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White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India

White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A different take on the British in India
Review: "White Mughals" is a fascinating picture of the British in India at the turn of the 19th century, before the British notions of Empire were fully formed. The author focuses on the life of James Kirkpatrick, a representative of the "Company," to explore the evolution of the British presence in India. Using the story of Kirkpatrick's marriage to a Mughal aristocrat as a touchstone, Dalrymple explores a different model for colonization. Kirkpatrick was the company's chief representative in Hyderabad, a Mughal kingdom. He admired and appreciated India's culture, customs and ancient learning, and quickly adapted to the Indian way of life. He was a gifted linguist and skilled diplomat, who successfully negotiated many thorny issues on behalf of the British with the rulers of Hyderabad. Kirkpatrick exemplified a European who believed that East and West could work together for the benefit of both, that the rulers at the time and the British could co-exist, that customs and culture could blend together.

Dalrymple has assembled a huge amount of information, much of which is primary source material never before examined, to support the fact that this blending of cultures was common at the time. As might be expected, many British had Indian mistresses, but more surprisingly, intermarriage was not uncommon, and for a Muslim woman, marriage to a Non-Muslim could only occur if the man converted to Islam, which some did, including Kirkpatrick. At the time the Indian rulers were Muslim, but they did not attempt the impossible task of converting the Hindu population, and as a result, the same blending of culture that was occuring between east and west occurred to some extent between Hindu and Muslim. The two religions co-existed for the most part peacefully, a situation that changed radically at the time of Indian independence.

Inevitably, the Company became ever more profitable and the British presence stronger, while at the same time the Mughal Empire began to crumble. Successive Governor-Generals reversed the trend, mixed race children became the targets of discrimination, and the remaining Mughal princes were forced into unfavorable agreements with the British. By the time of the Indian Mutiny in 1857, the notion of Empire, and a separation between the English and Indians, was largely complete, to last for almost 100 years.

Finishing the book, one wonders whether the model exemplified by a Kirkpatrick would have worked. Or is conflict between cultures inevitable?--certainly in our fractured world it seems to be. Dalrymple's work is well-written, well-researched, and very thought-provoking.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Diverging cultures
Review: "White Mughals" is the story of the tragic love affair between James Achilles Kirkpatrick (the British Resident in Hyderabad at the turn of the nineteenth century) and Khair-un-Nissa. But it's more than that: fascinating though the love story is. Dalrymple examines the early days of the British involvement in India, and the changes which were afoot.

This was a crucial time. British involvement had an essentially commercial motive - to further Britain's economic ends in competition with her European rivals (principally the French). It seemed that the best way of achieving those ends was an accommodation with, or even adaptation to, Indian culture. It's worth remembering that to contemporary European eyes, India was a highly advanced culture and rich economically. Therefore, in many ways, India was attractive.

One could attribute this "fitting in" with Indian culture to Machiavellian motives. Indeed Dalrymple does not discount that interpretation, but also points out to a genuine meeting of cultures, demonstrated at a personal level by the number of Anglo-Indian marriages.

However, changes in the British attitude to India were becoming apparent - precursors of the imperial outlook which characterised much of the later nineteenth century. Dalrymple's baddie is Richard Wellesley (the Duke of Wellington's brother), an aggressive, racist imperialist - epitomising Britain's imperial, as opposed to commercial, role in the Subcontinent. Thus, tensions were caused among the British themselves, and between the "new" British and the Indians.

"White Mughals" is an excellent read, recounting history on a very intimate personal and even tragic level, but also dealing with the wider issues of British involvement in India at a very important time.

G Rodgers

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A historical masterpiece
Review: "White Mughals" is truly a masterpiece. I was enthralled and was really intrigued by this extensively researched work on white mughals i.e., British company men who adopted the indian/mughal way of life once they were in India, quite contary to the single caricature most of us were raised to conjure up in our minds when thinking of them. The truth as always more complex, interesting and yes MUCH more redeeming than the cliche!

