LITSEARCH www.litsearch.in ISSN 2277-6990 (Print) Quest for Power in Begum Sumroo Basavaraj Naikar Professor & Chairman Department of English Karnatak University Dharwad 580 003 Partap Sharma (1939-2011) India and depicted the extraordinary life of happens to be an important Indian English a very bold dancing girl. Although India playwright and novelist apart from being a happens to be land of very rich and varied television artist and theatre person. He is history, it is a big irony that Indian and known for his well-known plays like The Indian English writers have not produced Professor’s War Cry, A Touch of historical literature proportionate to their Brightness and a novel, The Days of history. The field of historical drama Turban . Although not a prolific writer, unfortunately happens to be the poorest. whatever little he has written, has a solid The few historical plays of any worth that quality about it. Being a theatre man, he can be remembered are Sri. Aurobindo’s has a sense of the stagecraft, which enables Baji Prabho , Asif Currimbhoy’s Goa , him to dramatize any chosen material Manohar Malgonkar’s The Line of Mars . successfully. Hence his plays are basically Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq, The Dreams of meant for performance though they are Tipu Sultan , Kalburgi’s Fall of Kalyana also enjoyable as readable plays. The and Basavaraj Naikar’s A Dreamer of themes of his plays vary from academic to Freedom . Even within the field of social to historical. Whereas The historical drama, the plays dealing with the Professor’s War Cry deals with the colonial period of Indian history are very dilemma of a University Professor, A few. Touch of Brightness delineates the problems of the prostitutes of Bombay. Begum Sumroo happens to be Partap Sharma’s latest play, which deals with the Now his latest play Begum Sumroo differs political conflicts among the British, from his earlier two plays. In this he has Swish-German and French colonizers and chosen a historical theme of 18 th century the native kings of India. Taking a chunk Volume III Issue No.II March 2013 Page 28 LITSEARCH www.litsearch.in ISSN 2277-6990 (Print) of colonial Indian history, which is almost Everybody was bothered about his own forgotten how, Partap Sharma puts flesh survival and retention of power. As Nirad and blood into the theme thereby making Chaudhuri explains the situation, the basic the history come alive. Writing a rivalry between the French and the English historical play is not a joke and is certainly coloured all other aspects of their not as easy as that of a contemporary play. commercial and military competitions in Obviously it involves a good deal of India, “The presence of Europeans and of research into the area concerned and the Clive in this political world has now to be reading of relevant and interrelated considered. The conditions just described material. Partap Sharma seems to have did indeed lead to the rise of the British studied the colonial history of India Empire in India, but the first impetus that thoroughly and assimilated it into his pushed Europeans into Indian politics did creative imagination. not come from these, nor from commercial competition, but from a phenomenon of European history, namely the Anglo- The play takes up a chunk of Indian French rivalry, which had been breaking history of the eighteenth century for its out in the form of intermittent wars since treatment. During that period the British 1688, and the global results of those East India Company, the French East India wars.” 1 Company and the other European groups were vying with one another for chances to carry out trade in India with the help of the native kings. When the trading profession It is this colonial period of history, which slowly paved the way for military strength provides the setting of the present play. and consolidation, commerce was soon The characters are all historical and not transformed into political greed for power imaginary. The playwright offers a in terms of acquisition of land, wealth and realistic treatment of the theme by property of native kings. These foreign reconstructing the historical reality in groups began to side with one king against dramatic terms. One difference between another and earn some profit thereby history and historical literature is that strengthening their position in India. Thus whereas history is a macroscopic picture of there were conflicts of interests among the the general trends, movements and events European traders as well as between the on a large scale, historical literature is a Europeans and the native rulers. microscopic picture of things, beings and Volume III Issue No.II March 2013 Page 29 LITSEARCH www.litsearch.in ISSN 2277-6990 (Print) events and their relationships presented in Partap Sharma has borrowed the character a life-like manner