The Man Who Would Be King

by

Ally Adnan

وہ رابر د رپوزی اک ای وہ سلجمِ تّلم

لطا ں، وه ےہُس

ی یک ریغ

هی ت

ک

رظن یک سج وہ ہپ

Be it the national assembly or the court of Parvez

He is king who has his eye on the wealth of the other

One of the great spectacles of early nineteenth

century Delhi was the daily afternoon parade of the

British Resident, Major General Sir David

Ochterlony, and his thirteen (13) wives, each one

seated on a howdah (َہودا, elephant throne)

travelling on the back of a personal elephant. The

procession started a little after Namaz E Asar ( نماِز

afternoon prayer), and followed a path along ,عصر

the promenade around the Laal Qilla (الل قلعہ, Red

Fort) and ended at the Hawa Khana (ہوا خانہ, Air

Chamber) where the party camped for a while. The

‘magic hour,’ when hot Delhi air is said to turn cool, was spent at the Hawa Khana.

The procession turned back after the Muslims in the entourage offered the Namaz

E Maghrab (نماِز مغرب, evening prayer) at the Moti Masjid (موتی مسجد, Pearl Mosque)

in the fort.

The procession was led by Octhetrlony. His howdah was, by intent, the most

splendid, designed expressly for an extravagant display of pomp, grandeur and

ceremony. It was made of wood and painted in silver. The design motifs were gilded

and borrowed from both British and Mughal traditions. The howdah was flanked

on either side by the symbol of a lion and sun carved in repousse in gold. The

symbol was influenced by ancient Persian motifs of Shia (شیعہ ) Islam and employed

to please his youngest, and most favored, wife who was a Shia Muslim. The lion

represented strength and the sun regal glory. A number of heraldry and floral forms

were used to decorate the howdah. The howdah had two (2) compartments. The

more spacious and comfortable front compartment was used

by Sir David and the one in the back was reserved for a

confidante and bodyguard who, for a long time, was a eunuch

gifted to him by the Raja of Jaipur. The seats were heavily

padded and upholstered with chennile embroidered with gold

thread.

Four (4) mahawats (مہاوت, elephant attendants) were

took care of the resident’s elephant. They started

preparing the elephant for the afternoon ride at the

crack of dawn each day. The first step was to bathe the

animal and cover its back, from the shoulder to the hips,

with a thick quilted pad to prevent sores caused by

friction. The elephant was then painted by the

mahawats, the best of whom were known for their skills

as artists in addition to their expertise in taking care of

elephants. The protective pad was covered with a large

sheet of burgundy chennile which was embroidered with the Emperor's coat of

arms on the sides. The next layer was that of thick red silk which was embroidered

with the Mughal title, Nas’r Ud Daulah (نصر الّدولہ, Defender of Faith), conferred to

the resident by the eighteenth (18th) Mughal emperor Shah Alam Ali Gauhar ( شاہ

The howdah was mounted on the elephant using six (6) folds of .(عالم علی گوہر

carefully tightened thick cotton rope.

David Ochterlony was

followed by his thirteen

(13) wives seated in

howdahs on elephants

caparisoned with saffron

head cloths embroidered

in ganga jumani zardozi

silver ,گنگا جمنی َزردوزی)

and gold embroidery with

metallic thread) style. Each

had motifs of their own

choice – fish, winged females, horses, khamsa (خمسہ, Hand of Fatimah), flowers,

stars – embroidered on the sheets covering the backs of the elephants. Two (2)

mahawats were assigned to the elephants of each wife.

The daily procession

served its intended

purpose of making a

spectacular display of

power, ceremony and

glory well. A

consummate diplomat

and capable officer, Sir

David had a

pathologically deep love

displays of royal

grandeur. Everything

else was secondary. He

had arrived in India as a

cadet at the age of

nineteen (19) and,

almost immediately,

fallen in love with the

country, its culture and

its history. While most

other officers of the Raj

were singularly focused

on looting the country to add to the immense wealth of the British Empire, and to

make themselves rich, David Ochterlony was more interested in becoming a

member of Indian royalty than in plunder and theft. The life of a Mughal emperor

was the one he wanted to lead and vowed never to return to England. When asked

why he wanted to live forever in India, he replied by asking a question with an

almost innocent incredulity, “Where else could I live like a king?”