Many THANKS to Mr. Dalrymple for the hours of pleasure this book has already given - and I plan to read it several times over. It is also the perfecly balanced book - a very intellectually satisfying work of history based in fact (ah those vast primary sources referenced!), around a very romantic incident (reality, always more romantic than fiction) in a location, time and setting incomparable in terms of the multiple political/ cultural forces at work and with a meaningful message "East and West can and always will meet no matter what" and an even more important one albeit more personal than political "love conquers all" cliched as it may be;

And all told in his fabulous style that i label the "renaissance style of history-narration" charaterised by objective observation(based in reason and fact) yet madly romantic.... I loved this book and hope - very selfishly - that Mr. Dalrymple will continue to produce such enlightening and enthralling work for decades to come.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fascinating and thoroughly researched history
Review: A fascinating look at the turn of the century (18th to 19th) India at a moment when the gentleman scholars or Orientalists were still considered valuable commodities to the East India Company. Lt. Col. James Achilles Kirkpatrick was the thoroughly Orientalised British "Resident "--Ambassador-- at Hyderabad from1797-1805. Kirkpatrick's extensive knowledge of India's languages and customs made him an ideal ambassador but the fact that he married into an important Indian family(the Prime Minister's daughter) aroused suspicion within the British ranks. It was not unusual for British officials to take Indian wives. In fact it was quite common for British officials to have one or more Indian wives or mistresses or even a harem of their own. What was unusual in Kirkpatrick's case was that he married into such an important and powerful family and this placed him in a vulnerable position politically. In the eyes of his fellow Englishmen Kirkpatrick who often dressed in Indian clothes seemed to have acclimated so well that some wondered just whether his loyalties were with the British or with the Indians who he so obviously admired and imitated. It was perhaps Kirkpatrick's misfortune to be appointed Resident of Hyderabad at a time when the East India Company under the new leadership of Lord Wellesley was beginning to implement an increasingly lop-sided and self-serving imperialist policy in India. Initially Kirkpatrick was considered a valuable asset to Wellesley but as rumours of his marriage(and the compromising postion it put him in) spread Wellesley himself began to question whether Kirkpatrick could be relied upon any longer. Dalrymple uses Kirkpatrick's life to illustrate a fundamental shift in the relationship between Britain and India. Kirkpatrick represents the last of a breed of men who acclimated themselves to India and in Dalrymples view successfully bridged the gap between east and west. Dalrymple makes use of previously untranslated source material and gives us a rare and detailed glimpse at a moment in history; Kirkpatrick himself, however, remains an ambiguous figure . We get an especially detailed glimpse of the political intrigue that transpired during a time when the French and the English were competing for dominance in the region. Dalrymple quotes at length from Kirkpatrick's correpondences and gives a very insightful look into just how the great game was played. Less detailed and considerably more speculative is the personal side of this story. Dalrymple provides plenty of detail about Indian life in general but the personalities of Kirkpatrick and his young bride Khair un-Nissa remain sketchy. We feel like we can picture the time and place and we have a keen sense of the poltical goings-on and how they affect each relatonship but the actual love story between these two never emerges from the shadows and remains something of a secret. Dalrymple tries to use the story to illustrate his own point that cultures can in fact come together though this story could just as well be used to illustrate how they cannot( at least not under these political conditions). Orientalists like Kirkpatrick were attracted to all things Indian but they were bankrolled by the East India Company. They lived in lavish style in palacial homes with pleasure gardens and hunting grounds as if they were themselves princes of their own private domains. It is easy to romanticize these figures who spoke out against Britains imperialist designs and yet they seem to live in little empires of their own. Though they did it with great style and with a measure of respect and reverence to their Indian hosts they were in India not by Indian invitation but because of the East India Company and its army which at the time was the world's largest. The Indian officials had to maintain a relationship with the British officials appointed as "Residents" and so Kirkpatrick's friendships with the Indians (and perhaps even his marrigage) were political in nature. Kirkpatrick may not have been an imperialist but he was a representative of an imperialist nation nonetheless. Dalrymple's book is thoroughly researched but ultimately he does not consider how the Indians really viewed Kirkpatrick. Plus most of the letters that Dalrymple quotes from are addressed to Kirkpatrick's brother William, but James could not speak his mind to his more conservative brother so we really have no documents that allow us access to Jame Kirkpatrick's true thoughts. Despite the amount of research Kirkpatrick remains hidden behind the various guises he had to assume to maintain his postion in the East India Company. Dalrymple attempts to give us an impression of Kirkpatrick by speculating about his private life but he too often resorts to details about Kirkpatrick's various interests in gardening and food and architecture and astronomy. The details are sometimes interesting but give us no clear picture of Kirkpatrick nor his bride and often just read like filler. Dalrymple is convinced that Kirkpatrick and his young bride were deeply in love and this seems to be the grounds on which he bases his ideas about Kirkpatrick's trans-culturalism and yet other than the sensation the match caused there is very little story there. Khair un-Nissa is little more than a name. The history is satisfying but as a biography or a love story it is much less so.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fascinating and thoroughly researched history
