Li Fe of the Nawab Gauhar Begum
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H A YAT - I - Q U D S I LI FE OF THE NAWAB GAUHAR BEGUM A L I AS NAWAB BEGUM UDSI A THE Q , ‘ h n ” wfil -hA . EJH O PAL H E R H I GH NESS JAHAN BEGUM C. I . R U L E R O F B H O P A L T R A N S L A T E D P oli tical A mt m B ho al g p . L ONDON KEGAN A L P U , TRENCH , TRUBNER CO. LTD . N E Y E P D W O R K : . TTO N C . U O. 1 9 1 8 I NTRO D U CTI ON H E R u ds ia HIGH N ESS the Nawab Q Begum , whose life and c ha ra c t e r I have attempted to r h s t ra I y in t is volume , was one of the mo t God nd l e of a . f ring , pious virtuous adi s her time The s o f r intere ting accounts her virtues , cha ities , s b e i volenc e r kindness to her ubj ects , to he poo , f rivall piety and sanctity , can hard y be in the life of the great saints . As stories of her gr acious character and pious life are remembered with reverence throughout h fi the B opal State , it is only tting that her i t biography should be recorded , and seems to h no t e a sacred duty for me to do this , only s she becau e she was my ancestor , but because was the first ruler of the new dyna sty to which I belong . A considerable portion of the contents of this book is from the vivid recollection which I have of my gr e at grandmother . It would no doubt have been more suitable if the life of the Begum Qud si a had appeared before the publication o f H a t - i— y Shahj ahani ( the life of my mother) , but owi ng to the disappea r ance of many valuable ffi manuscripts , the di culty in tracing many i ln which ex st , and the time taken checking and I sifting oral accounts , deemed it better not to o f delay the publication the life of my mother . FOR E WOR D TH E life of her great g r andmother given in this volume by Her Highness , the present Begum t of Bhopal , takes the reader back to a m os o stirring and stormy period f Indian history . ’ Qu dsi a Begum s childhood followed closely o nthe last i r ruption into India o f the Afghans from the North and the march o f the Maharatta armies from the Deccan into Upper India . Her youth witnessed the advance of the power of the o f East India Company , the defeat the Maharat tas and the stamping out o f the predatory bands f F o indaras . The pa c ific at i ono f India followed in the early l t h years of the g Century , and the distinguished Political Officer who negotiated most of the m treaties and arrange ents , which gave a new o f lease life to the smaller States of Central India , was Sir John Malcolm , the historian and fasci nating writer . Her Highness has quoted his writings several ’ e s tim s, and there i not a state in Central India which is not indebted to his wise and sympathetic policy under which they have remained up to s the present day eparate States , devoted to the King Emperor and British Empire . Bhopal was one o f the first States to perceive 6 FOREWORD that the Maharatta confederacy would collapse 1 8 1 1 before the British , and from onwards had endeavoured to obtain treaties with the East India Company guaranteeing its safety . o n Being a Mahommedan State , surrounded all sides by the powerful Maharatta States of Indore and Gwalior and by small Raj poot or Maharatta States that were in their grasp , Bhopal had always had the greatest difficulty to pre serve i t s existence . On 1 8 1 2- 1 several occasions , notably in 3 , when the City o f Bhopal withstood a siege o f four months by the armies o f Scindi a and Nagpur r Raj a , and was reduced to the greatest st aits , it So o f looked as if the end had come . few its defenders remained that the women o f Bhopal took charge o f and successfully defended o ne o f the gates . Shortly afterwards , a strong Maharatta army , ’ Filoz e o ne o f Sc indi a under Jean Baptiste , s o t - 1 generals , had g as far as Sehore , twenty th ee m iles from Bhopal , and would undoubtedly have captured the place , as it was much reduced at the time , but fortunately for Bhopal and its gallant defende r s the pressure o f Sc indi a in the w'i t h t h e north became so acute that it led to , ’ d ra w f Fil A r al o oz e s army . sto y is told that when Filoze found that he would not have to attack Bhopal , he threw himself into the arms of the Bhopal general , who was a Bourbon , and W h s aid We are both sons of France , y should FOREWORD 7 ’ We fi Filoze s ght geography was at fault , no doubt , his father having been a Neapolitan ; but he had been born and brought up among ’ Scindi a s French battalions , and probably his sympathies were French . One of the British generals used to refer to “ him as that confounded fellow , John the Baptist . 1 8t hf f During the and irst few years o the l t h of g Century India was the home many ff t European soldiers of fortune . The di eren States all over the country kept up large armies , and were constantly at war and were always ready to employ these reckle s s European a d venturers to train and lead their forces . s s Many of the e men , e pecially the Frenchmen , had most remarkable careers , and among other things showed the Ea st India Company what excellent bodies of troops could be formed from fi f a d the ghting castes of India . Many o the venturers were killed , a few returned to their o ne homes with fortunes , or two , such as George o n Thomas , who had begun life as a steward an East Indiaman , actually conquered and held small States , and the remainder settled in India m h , w en the times grew quieter and in ost cases r i mar ied Ind an wives , and their descendants t o are still be found in the country . The Bourbon family in Bhopal , with its o romantic and interesting hist ry , touched on in s s thi book is an in tance . The first clause of the treaty with Bhopal runs as follows There shall be perpetual friendship , alliance and unity of interests between the Honourable o f East India Company and the Nawab Bhopal , hi s heirs and successors ; and the friends and enemies o f one party shall be the friends and enemies of both . These words were written j ust a hundred years a o g , and have been faithfully adhered to even o f through the stormy days the Mutiny , and Bhopal under its Nawabs and four successive Begums has the proud boast that it has never drawn its sword against the British , and please God it never will . ( Signed) W . S . DAVI S , ( Political Agent in Bhopal) . PART I . I N TH E N AME o r GOD TH E M O ST C OM P A S S I O NATE A N D MERCI F UL . H AYA T= I = Q U DSI CHAPTER THE FIRST . ’ U D S I A GE Q BEGUM S B IRTH , EDUCATI O N , MARRIA CHILDRE N A N D WIDOWH OOD . U D S I A t h NAWA B Q BEGUM was born on the 9 of R 1 2 1 6 . aj ab , , A H ( corresponding a ab Ma hd She was a daughter of N w Ghaus o mme fi Khan who was fth ruler o f Bhopal . awab Amrr The N had two wives , named Begum and Chandni Begum . The former bore him o ne so n ahd M omme , Hatim Khan , and the latter who was the daughter o f an Afghan merchant had two sons and one daughter , named as follows , Moi Mahm d z om e a u d ar Maho m Khan , Miyan F j med Khan and Gauhar Begum , the last being * also known as Qudsi a Begum and Mihar—1 r - Ta r zkhi - N a m N Mih Tamsal was a ( ) of awab Qud si a B not t hr r u i e i I t i . r eg m , and a name n o d na y sense , s a ch ono o r a r t r ht r r i i i e at u e t i r t t g m , and n Pe s an h s o y and , da es of mpo an ' t a r fi t i r r e t i i i . E l t t r h even s of en s gn ed n h s manne ve y e e of t e t r he A h h in t o t b a d rt i um r i l v lu alp abe as (acco d g j ) a ce a n n e ca a e , ” t h r r - e t he tt i v lu l M h T l t t h r and a e of e e s of amsa , added oge e , ’ t h N si i e t ud a B e a m s irt K i k sr .