David Ochterlony was born to Katherine Tylor and Captain David Ochterlony in

Boston in 1758. His father passed away when David was a child. The death of the

senior Ochterlony left the family insolvent and in considerable danger, forcing them

to flee first to Canada and then to England at the beginning of the American

Revolution in 1765. Katherine married Sir Isaac Heard, an officer at the College of

Arms, in London. Sir Isaac developed a close personal relationship, both as a father

and as a friend, with David Ochterlony and remained his most trusted confidante

until his death in 1822. In 1777, David Ochterlony joined the British army, with the

help of Sir Isaac, and came to India as a cadet.

In India, Ochterlony rose

through the military

ranks at a remarkably

fast pace. He was

promoted to Lieutenant

in 1778 and Lieutenant

Colonel in 1803. He

became the British

Resident at Delhi the

same year and held the

post for three (3) years.

He was promoted to

Deputy Adjutant-

General in the Battle of

Delhi during the Second

Anglo-Maratha War. He

was made Colonel in

1812 and Major General

in 1814. During the

Gurkha War, he was

given the command of

one of the four (4)

columns in which Lord

Moira Hastings had

divided his forces. Due to

his remarkable

performance as

commander in the war, he was made a Knight of the Bath in 1815 and, a few

months later, advanced to Knight Grand Cross, making him the first British army

officer in India to receive the honor. After he forged a political

solution to end the Pendhari (ِپنڈهری) War, without a military engagement, Lord

Moira Hastings reinstated Ochterlony as British Resident at Delhi in 1818. As

resident, he lived in an unabashedly lavish lifestyle, his extravagant and lavish ways

attracting both scorn and respect, and becoming the subject of much discussion,

ridicule and gossip. He came to known as Kamal Akhtar Loony. Kamal (کمال,

Excellence) and Akhtar(اختر, Star) being popular Indian names and loony referring

to what a lot of people considered the resident’s lunatic behavior. Akhtar Loony

was a corruption of the resident’s last name that locals found easy to pronounce.

The sobriquet caught on throughout the region; Ochterlony, however, preferred to

be addressed his Mughal title, Nas’r Ud Daulah (نصر الّدولہ), which he loved so much

that he had it inscribed in jade on a his administrative seal.

David Ochterlony led a double life. One in which he was an astute politician, a

capable army officer and a skillful diplomat and the other more personal life that

led as an Indian emperor. The cavalcade of fourteen (14) elephants belonged to the

life that was nearer and dearer to his heart.

The procession was followed by an

elaborate Charan Amrit (چرن امِرت)

ceremony which was managed by

the thirteenth, and most favored,

wife of the Major General, Bibi

Mah Ratan Mubarakunissa Begum

.(بی بی ماہ رتن ُمبارک اُلنِسا بیگم)

Servants of the household were

required to participate in the

ceremony. A large shallow tray

with raised edges, known as tasht

made of silver with brass ,(طشت)

inlay using Bidri (ِبدری) technique

was used for Charan Amrit. The

tasht was filled with rose petals

and water in which Ochterlony soaked his feet. The servants took turns to sip water

from the tray in a highly submissive gesture signifying both loyalty and devotion.

The Charan Amrit was not the only thing

managed by Mubarak Begum. The resident’s

youngest wife was an ambitious woman

who thrived on power and control. She was

said to be the mistress “of everyone within

the walls” of the Ochterlony household.

Originally, a Hindu Brahmin slave girl named

Champa (چمپا), who made her living as a

prostitute and dancing girl, Sir David had

purchased her as a concubine while she was

a teenager. He married her after she

converted to Islam a few years later.