Review: A fascinating look at the turn of the century (18th to 19th) India at a moment when the gentleman scholars or Orientalists were still considered valuable commodities to the East India Company. Lt. Col. James Achilles Kirkpatrick was the thoroughly Orientalised British "Resident "--Ambassador-- at Hyderabad from1797-1805. Kirkpatrick's extensive knowledge of India's languages and customs made him an ideal ambassador but the fact that he married into an important Indian family(the Prime Minister's daughter) aroused suspicion within the British ranks. It was not unusual for British officials to take Indian wives. In fact it was quite common for British officials to have one or more Indian wives or mistresses or even a harem of their own. What was unusual in Kirkpatrick's case was that he married into such an important and powerful family and this placed him in a vulnerable position politically. In the eyes of his fellow Englishmen Kirkpatrick who often dressed in Indian clothes seemed to have acclimated so well that some wondered just whether his loyalties were with the British or with the Indians who he so obviously admired and imitated. It was perhaps Kirkpatrick's misfortune to be appointed Resident of Hyderabad at a time when the East India Company under the new leadership of Lord Wellesley was beginning to implement an increasingly lop-sided and self-serving imperialist policy in India. Initially Kirkpatrick was considered a valuable asset to Wellesley but as rumours of his marriage(and the compromising postion it put him in) spread Wellesley himself began to question whether Kirkpatrick could be relied upon any longer. Dalrymple uses Kirkpatrick's life to illustrate a fundamental shift in the relationship between Britain and India. Kirkpatrick represents the last of a breed of men who acclimated themselves to India and in Dalrymples view successfully bridged the gap between east and west. Dalrymple makes use of previously untranslated source material and gives us a rare and detailed glimpse at a moment in history; Kirkpatrick himself, however, remains an ambiguous figure . We get an especially detailed glimpse of the political intrigue that transpired during a time when the French and the English were competing for dominance in the region. Dalrymple quotes at length from Kirkpatrick's correpondences and gives a very insightful look into just how the great game was played. Less detailed and considerably more speculative is the personal side of this story. Dalrymple provides plenty of detail about Indian life in general but the personalities of Kirkpatrick and his young bride Khair un-Nissa remain sketchy. We feel like we can picture the time and place and we have a keen sense of the poltical goings-on and how they affect each relatonship but the actual love story between these two never emerges from the shadows and remains something of a secret. Dalrymple tries to use the story to illustrate his own point that cultures can in fact come together though this story could just as well be used to illustrate how they cannot( at least not under these political conditions). Orientalists like Kirkpatrick were attracted to all things Indian but they were bankrolled by the East India Company. They lived in lavish style in palacial homes with pleasure gardens and hunting grounds as if they were themselves princes of their own private domains. It is easy to romanticize these figures who spoke out against Britains imperialist designs and yet they seem to live in little empires of their own. Though they did it with great style and with a measure of respect and reverence to their Indian hosts they were in India not by Indian invitation but because of the East India Company and its army which at the time was the world's largest. The Indian officials had to maintain a relationship with the British officials appointed as "Residents" and so Kirkpatrick's friendships with the Indians (and perhaps even his marrigage) were political in nature. Kirkpatrick may not have been an imperialist but he was a representative of an imperialist nation nonetheless. Dalrymple's book is thoroughly researched but ultimately he does not consider how the Indians really viewed Kirkpatrick. Plus most of the letters that Dalrymple quotes from are addressed to Kirkpatrick's brother William, but James could not speak his mind to his more conservative brother so we really have no documents that allow us access to Jame Kirkpatrick's true thoughts. Despite the amount of research Kirkpatrick remains hidden behind the various guises he had to assume to maintain his postion in the East India Company. Dalrymple attempts to give us an impression of Kirkpatrick by speculating about his private life but he too often resorts to details about Kirkpatrick's various interests in gardening and food and architecture and astronomy. The details are sometimes interesting but give us no clear picture of Kirkpatrick nor his bride and often just read like filler. Dalrymple is convinced that Kirkpatrick and his young bride were deeply in love and this seems to be the grounds on which he bases his ideas about Kirkpatrick's trans-culturalism and yet other than the sensation the match caused there is very little story there. Khair un-Nissa is little more than a name. The history is satisfying but as a biography or a love story it is much less so.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India
Review: An engaging book about both the private life and career of a public servant of the East India Company. To boot, it is well researched and well written-I say this, having recently struggled through the ploddingly/confusingly written Maharaja's Box by Christopher Campbell. Dalrymple's style is incisive without being intrusive; it is almost affectionate toward all of the cast of characters. And a lot of footnotes giving tantalizing tidbits that make you want to go read more of the doings of The Honorable East India Company and the Deccani Sultans and Nizams:)!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An evocative, tragic but exquisitely written story
Review: I so looked forward to reading White Mughals after the first reviews appeared in the UK papers. When it came out in paperback, I opened it with great anticipation. I was never let down - Dalrymple, known mainly for his highly evocative and well received travel books, has turned historian and historiographer to produce this wonderful, exquisite book.