by accentuating the of Walter Reinhardt Sombre from the psychological or emotional and ideological history of 18 th century colonial India. conflicts in a coherent i.e. artistic form. According to historical information Commenting on the pattern and purpose of available so far, “Walter Reinhardt (born c. history, Nirad Chaudhuri says, “There is 1725 in Strasbourg or Treves, died 1778) indeed teleology in history, but it is only was an adventurer and mercenary in India perceptible in retrospect, and is never from the 1760s. His nationality is controlled by free will.” 2 Whereas history uncertain, being given in various sources is permanent and cannot be changed by as Austrian, French, German, any one, historical imagination has the Luxenburger, or Swiss. His nickname freedom to choose the historical theme and Sombre was a nom de guerre , and is more reconstruct it by minimizing certain events commonly used for him, in Indian sources. and maximizing certain others in He was a turncoat, changing sides for accordance with artistic requirements like advantage. When he was employed by fiction and drama. Between fiction and Mir Qasim, Nawab of Bengal, he was drama, the process of selection and blamed for a massacre at Patna. He inclusion and marginalization and attained a position from Shah Alam II, focalization happens to be more restricted briefly held before his death, ruling due to the requirements of theatrical Sardhana; through his marriage to Begum presentation of the theme on the stage. Samru, she followed in his place there” 3 Hence the playwright has to be very alert Partap has been successful in bringing out and talented to offer a coherent picture of the major traits of Walter Reinhardt history. Partap Sharma has succeeded in Sombre’s personality like his military this challenging task without any doubt. ability, money mindedness, opportunism and loyalty to the person, who pays him. The major characters in the play hail from a number of countries. For example there Begum Samroo, on whom Partap Sharma are English, French, German, Italian, Irish has based his play, was a historical figure and, of course, Indian characters, who in Indian history. Although there are form a cultural mosaic. variant details about her life in historical records the general traits of her personality are very clear. According to these records, Volume III Issue No.II March 2013 Page 30 LITSEARCH www.litsearch.in ISSN 2277-6990 (Print) “Her birth-year is approximated to be According to historical sources, Begam 1753. She was, perhaps, the daughter, by a Samru/Sumroo was of slight stature, of fair concubine, of Asad Khan, A Muslim of complexion, distinguished by exceptional Arab descent settled in the town of Kutana leadership abilities of uncommon order. or Kotana in the Meerut district. On the She possessed a daring, seldom possessed death of her father, she and her mother by her sex – having more than once headed became subject to ill-treatment from her her own troops in action. When she was in half-brother, the legitimate heir of Asad her early teens, she married (or started Khan. Therefore, they moved to Delhi living with) a mercenary soldier, Walter about 1760. The official sources of Begum Reinhardt Sombre of Luxembourg, who Samru are conflicting. Some say that was operating in India. Walter Reinhardt Begum’s father was ‘Lutf Ali Khan’, a Sombre, a European mercenary, then 45 decayed nobleman of Arabian descent year-old, came to the red light area and fell living at Kotana. By some, she is for the charms of Farzana, then a girl of supposed to have been from a good 14. A soldier of fortune, Sumroo moved Mughal family, by others she is regarded from Lucknow to Rohilkhand (near as a native of Kashmir and to have been Bareilly), then to Agra, Deeg and sold to Sombre as a slave. Her original Bharatpur and back to the Doab. Farzana name was Zebunnisa. Some say that helped him in those times of intrigue and Begum Sumroo, who is also known as counter-intrigue. Begum was baptized, at Farzana, was the daughter of a dancing the age of about forty, by a Roman girl, who had been taken away from Catholic priest, under the name of Joanna, Chawri Bazar to Delhi to the Doab region on the 7 th of May, 1781. by Asad Khan, a nobleman of Arabian origin (some say he was a Persian, Nawab Farzana was courted by some of the Latif Ali Khan), who made her his second European officers, who were associated wife. After the death of her husband, the with her husband. Among them were Le young widow was driven out of the house Vassoult, a Frenchman, and George by her stepson and returned to Delhi, Thomas, an Irishman. The Begum living for some days near the Kashmere favoured the Frenchman and when, in Gate and then moving on to Jama Masjid 1793, the rumour spread that she had area, where she died, leaving her daughter married him, her troops mutinied.