Mubarak Begum bore him his youngest

children - two (2) girls – and helped raise a

Muslim girl that had been adopted. Mubarak

Begum was known to have used her storied skills

as a love maker to gain complete control over her

significantly older husband. She was one of the

most powerful women in Delhi in the nineteenth

century. Mubarak Begum came to be known as

Jarnaili Begum (جرنیلی بیگم) due to her influence,

power and clout. An observer remarked that

"making Sir David the Commissioner of Delhi was

the same as making Jarnaili Begum [the

commissioner]." The Nas’r Ud Daulah would hold

court together with Mubarak Begum who made

it a habit to offer and receive nazar (نزر, gifts)

and khilats (ِخلعت, robes of honor) in the manner

of the royals. The Begum referred to herself

variously as Lady Ochterlony and Qudsia Begum

a name used by the ,(the Pious One ,قُدسیہ بیگم)

mother of the penultimate Mughal emperor, Akbar Shah II (اکبر شاہ دوئم).

Lady Ochterlony managed one of the largest retinue of servants in the households

of British officers in India. A large horde of servants in the homes of Englishmen

was a norm and, to some extent, a necessity in India. Each servant was able to

perform only certain

specific duties as

prescribed by rigid

caste rules and

religious statutes. As

a result, the average

number of servants

in the British

household in

nineteenth century

India was sixty (60).

The Ochterlony

family of twenty-one

(21) – the Resident,

thirteen (13) wives, six (6)

natural children and one

(1) adopted child –

employed more than four

(400) servants. The battery

of hired help included

aayahs (آیا, nannies),

bahishtis (بہشتی, water

bearers), chobdars (چوبدار,

drovers), chowkidars

darzis ,(watchmen ,چوکیدار)

dhobis ,(tailors ,درزی)

,(washermen ,دهوبی)

hajaams (حّجام, barbers), harkaras (ہرکارہ, messengers), huqqah bardars (ُحّقہ بردار,

hubble carriers), jamadars (جمعدار, janitors), kahars (َکہار, palanquin bearers),

khansamas (خانسامہ, chefs), khidmatgars (ِخدمتگار, table boys), maasis (ماسی,

maidservants), mahawats, malis (مالی, gardeners), mashalchis (مشعلچی, lamp

bearers), munshis (ُمنشی, Indian languages teachers), piyadas (پیادہ, peons), qulis (قُلی,

porters), saar baans (ساربان, camel drivers), sirdars (ِسردار, valets), syce (سائیس,

groom), and a number of others. Mubarak Begum’s strict management of the large

number of servants was a talk of the town in Delhi and the subject of many stories.

Mubarak Begum was a highly skilled dancer and singer and considered to an

authority on the art of lovemaking. The resident was said to have slept with none

of his other twelve (12) wives after marrying Mubarak Begum. The begum

introduced the habit of taking daily baths to her husband who, like others from his

country, paid little attention to personal hygiene. Although a convert to Islam, the

formidable young lady was a devout Muslim who observed Ramzan (رمضان),

Muharram (ُمحّرم), Eid Al Fitr (عید الفطر), Eid Al Azha (عید األضحى), Eid Mailad Un Nabi

( صلی هللا علیہ وسلم الّنبیعید میالد ) and other Muslim festivals and commemorations with

a studied and conspicuous fervor. Urdu and Persian poetry was Mubarak Begum’s

greatest love among the arts. She counted the great Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan

( غؔالب مرزا اسد هللا بیگ خان ) and Sheikh Muhammad Ibrahim Zauq (شیخ محمد ابراہیم ذؔوق)

amongst her personal friends and was a regular participant in the famed mushairas

held in the courtyard of the Delhi College (poetry recitation symposiums ,مشاعرہ)

(now Zakir Husain Delhi College) outside the Ajmeri Gate. She gave her adopted

daughter’s hand in marriage to Ghalib’s nephew, Arif Khan ( خان عاِرف ). Mirza

Farhatullah Beg’s fictional account of the last great mushaira in Mughal Delhi, Dilli

Ki Akhri Shama ( شمع آخری کی دہلی ), was set in Mubarak Begum’s home.