Although on one level it tells the story of James Achilles Kirkpatrick, British Resident in Hyderabad at the close of the 18th century, this book is a beautifully written examination of a number of white men from all over Europe (and America) who went adventuring in India from the time of Elizabeth I. Many of them became "white mughals", immersing themselves in the lifestyle and religions (both Hindu and Muslim) of the various princely states. Eventually, though, and most sadly, racist attitudes and unreasonable demands on local rulers made it more and more difficult for these men to carry on and eventually too many of the British in India became narrow minded, intolerant and xenophobic. The British presence in India eventually became intolerable and so ended the British Empire in due course. The author is particularly scathing of Lord Wellesley's governor-generalship.

The author has created a wonderful tapestry of various men, their Indian wives and Anglo-Indian children, the art, literature, architecture, politics, military adventures, food, domestic arrangements, etc of a short but poignant era in Indian and British/western history. His scholarship is evident (the footnotes often fascinating) and he was very lucky to happen upon some original, never seen, sources which help make this book so vibrant.

The sad story of James and his Khair was both a tragedy and a triumph - I shall never forget them and, should I ever travel to India, Hyderabad and the old Residency are a must-see for me.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An evocative, tragic but exquisitely written story
Review: I so looked forward to reading White Mughals after the first reviews appeared in the UK papers. When it came out in paperback, I opened it with great anticipation. I was never let down - Dalrymple, known mainly for his highly evocative and well received travel books, has turned historian and historiographer to produce this wonderful, exquisite book.

Although on one level it tells the story of James Achilles Kirkpatrick, British Resident in Hyderabad at the close of the 18th century, this book is a beautifully written examination of a number of white men from all over Europe (and America) who went adventuring in India from the time of Elizabeth I. Many of them became "white mughals", immersing themselves in the lifestyle and religions (both Hindu and Muslim) of the various princely states. Eventually, though, and most sadly, racist attitudes and unreasonable demands on local rulers made it more and more difficult for these men to carry on and eventually too many of the British in India became narrow minded, intolerant and xenophobic. The British presence in India eventually became intolerable and so ended the British Empire in due course. The author is particularly scathing of Lord Wellesley's governor-generalship.

