will happen.”
source: http://www.arabnews.com /Arab News / Home> News / by AFP / December 30th, 2021
