THE INNER LIFE OF AN INDIAN PRINCESS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3045, 24 July 1912, Page 75

THE INNER LIFE OF AN INDIAN PRINCESS.

These artless and ingenuous pages ("An Account of My Life," by her Highness Nawab Sultan Jahan Begam, translated by 0. H. Payne; John Murray) give a vivid insight into the inner life of a female ruler in India—especially one who belongs to the Mohammedan faith. Their very artlessness and ingenuousness lend a certain charm to them ; they have the simplicity of the private letter—that most instructive of all human documents. Judged as an historical picture the work has a considerable value. Assuredly there are few more interesting spectacles in history than the story of an Oriental and a Mohammedan State governed three times in succession by female rulers, and governed extraordinarily well. And this comparatively tranquil State of mo dern times comes almost recently out o: all the interne-cine and sanguinary feuds which were so characteristic of all India before the days when the Pax Britannica brought order out of chaos. The State owes its origin to an Afghan warrior ; and everybody knows what an Afghan warrior was, and even at the present dav, to a certain extent, is. Some idea will be formed of the character of these terrible internecine wars from the single fact that in one instance it is computed that only 200 warriors were left out of 10,000 in the course of a nine months' struggle. When the grandmother of the present ruler came to the throne things were still very bad. The country was largely in the hands of a number of predatory chiefs, who had all their little private bands of hired and fierce warriors; and these chiefs in turn ruled the State. ' The Begam faced the terrible problem with exti'aordinary courage ; changed the whole military sevice; the gangs of disoderly retainers were scattered, and a State force, which was regularly paid, took their place. This reform of internal conditions had, fortunately,- been carried through at the moment when the Mutiny broke out, with the result that while all the country around was seething with disorder and violence Bhopal remained quite tranquil. But even this tranquility was not secured without effort. There were signs > of wavering among the newly-organised troons, and forced them into not only keeping the peace themselves, but into giving serious help to the British troops; and Bhopal, in addition, became the refuge to many of those hapless English men and women who had to fly from massacre during the worst days of the Mutiny. It is the conduct of Bhopal at this supreme juncture that accounts for the closeness and perfect lines of the ties which still bind that country to the Imperial Government of India. The rulers of Bhopal stand out for their inflexible loyalty. This remarkable ruler paid equal attention to the civil affairs of her kingdom. She set to work to improve, above all, the condition of the peasants. If there survived of her sayings but one, it would suffice to reveal the born genius of a true and wise ruler. " In the days of my youth," says the present Begam, "my grandmother, Nawab Sikandar Begam, would often give me wise counsel, and I well remember how her first and most earnest injunction was always to this effect: ' The cultivators of the soil are our wealth; that we are able to rule and live in state and luxury is owing to the labour and industry of these poor people. When you become the ruler of the State, look upon the fostering of this humble but useful class as your first and highest duty.' " The Begam acted up to this wise principle; she established agricultural banks, and did away with many of the exactions on the peasantry. She purified justice by drawing up laws and establishing impartial courts. Again and again she was publicly complimented for the justice and wisdom of her rule. Meantime she strengthened her hold upon her subjects by her devotion as a Mohammedan, and she even did the journey to Mecca—an act of supreme Mohammedan ritual, which, as everybodv knows, is held in great reverence in the East. She ruled altogether 23 years. It is one of the marks of her greatness that she led a simple life, and then she forbade her subjects to erect a dome over her grave.

Like many other female rulers, the sternness and strength of her character was accompanied by a great deal of womanly sweetness and tenderness, and this was one of the reasons why she loved and was loved by the poor, —A Disturbing Element. — Her- daughter was not quite so strong a character. She allowed herself to be ruled absolutely by her husband ; and her husband was a restless, ambitious, and grasping man. The rise of this strange figure is characteristic of those extraordinary changes of fortune which are still possible in the East. He came as a Stranger to Bhopal, and must have been poor, for his first position was a subordinate office in the Bhopal Civil Service. Then he became a Superintendent of Education, and finally, by marrying the daughter of one of the chief Ministers of the Begam, he advanced himself to the position of a courtier in immediate touch with the second Begam. He seems to have captured her fancy soon; he was allowed to dispose of his other wife by an allowance, and became what we should call Prince Consortr—the title being be- • stowed upon him by the British Government after repeated solicitations by this devoted wife. ■ But he fell under displeasure, for he published works which, while professing to be merely the utterances of a pious Mohammedan, were really intended to preach revolt, and ultimately he was degraded from his high titles and offices. But his faithful wife stuck to him, importuned the." Government to reinstate him, and only ceased to do so when death came to settle that and other questions. The present Begam complains much of the evil influence which this powerful and somewhat sinister personality had over her destinies in her youth. It is in the description of her management of her household that the Begam gives those interesting gljmpses of —Eastern Life—to which I have alluded. A wise and reforming ruler, a profoundly attached friend oT British rule and of the British people, the Begam has, nevertheless, remained a thoroughgoing devotee of the faith of her family and her people. Like her grandmother, she also has been to Mecca; though the journey was not without many perils, including an armed attack from the brigands who still, in her days, used to infest the route to the Holy Shrine. She .argues for the rights of woman after a fashion that would delight our modern and European suffragettes; but she is still as inflexible as any Mohammedan in the doctrine that women should wear the veil and live in the seclusion known as purdah, in India. Now and then she writes a sentence which gives one some idea of the vast gulf still between the Western and the Eastern ideas as to the position and conduct of women. For instance, when an English agent came to ask her whether her betrothal to her young husband was in accord with her own free choice, and whether her seal and signature to the marriage contract were really hers, the Begam thus wites :—"Although a verbal reply to this question was a considerable shock to my Oriental sense of modesty, yet since my mother had told me that amongst Europeans and Mohammedans it was not a matter about which the least shame need be felt. T answered frankly that it was bv mv own will and pleasure that I had affixed my seal and signature to the marriage proposal." _ What a revelation this one sentence is into the Mohammedan woman's point of view] I find an even more instructive insight into the Mohammedan mind in the account the Begam gives of the education of her second son. It will enable one to see into the depth of that extraordinary attachment to their . religion, which is one of the most remarkable features of tht attitude of the Mohammedan mind. Here is the passage, which, though it is rather lengthy, is worth giving in full: " It was not long after the death of Nawab Sidik Hasan Khan that my second son, Sahibzada Muhammad Obaidullah Khan, completed his task of learning by heart the holy Koran. The work had occupied him "three whole years, during which time he received constant assistance from Nawab Ihtisham-ulmulk. I need not tell my readers how our hearts rejoiced when we knew that success had crowned his endeavours. His own iov was no less than ours, and we thanked Almighty God that He had vouchsafed to us a son thus capable, of winning honour and blessings for himself and his family. We had, indeed, cause to be grnteful to Him ; for was not our son a Hafiz, and was not this the fulfilment of one of the dearest wishes of our hearts? "Since mv mother's anger had first displaved against us, we had abandoned the performance of all ceremonies, except such as were strictly necessary, and even these wp conducted with the utmost simplicity. When, however, we considered the long labours our son had undergone, we determined to celebrate his success in as comolete a manner ns possible. We accordinglv determined that, during the blessed month of Bamnzan. which was then approaching, he should publicly recite the whole Koran, and that none of the demonstrations of joy customarv on such occasions should be omitted. There are few events in rny life that I recall with greater pleasure. The only cloud on our hanniness was the absence of my mother; and for "27 vears I enjoyed no pleasure over which that same cloud did not cast its shadow. "On tbe first day of the fast, at the hour of evening prayer, the Sahibzada commenced his recitation, and continued it daily at the same hour, until, on the twenty-first evening, his pious task was completed. AH the members of . my family, and every servant, from the highest to the lowest belonging to my household, attended night after night to hear him. When the last chapter had been recited, the greatest happiness prevailed, and my son, as well as my husband and myself, received the wannest