The author has created a wonderful tapestry of various men, their Indian wives and Anglo-Indian children, the art, literature, architecture, politics, military adventures, food, domestic arrangements, etc of a short but poignant era in Indian and British/western history. His scholarship is evident (the footnotes often fascinating) and he was very lucky to happen upon some original, never seen, sources which help make this book so vibrant.

The sad story of James and his Khair was both a tragedy and a triumph - I shall never forget them and, should I ever travel to India, Hyderabad and the old Residency are a must-see for me.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Under an Indian Enchantment
Review: It seems that every generation the British are vouchsafed a truly remarkable travel writer. These are writers who do not just travel and write about it but combine their insatiable curiosity about places and people with often profound knowledge of history and languages: Arabic, Urdu, Chinese (all varieties), eighteenth-century Persian among many. The honour-roll is long and distinguished from Burton and Doughty to Freya Stark, Thesiger and Leigh Fermor. Now comes the latest prodigy, William Dalrymple. He began auspiciously with In Xanadu (1989) a prize-winning account of an expedition across Asia to Kublai Khan's 'pleasure dome'. It was mature, informed, witty and exhilarating. At the time he was a twenty-two-year old Cambridge undergraduate. Five years later appeared his rich, densely packed account of a year in Delhi, which caused the Sunday Times to declare him "British Young Writer of the Year". In 1997 appeared his masterpiece, From the Holy Mountain in which he traces the footsteps of two monks who trudged across the entire Byzantine world, from the Bosphorus to Egypt, in 587A.D. It combined a detailed knowledge of mediaeval sources, a compassionate eye for the slow decline of Middle East Christianity, a grasp of modern politics and his characteristic black humour. It too proved a prize winner. In 1998 came a collection of superb articles and essays on India, The Age of Kali. Unsurprisingly Dalrymple was the youngest person to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Asiatic Society. Now he offers us White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India.
If you seek magnificent holiday reading here it is. It is not a book to read at a sitting - or three sittings. Dalrymple is not afraid to write a long book and this is the longest of all. It runs to 500 pages, not including the fifty pages of scholarly apparatus that underpins it. It began as a paragraph in an earlier essay. Then he thought of writing part of a chapter of another book about it. Finally the saga got him in its grip and his narrative expanded to cover a territory as large as India in the era of the East India Company. The 'plot' concerns a most unlikely love story that ends sadly but that is only one element in a huge canvas. The love story involves James Achilles Kirkpatrick a late eighteenth century British Resident at the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad, a prince of immense wealth and ruling a huge territory. The woman Kirkpatrick improbably loves and marries is Khair-un-Nissa, the great niece of the Nizam's prime minister. Improbably because it was theoretically impossible for them to meet, or indeed ever see each other since she was always in purdah and in any event, as a descendant of the prophet was only supposed to marry a husband of the same descent. Indeed she was already engaged to a nobleman who met that criterion although the couple had never set eyes on each other. Love proverbially laughs at locksmiths and their story is surely the proof of its validity.
Even by the standards of his own time Kirkpatrick was an eccentric. He embraced Indian culture with total enthusiasm, including the religion of Islam. He spoke and wrote Persian - a feat which Dalrymple himself has matched. Indeed he could not have traced this extraordinary story unless he had. Like Kirkpatrick he straddles two worlds, east and west, and it is his mission to bridge them in particularly difficult times. He is determined to wage war on the west's profound ignorance of Islam before terrible consequences befall both societies.
Dalrymple realised early that the picture of the British sahib standing aloof from Indian culture, refusing to associate let alone marry Indians, and resolutely maintaining British ways, clothes, habits is only true for the second half of the nineteenth century, although it had its dim origins under first Governor General Lord Cornwallis and then his successor Lord Wellesley. In this book he traces how the early Europeans in India, beginning a century and a half before Kirkpatrick's time, tended to become absorbed into Indian society as they joined the entourages of either the Mughal emperors or other ruling princes. A remarkable throng populates his book, characters both European and Indian: raffish, barbarous, cultured, learned, ambitious, endlessly inquisitive, soldiers who were poets, generals who became ascetic mystics. It included one man who had been illiterate in his native England but found in India that he was astonishingly linguistically gifted. Not just linguistically for he created a kingdom for himself and ruled it for decades - probably the origin of Kipling's Peachy in The Man Who Would Be King.
This is a book reeking with the scent of spices, echoing with the sounds of the caravanserais; a book that casts a spell just as India has cast a spell on its author. Dalrymple demonstrates that he is as much at home in the world of eighteenth century India as he is in the India of his own day and loves both with a passion. In White Mughals he has shared his enthusiasm, wit and learning with us with prodigal generosity and we are privileged.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: White Mughals
Review: The White Mughals:Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth Century India by William Dalrymple