And while Mubarak Begum enjoyed

the many trappings of power, and

the arts, her life revolved around Sir

David Ochterlony. She indulged

every one of his many idiosyncrasies

with an irrational level of devotion

and made her husband’s romantic

vision of leading the life of a Mughal

emperor real for him. The Begum

commissioned a portrait of her

husband on ivory that she had set in

gold in European style. The locket

was worn by her at all times to

please her husband and

demonstrate her favored position amongst his many wives.

Sir David had an extraordinary love for ittar (ِعطر),

the Indian perfume oil made from natural sources

without any alcohol. Guests to the Ochterlony home

were always offered a gift of ittar in a glass bottle at

the time of their departure. Amber (امبر), Mushk Al

Madina (ُمشک المدینہ), Zaafraan (زعفران), Shamama

ittars, which are said to have a (عود) and Oud ,(شمامہ)

warming effect on the body, were given as gifts

during the winters, and Khus (َخس), Gulab (ُگالب),

Kewra (کیوڑا), Mogra (موگرا), Motia (موتیا) and

Yasman (یاسمن), which have a cooling effect, were

summer gifts. The very expensive and rare Oud Al

Hind (عود الِہند) was Sir David’s favorite ittar; he

carried it in a small crystal bottle decorated with

rubies and emeralds set in gold. The bottle was a gift

from Akbar Shah II and said to be a personal

possession of Mughal emperor Abu'l-Fatah Jalal ud-

din Muhammad Akbar ( ُمحمد شہنشاہ ابو الفتاح جالل اُلدین

Mubarak Begum was an expert perfume .(اکبر

maker. She had her husband’s ittar prepared at

home under her own supervision. She kept a large stock of flowers, herbs, spices,

roots, grasses, woods, and animal substances, to make ittar in her home. Her

kitchen was equipped to handle all processes – drying, extracting, fermenting,

distilling, straining and bottling – involved in the production of ittar. The begum did

not share her knowledge of adding exotic

substances and secret ingredients to make the best

of ittars with anyone. These included falanja (فلنجہ),

the red seed of the sheetal cheeni ( چینی شیتل , cubeb)

plant and zar gul kanwal ( کنول زرگل , lotus pollen).

She added these and several other secret

ingredients to the ittar during the fermentation

stage, in proportions known only to her, when alone

in the kitchen to safeguard her secrets.

Mubarak Begum organized highly elaborate and ostentatious musical soirées for

her husband at their home. Her goal was to produce the awe, amazement and

admiration that her husband craved while maintaining the dignity and decorum of

Indian mehfils (محفل, party) of music. The parties were held regularly in the large

atrium of the Ochterlony haveli (حویلی) in Delhi, throughout the year.

Sir David Ochterlony occupied the central place of

importance in the soirées, seated conspicuously on

a diwan (دیوان, rectangular ottoman) in full Mughal

regalia in the middle of the atrium. Sir David liked

seedha pajamas (سیدها پاجامہ, straight-cut

drawstring trousers) made of zarbaft keemkhab

(brocade made with gold thread ,زربفت ِکمخواب)

which was lined with malmal (ململ, muslin) for

comfort. He wore lightly embroidered kalidar

kurtas (َکلیدار ُکرتہ, paneled tunics)

with extravagantly embroidered

jamahs (جامہ, robes). The jamahs

were typically made of malmal

and covered with a repeating

booti (ُبوٹی, small floral motif)

pattern embroidered with zari

The neckline .(gold thread ,زری)

was covered with

intricate zardozi

embroidery and

the hemlines had

gold gota sinjaf

,گوٹا ِسنجاف)

metallic ribbon

facing) that showed through the hems of the garment. A jamdani

patka (جامدانی پٹکا, woven sash) was tied around the waist to complete

the formal ensemble. Sir David crowned himself with a pagri (پگڑی,

turban) tied from a twenty-one (21) foot length of fine silk and

emblazoned with a Mughal kundan sarpech (ُکندن سرپیچ, aigrette made of gold and

foil-lined gems).

