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Rosie Llewellyn-Jones: “She was a woman almost without fear”
The author of Hazrat Mahal; The Rebel Begam of Awadh on Nawab Wajid Ali Shah’s wife who remained overlooked despite her political and military leadership during the 1857 uprising
Prefer HTon Google
Why has Begum Hazrat Mahal remained such a shadowy figure in the history of the 1857 uprising, despite her courageous resistance to British forces?
One reason is that for years after the Uprising its history was told only by the British, the winning side, who publicly played down the idea of leaders, but played up the idea of mutinous soldiers. This was easier to explain than to look at other causes of unrest like annexation and refusing to acknowledge adopted heirs, as in Jhansi. It was embarrassing to record that the East India Company had been held at bay in Lucknow for nearly a year by a woman leader.
What was the most surprising discovery you made while researching the life of the Begum? You have written about discovering the substantial African presence in and around Lucknow. How did it deepen your understanding of the society in which Hazrat Mahal lived and fought?
I hadn’t appreciated how very fragmented the opposition to the British was. It was full of different factions, sometimes fighting against each other, rather than the enemy, the British. Also, the amount of looting carried out in Lucknow by Indians themselves, before the British arrived, was a surprise. There was certainly resentment by the poorer, underclass of people against the extravagant lifestyle of the nawabs and the Uprising gave them the chance to revenge themselves against the rich. It was as much a class struggle among people in Awadh as a fight against the British. Africans were initially in a strong position, as soldiers in the king’s army, as courtiers in the case of Diyanut-ud daula, as servants in the royal households, as guards at the treasury, even as wives to the king. After the Uprising, those remaining in Lucknow were poorly treated by the British because they had refused to give up their support for the king.
What valuable insights did older records and lesser-known sources in Urdu reveal about aspects of Hazrat Mahal’s life?
Older British records had surprisingly little on the Begam, which is one reason she seems so little known until after 1947. Her position as leader of the opposition was not appreciated, and when she was mentioned, it was only as a figurehead, not a skilled ruler. Urdu records, particularly that by Kamal-ud din Haider, were better on detail and motive. Though I find modern accounts by Indian writers are generally disappointing, often just repeating stories without verification.
How did the British Library cyberattack in October 2023, which left East India Company records inaccessible to you for several months, affect your research?
Well, it meant that I couldn’t order records online in advance of my visits to the Library and that when I got there only a limited number of records could be ordered by filling in paper forms, and because it takes 70 minutes for them to arrive anyway, there was a lot of waiting around. You have to trawl through a large amount of records at the best of times, without being sure whether you will find anything of use. So, it seemed better to work from home reading books on archive.org, which is a very valuable resource particularly for obscure 19th century books and books in Urdu too.
You write about a campaign of rumours and attempts to discredit Begum Hazrat Mahal even as she continued her resistance to the British. How did she respond to these efforts?
Yes, this was quite striking. It was only after the British were evacuated to safety from the Lucknow Residency in November 1857 that the rumours began and they were well in place by the time the recapture of the city started in March 1858. Propaganda was an important tool, as it is today. There is no indication of how the Begam responded to the rumours but this would not have deterred her in any way even if she had been aware of them.
How was Hazrat Mahal able to devise military strategies and navigate the competing interests of soldiers, allies and other powerful figures, while simultaneously confronting and negotiating with the East India Company?
She was a woman almost without fear who had risen to a position of great authority by chance. Because she was not part of the Awadh elite, she was able to see more clearly than most of them how to proceed. She had good advisors like Raja Jai Lal Singh and the chief minister Sharaf-ud daula to help her in military and political matters.
Why do you think such an important historical figure disappeared from both the historical record and public memory, while figures such as Rani Lakshmibai were immediately mythologised as symbols of resistance and martyrdom, as you note in the book.
The Rani of Jhansi was praised by her opponent, Sir Hugh Rose, as the best and bravest of the rebels. No one said anything like that about the Begam. The Rani was a prominent member of a royal family. Hazrat Mahal was only one of Wajid Ali Shah’s many wives and had come from a very humble background. These things made a difference to snobbish British people. Had the Begam died fighting the British, ironically, she would have been better known at the time.
What do we know about Hazrat Mahal’s life in Nepal after she went into exile?
We know virtually nothing. The British Library has ‘misplaced’ the records of the British Kathmandu Residency during this period. There is more information in the National Archives in Delhi, but it would take a long time to go through them thoroughly and I wasn’t able to do that because of time constraints. But I certainly think it would be worthwhile for a scholar to look closely at the Delhi records. As far as we can tell, the Begam led a quiet and secluded life after entering Kathmandu and she was short of money too.
Majid Maqbool is an independent journalist based in Kashmir.