congratulations. Sweetmeats, rose-water, and kewara {a perfume extracted from the flower of the kevra plant) were distributed, and handsome presents we're given to each person who had attended the recitation. The mosque which my family attended for prayer was brilliantly illuminated, and for several nights large numbers of poor people wcro led at our expense." —The Koran.— I dwell for & moment or two on this passage, for it is very instructing in more ways than one. The extraordinary devotion to the Koran is one of the things which immediately strike the visitor to the East. It is not altogether an intellectual devotion, any more than the attitude of some old-fashioned people in this country is to the Bible. It seems to be considered a merit and even" a virtuous act in itself, among the Mohammedans to learn the Koran oif bv heart; sometimes even it is done by ttioso who ' are unable to read a word of the book, and who acquire their knowledge simply hy listening to the reading of the sacred volume for years. When I paid a visit »me months ago to El Azhar, the atest Mohammedan University of the ■ oild at. Cairo—and the oldest university in history, by the way—l was astounded to see grey-beards swaying backwards and forwards hour after hour, and I suppose it had been in some cases year after . yeas, in the laborious attempt to commit the verses of the Koran to memory. It will be seen that the poor lad in this case which I have just cited was condemned for years to this terrible drudgery ; and that when he had accomplished it he was hailed by everybody as something of .a saint. This is a point of view which it is difficult for us Westerns to understand ; but so it is. While, however, obliged thus to express an entirely different point of view from that of the East, let us be just, and take out of this passage one great and wondrous fact of Eastern life and of the Mohammedan religion. If you read the passage carefully, you will see in it that spirit of perfect equality which makes the Mohammedan religion the most democratic faith in the world. This son of a great ruler is proud to. have done a religious task which might well have been reserved only to the professional teacher of religion. He performs it amid the applause of th« simple as well as the gentle. And her© comes another fine characteristic of Mohammedan thought—his triumph is celebrated by kindness to the poor. —Tours'.— There is just one other extract which again summons' up a picture of the East, and in its attractive form. The Begam •makes it a rule to take .tours through her dominions so as to see for herself the condition of the people. And hero is bn« of her methods of dealing with this important part of her functions; it will be seen that she has a just idea of the best way of getting at information first hands "When I am on tour it is always my practice to hold friendly and informal intercourse with the wives and daughters of mustajirs and ryots; for in this way I not only give a great deal of pleasure, but I often glean much useful information. As soon as the people of a village become aware of my approach, the women come out in crowds to »mect me, with their little ones in their arms, and carrying tiny bowls of water, the sprinkling of which, as they firmly believe, is to bring x good fortune to their chief and protector. As my carriage draws near, they all join in a song of welcome, which I acknowledge by dropping bakshish into their little water vessels. . At each new camping ground, the gaily-coloured throngs of women, matrons, and maidens, who meet my arrival, rendered glad with bakshish, and making the air resound with their happy songs, make a sight well worth seeing. I have always considered that to give pleasure to these people and to sympathise with them in their griefs and difficulties are among my most important duties. To entertain them In my own tents, and to watch their enjoyment, is to mo a real pleasure, and I usually spend the hour of the midday siesta in their company. At such times, thev talk to me freely of their families and their circumstances, and their chatter throws many interesting side-lights on the general condition of f.he district." . Such, then, Ls the Begam of Bhopal, a very interesting, a very striking, and a very wise ruler ; a remarkable example of what women can do even, under the many disadvantageous conditions of ?»fohammedan and of Eastern life.—T. P.'e

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