Sir David always sat alone amidst a

spread of pillows and cushions on

the diwan (دیوان, rectangular

ottoman), smoking a long-hosed

hookah (ُحقّہ, hubble). He personally

selected the hookah for each mehfil

from his vast collection of more than

one hundred (100) hubbles with

glass, bidri and jade bases. Two (2)

servants stood on each side with

morchals (مورچهل, fly whisks) and

two behind the diwan waving

pankhas (پنکها, fans) made of white peacock feathers. The females of the household

watched performances from behind

chilmans (ِچلمن, portières) whereas

Mubarak Begum sat on a smaller diwan to

the right of her husband. The guests –

invariably males – sat on chandanis

laid on top of (white cloth sheets ,چاندنیاں)

cotton padding and carpets. Brightly

polished brass hookahs, freshly prepared

and regularly refreshed by hookah

bardars, were placed in front of the

guests. The whole pavilion was decorated

with fanoos (فانوس, chandeliers),

shamadans (شمعدان, lamps), qandeels (قندیل, lanterns), chehal chiragh (چہل چراغ,

candelabra) and mashals (مشعل, torches) creating a profusion of light in different

colors and hues. The atrium was decorated with garlands of roses and jasmine.

Guests were given gajras (گجرہ,

bracelets made of flowers) as they

arrived, while servants sprayed

rosewater on them, and elsewhere,

using gulab paashes (ُگالب پاش,

rosewater sprinklers). The fragrance

of kastoori (کسُتوری, musk), sandal

yasman and ,(sandalwood ,صندل)

motia filled the area. Servants served

misri (ِمصری, crystallized sugar),

mithai (ِمٹهائی, sweets), supari (ُسپاری,

areca nut) and sharbat (شربت, sweet

drink) throughout the night while

guests passed around paan (پان, betel)

in silver khaasdaans (خاص دان, serving

dishes for paan). Peekdaans ( دان پیک ,

spittoons) were placed in every nook

and corner of the courtyard to ensure

cleanliness. Munshis and writers are

said to have refused to document the

events, confessing their inability to put in words what was an indescribably festive

atmosphere.

The Ochterlony soirées centered on

nautch (ناچ, dance) performances by

five (5) or six (6) dancers; vocal and

instrumental music was secondary in

importance and used primarily to

accompany the nautch girls. Sarangi

manjeera ,(ڈهولک) dholak ,(سارنگی)

players (طبلہ) and tabla ,(منجیرا)

performed while standing while the

singers and sitar (ِستار) players sat on carpets during recitals. The parties ended at

the call of the Namaz E Fajr ( فجر نمازِ , Morning Prayer).

The wildly extravagant “native” ways of Nas’r Ud Daulah inspired awe, amazement

and reverence while attracting attention. A lot of attention.

The Anglican Bishop of Calcutta, Reginald

Heber of Calcutta, who met Sir David

briefly in Rajputana (now Rajhastan), was

shocked when Ochterlony received him

while sitting on a diwan, wearing a turban

and Indian clothes, while being fanned

with morchals by servants. The bishop

was impressed by Ochterlony’s profligate

ways and grand lifestyle but lamented

what he viewed to be his moral decline.

“There was a considerable number of

horses, elephants, palanquins and

covered carriages,” wrote Heber.

“Ochterlony maintains an almost kingly

state. He has been absent from his home

country about 54 years; he has there

neither friends nor relations, and he has

been for many years habituated to Eastern habits and parade.” Ochterlony’s sexual

relationships were morally reprehensible in Heber’s eyes who viewed them as sins

against God and a violation of a gentleman’s code of conduct. Heber’s views on

Ochterlony were widely read and discussed in the English community in India.

The wife of the British Commander In Chief in India, Lady Maria

Nugent took a particular exception to officers who, in her opinion,

had gone native by abandoning Christianity and the English way of

life. She castigated Ochterlony, publicly and privately, for having

become more Muslim than Christian and more Indian than English

and made no secret of her passionate hatred for Ochterlony’s

lifestyle and for his person.

