Why the Begum holds her court at a railway station

Press, 13 October 1982, Page 21

Why the Begum holds her court at a railway station

From

LUCY MATHEN

in New Delhi

The Begum Shehzadi Wilayat Mahal., head of the deposed House' of Oudh. is dressed in a flowing black sari, a diamond brooch pinned to her blouse. She sits perfectly erect, one hand folded over the other and resting on her knee. Her face is ; haggard, her expression dignified. A small servant boy wearing loose trousers and shirt, a white Gandhi cap perched on his dark head, patiently fans the Begum. Occasionally he loses concentration and accidentally hits her Royal Highness with the fan. He freezes as she glares fiercely down her nose at him. Then he. takes up fanning once again. For nearly a decade, the Begum of Oudh has reigned imperiously, not over a palace household, but over seven loyal servants and 27 ferocious watchdogs in what used to be the viceroy’s waiting room at New Delhi railway station. She wants to shame the Indian Government into giv-

ing her back at least one of her ancestral palaces. So far the Government has shown no sign of agreeing.

The Begum, aged 51, her daughter Saheena Mahal. 25, and son, 22-year-old Prince Ali Riza, retain a remarkable dignity and good manners in spite of their situation.

They write their petitions on paper embossed with gold letters proclaiming them to be “The Rulers of Oudh in Exile” and giving the railway station address. It may seem amusing but they find it a deadly serious matter.

The Begum and her children want their ancestral palace in Lucknow, in the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, returned to them. And they are prepared to die for it.

“We will stay here as long as they do not give us back what is ours,” Princess

Saheena Mahal says. “Let them bring guns to shoot us with, we will stay. Whether we live or we die. it matters not. We know how to die the death not of jackals and hyenas, but of lions and tigers.” Historians say there is merit in the family claim. The British never gave legal justification for seizing the Kingdom of Oudh. They declared the realm was being mismanaged by the Nawab, the Begum’s great-grand-father, and simply took it. That was 125 years ago. In 1911, the Begum’s grandmother, Zamrud Mahal, appeared in a conspicuously tattered robe before the Prince of Wales to declare that she would never accept payment from the British for her lost land and property. In 1947, when India became independent, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru sympathised with the family

and gave them a palace in Kashmir while their claims were investigated. That palace burnt to the ground in 1971. The Begum claims it was arson.

“Throughout the years we have been victimised. And why? Because we are Shia Muslims. No Hindu Maharaja was ever treated so. But we will not leave India, whatever happens. This is our land,” she says.

It is their Shia faith that gives them the strength to bear the life at the railway station, the Begum says. Suffering, mortification, and sacrifice have always been keystones of Shia religious practice. The family moved to New Delhi after the Kashmiri palace fire so that they could be nearer the seats of the Indian Government and better able to petition Ministers. But politicians point out that the Lucknow palace is part of the All-India Institute of Medical Science and that the Begum has been offered a

residence elsewhere.

The family survives by selling jewellery and carpets that once adorned the palaces. They are not in dire straits. The Prince visited Britain last year to deliver a letter to the Queen.

Inquiries about the outcome of this trip are dismissed with references to the “guilty conscience of Queen Elizabeth” whose ancestor, Queen Victoria, was responsible for the family’s tragic fate. The Prince is planning another trip to Britain soon. Meanwhile, the Nepalese servants struggle to protect the fraying Persian rugs when the monsoon rains seep through the leaky roof. The Dobermann pinschers howl when they hear strangers. The Prince and Princess spend their days in prayer or writing petitioning letters.

The Begum leaves the old viceroy's waiting room only at night — a ghostly figure under the moonlight. Copyright — London Observer Service.