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Memoirs of a Rebel Princess

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Memoirs of a Rebel Princess Pakistan Journal of Women’s Studies: Alam-e-Niswan Vol. 24, No.2, 2017, pp.33-45, ISSN: 1024-1256 STINKING QUEEN AND HER ROYAL FAMILY: SARKAR AMMAN'S VISIT TO ENGLAND IN MEMOIRS OF A REBEL PRINCESS Mirza Muhammad Zubair Baig Department of Humanities, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore Abstract This paper, drawing upon the travel of the female ruler of the princely state of Bhopal, Sultan Jahan Begum (1838-1901), to England to plead with King- Emperor George V to intercede for her son, Prince Hamidullah Khan, in a Case of Succession, examines cross-cultural encounters that occurred during her stay. The focus of this paper thus is not on the details of the travel agenda; the paper assesses the interesting interplay of English and Bhopali cultures as noted by Princess Abida Sultaan, the favourite granddaughter of Sultan Jahan Begum and the narrator of this travel, in her Memoirs of a Rebel Princess (2004). During nine months of stayin England, from September 1925 to May 1926, the travelling royal party, including several women as well, came across incidents of faux pas, resistance, mimicry, and moments of embarrassment, cultural prejudices, shocks, misunderstanding, and confusion. The travel, though undertaken for specific political reasons, however, turned into a voyage of self-discovery. The tradition-oriented women of the royal family of Bhopal with their conservative way of life, encountered western ways of living. This paper attempts to analyze how this hybridity of two cultures- of the colonizer and the colonized- impacted each other at various levels. Keywords Orientalism, cultural encounters, hybridity, mimicry, third space, Bhopal State 34 Mirza Muhammad Zubair Baig Introduction Bhopal, a princely state (1818-1947), has a distinct place in the annals of South Asian history for two specific reasons: first, it is the only state with four generations of Muslim women rulers: and two, these rulers, in sharp contrast to their contemporary male rulers in colonial India, were benevolent administrators, pursuing a reformist agenda, oriented mainly for women’s liberation through learning and knowledge. This women rulers’ unique dynasty began in 1819 when the scepter of power passed into the hands of the 18- year old widow of the assassinated ruler of Bhopal, Nawab Nazar Muhammad Khan. Qudsiyya Begum was appointed as regent by the colonial government until her daughter, Sikandar Begum, attained age and got married. Breaking the existing conservative norms of patriarchy, Qudsiyya Begum, a novice in statecraft and governance, soon equipped herself with administrative skills and initiated public-benefit reforms. Sikandar’s marriage to an incompetent and ruthless man, introduced a period infamous for maladministration and wife abuse. On account of Sikandar Begum’s services to the British throne during the uprising of 1857, the colonial government, regretting its earlier decision of standing behind the incompetent son-in-law, soon realized its mistake and “withdrew their proviso that the husband of the Begam would become Nawab” (Lambert-Hurley 2007, p.4). Later, with Sikandar’s coming into full power, the foundation of an efficiently managed system of administration began. Her successor, Nawab Shahjahan Begum who ruled from 1844 to 1901, was also a great reformist. The last woman ruler, Nawab Sultan Jahan Begum (1858-1930) who ruled from 1901-1926, was an enthusiast for women’s education and development. Sultan Jahan Begum, also called Sarkar Amman, abdicated in favour of her son, Prince Hamidullah Khan (1894-1960) in 1926. This marked the end of the dynasty of Muslim women rulers of Bhopal. The State of Bhopal has been an outstanding example of female “agency and power” in the otherwise patriarchal India (Lambert-Hurley, 2007, p. 13). The female dynasty was also supported in Bhopal for its exemplary loyalty to the British from the time of the 1857 ‘rebellion’ (Lambert-Hurley, 2007, p. 4; Sultaan, 1912, p. 15). Both the princely state and the British contracted a symbiotic relationship to obtain commercial and political benefits from a political arrangement in which the Empire conceded some sovereignty to the Indian state and won back its loyalty in exchange (Ramusack, 2004, p. 48). Khan (2000), a scion of Bhopal’s ruling family, being the son of Princess Abida Sultaan (1913-2002), describes Nawab Sultan Jahan Begum, his grand-mother as “deeply religious, homely, frugal and ascetic. [and] was not masculine and outgoing” (p. 155) like her grandmother, Sikandar Begum. It is important to note that she resisted wearing the mask of masculinity to seek support for her rule. In order to ensure that her biological Stinking Queen and Her Royal Family 35 son was recognized as the next Nawab of Bhopal after her, she voyaged to England to negotiate with the British Crown. Her intent in coming to England in September 1925 was to plead with King-Emperor George V to intercede