Sir David handled gossip, ridicule and derogatory

remarks about himself with a nonchalant

amusement bordering on delight. Over a period of

more than four (4) decades, he had finessed the

art of handling disparagement, vilification, scorn

and derision as much as he had learned to enjoy

respect, reverence, awe, envy and glorification.

What he had not prepared himself for was

public condemnation and humiliation by the

most powerful in the British Raj. Ochterlony fell

out of favor when Lord Moira Hastings left India

and was succeeded by Lord William Pitt

Amherst as the Governor General of India. The

Governor General used succession issues in

Bharatpur (بهارت پور) to engineer a public

embarrassment for Major General Sir David

Ochterlony that left him no choice but to resign

and return to Delhi. The deliberately public

censure hurt Ochterlony’s spirit and health,

forcing him to spend the last few years of his life

in a profound state of depression and sadness.

In retirement, Ochterlony began to

construct an extraordinary tomb for

himself and Mubarak Begum in

Mubarak Baagh ( باغ ُمبارک ), the

Mughal garden that he had built for

hisbeloved young wife. The central

dome of the tomb was designed like

the St. James Church in Delhi and

surrounded by a forest of minarets,

cupolas and domes built in Islamic

style. Designed as an architectural

expression of the fusion of

Christianity and Islam, and of

England and India, this was to be

the last of the great Mughal garden-

tombs, built, this one time, by an

Englishman and not a Mughal. A

few months after tendering his

resignation, Sir David died in Meerut after a brief illness. His funeral was a small

and simple affair. Kamal Akhtar Loony was not buried in the

glorious tomb he had built for himself. The magnificent structure, built in the

tradition of the Taj Mahal ( محل تاج ) and Humayun’s tomb, remained empty for more

than three (3) decades before being destroyed by British forces in the mutiny of

1857.

After the death of her

husband, Mubarak

Begum was shunned

by both the British and

the Indians. The

begum used her

considerable

inheritance to build

herself a huge haveli

and a (mansion ,حویلی)

mosque near Hauz

Qazi ( قاضی حوض ) in

Chandani Chowk

( چوک چاندنی ) but failed

to gain acceptance in

Delhi society. The

British and the Indians

treated her with a passionate hatred; her pomposity, arrogance and haughtiness,

tolerated for years as the wife of the resident, became her undoing. Her husband

death took all her titles away overnight and reduced her to the social status of a

nautch girl and prostitute. Masjid Mubarak Begum failed to attract the faithful; the

marble floored prayer chamber always remained dark and cold, the irregular call

for prayer from its red and green domes always muffled. No one wanted to visit,

what came to be known as and is still referred to as, Randi Ki Masjid ( مسجد کی رنڈی ,

the Harlot’s Mosque).

Dejected and despondent, Mubarak Begum married a Mughal officer named

Vilayat Ali Khan ( خان علی والیت ) and fought against the British in 1857. After the war,

her entire property including the garden and mosque built in her name was

confiscated by the British. Champa died alone and in dire poverty.

And Delhi smiled.

The city has for centuries allowed destruction, war, looting, plunder, theft and

thuggery with a knowing, magnanimous smile. And unlike Ani, Carthage, Hatra,

Timgud, Urgench and other cities that gave in to destruction, always emerged

victorious, rising from its ashes, more vivacious, more vibrant and richer than ever

before.

India – Bangladesh, India & Pakistan – may indulge the eccentricities of a few, spoil

some with unimaginable riches, afford incredible luxuries to the powerful, and allow

its kings the status of demigods; but the joke is always on the recipients of the

country’s largesse. No one has ever been able to take anything of value away from

the country. No one has ever been able to hurt the country. No one has ever been

able to rob it of its ability to regenerate. And no one has ever been able to conquer

its spirit.

In the end, the pharaohs of India have always died without money, happiness,

grace, peace or honor.

Always.

Ally Adnan lives in Dallas, Texas, where he works in the field of mobile

telecommunications and writes about culture and art. He can be reached at

allyadnan@outlook.com.