Is anyone else a sucker for stories about the British in India. Far Pavilions? Pax Britannia? Mountbatten? Flashman and The Mountain of Light? Kim? Long before Kipling wrote Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet," they did in fact meet. The British were in India for 400 years and until the early part of the nineteenth century west did meet east and there was a tremendous amount of intercourse, both cultural and sexual. In this amazingly researched book, William Dalrymple details that intercourse by telling the love story of Lt. Col. James Kirkpatrick and his affair and marriage to a teenaged Muslim noblewoman. It's a tragic and gripping story entwined with court intrigue and East India Company politics. The tale of Kirkpatrick and Khair un-Nissa is the centerpiece for describing how many Englishmen and other Europeans on the subcontinent went native, learned the language and culture, adopted Indian dress and food and took native wives and mistresses. Some even affected harems. This was true from the lowest to the highest levels of the East India Company. The Company was typically peopled by "penniless younger sons of provincial landed families, Scots who had lost their estates and fortunes (or both)...squaddies recruited from the East End, down-at-heel Anglo-Irish landowners and clergymen's sons..." They arrived in sultry, spicy India often as teenagers and liked what they saw. And, now, they were unencumbered by the mores of their parents or clergy. They enjoyed India and at all levels appreciated the culture and accomplishments of their Indian counterparts. Britain didn't gain complete control of the continent until the early 1800's so in the long period preceding this ascendancy there was motivation to negotiate and work together with the native rulers of the various states and principalities. Lt. Col. Kirkpatrick was a diplomat and for most of the story the Resident, that is the Ambassador of the East India Company to the City of Hyderbad, a Muslim enclave in the center of India. His job was to maintain good relations with the ruling Nizzam and his court and negotiate treaties favorable to the Company. Kirkpatrick was a linguist, born in India, educated in Britain, and returned to what he felt was his home. He understood the delicacies and protocols of dealing with the Muslim nobles. When the beautiful fourteen year old Khair un-Nissa saw him and decided that this man, some twenty years her senior was the love of her life, he resisted the obvious temptation. But the young woman persisted and aided by her mother and grandmother was able to seduce the Resident. This event happened at a time when a transition in values was beginning to take place. The Governor General was the difficult Lord Wellesley, older brother of the future Duke of Wellington. Lord Wellesley also cohabited with an Indian woman but hypocritically believed that Kirkpatrick's actions constituted a scandal. Kirkpatrick, by this time, had fallen for his lover and secretly married her. The book tells of their constant battle against the powers of both English and Muslim society to maintain their marriage and family. Dalrymple does more than tell their sad tale. There is layer upon layer of detail in the book about the history of the British in India, architecture, art, warfare, society, festivals, education, clothing, food, medicine, child raising and unusual customs:
"Two or three days into breast-feeding of a girl, another small rite of passage took place. In India it has always been the custom...to squeeze the nipples of a suckling child so that small `milk drops' emerge. This is believed to be of great medicinal value, and is said to ensure the future well-being of the breast. In the case of female babies of the Mughal families, the brother of the infant was asked to suckle the `milkdrop'...this was believed to create a deep bond of love between a brother and his sister..."

Khair un-Nissa had a boy and girl and at age were shipped off to England, given Christian names and baptized. They never saw their mother or father again. In tracing their story through letters and official documents the author learned that he, himself, had an Anglo-Indian background.

The Evangelical movement of the early nineteenth century "effectively brought to a conclusion three hundred years of fusion and hybridity, all memory of which was later delicately erased from embarrassed Victorian history books."

White Mughals is a great piece of research and writing.


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