for her third son, Prince Hamidullah Khan, as her heir apparent in a Case of Succession, which was likely to be decided otherwise in favour of her grandson, Habibullah Khan, by British officials. Sarkar Amman prepares herself and her family to negotiate directly with the Empire; yet the offices of the Empire work against her. Her decision to visit London is a matter of make or break for her and the family, since the Empire was likely to forfeiture her progeny’s right to govern the princely state. She leaves her home to regain power from the British Crown, epitomized and embodied by her ‘adopted’ mother, Queen Victoria. Her visit to England is aptly described by the narrator of the story as a “personal siege of the British government” (Sultaan, 2013, p. 57). The narrative shares Sarkar Amman’s resolve not to return to India if she could not win succession case in favour of her son Hamidullah Khan (1894-1960) (p. 57). The British documents reveal that the Viceroy's advisors in Delhi had “demolished” Sarkar Amman's “contention” that her son should succeed her as the next ruler. Muhammadan Law, 1 Bhopal’s 1819 Treaty with the East India Company, 2 the 1858 Canning Sanad, 3 and Bhopal’s Customary Law were acceptable for the recognition of the Wazir’s 4 younger son’s as the rightful heir. After the death of her eldest son and the Crown Prince Muhammad Nasrullah Khan Sahib (1876-1924), Sarkar Amman wanted her younger son. Hamidullah Khan, and not her grandson, Habibullah Khan (1903-1930), the eldest son of her deceased son, the Crown Prince Muhammad Nasrullah Khan Sahib, to be considered as the rightful heir. The Viceroy's staff countered Sarkar Amman’s arguments on “legal and political grounds” and the Viceroy Lord Reading (1921-25) supported the grandson, Habibullah Khan, on the principle of primogeniture. The Begum was convinced that her loyalty and that of her family, as well as their services to the royal throne, would guarantee acceptance of her plea. She recalled how her predecessor, Mamola Bai (1715-1795), the Rajput wife of Yar Mohammad Khan the Nawab of Bhopal (d. 1742), had welcomed General Goddard in 1778, how Sikandar Begum had sided with the British during the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny, and how she herself had been a strong supporter of the Allies during the First World War (Sultaan, 2013, p. 57). Theoretical Framework The present study focuses on the journey from the perspective of postcolonial cultural studies. Said’s concept of Orientalism, Bhabha’s idea of hybridity and mimicry, and Suleri and Spivak’s critique of the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized have been employed to analyze cultural contacts during the stay of the visiting party in England. Said (1979) interprets the Orient as “an idea that has a history and a tradition of thought, imagery, and vocabulary that have given it reality and presence in and for the 36 Mirza Muhammad Zubair Baig West” (ibid, p. 5). The Orient is defined from the reference point of the West, and negative images have been associated with this idea to desecrate the non-European and eulogize the European. This idea, also linked to the concept of cultural hegemony as identified by Gramsci, is an acknowledgement and establishment of European superiority over the “non-European peoples and cultures” since it positions a white man as a higher being (Said, 1979, p.7). However, interaction between Eastern and Western cultures in determinates the authoritative understanding of the Empire, makes cultural boundaries “Janus-faced” and brings forth hybrid culture (Bhabha, 1990, p. 4). The Bhopalis, during their short stay stay in England, found themselves in what Bhaba describes in another context as the “moment of transit” i.e., exploring and forging new distinct identities and appropriating the cultural “interstices” of past and present (Bhabha, 1994). The Bhopali travellers tried to shed parts of their erstwhile homogenized and unified culture to articulate the cultural differences and partially acquire English culture in the so-called “third space of enunciation” to experience new emerging identities and beliefs in their life (ibid, p. 55). Indeed, Sarkar Amman’s royal visit to England, photos of which appeared in the local newspapers for the public eye, offered an opportunity to contest the fixed stereotypes and identities of the visitors in the host culture, especially in the “moment of transit” between the two different cultures. Finding liminal spaces that offer what Bhabha calls “the interstitial spaces” to recognize and accept the differences, the royal family called for readjustment in the face of the English climate, culture, and way of life that challenged and contested their identities, but also offered opportunities. Misunderstandings and cultural shocks in the ‘third space’ away from Bhopal, (India) and in the “realm of the beyond ” also brought forth lighter moments in the text to the amusement of the readers and the embarrassment of the internal audience (Bhabha, 1994, p.1).
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