Waqai-i-Manazil-i-Rum

Title: Waqai-i-Manazil-i-Rum – Tipu Sultan’s Mission to Constantinople

Author: Khwaja Abdul Qadir

Editor: Mohibbul Hasan

Publisher: Aakar Books, 2005 (First published 1968)

ISBN: 9788187879565

Pages: 100 (English), 170 (Persian)

 

South India in the eighteenth century was the battleground of the British and the French for ascendancy in the subcontinent. The contest was all-out and even wars in distant Europe were reenacted in India between the rivals. Both colonial aspirants intervened in local politics and contests for power within the royal houses. Eventually, all local rulers joined one side or the other. The Nizam of Hyderabad and the Nawab of Arcot joined the English while Tipu was a staunch ally of the French. As a precursor to French military routs in all major wars after Napoleon to the present day, France stood no chance against the British. Tipu Sultan and his father Hyder Ali chose the wrong horse and had had to cede territories to the British after military defeats of their own. Tipu wanted to salvage the situation by making an alliance with the Ottoman sultan and also to try his luck in France and England by sending a diplomatic mission to these countries. He assembled an embassy with 900 members travelling in four ships and carrying lavish gifts such as elephants for the European sovereigns. He also wanted to establish warehouses and trading concessions for Mysore’s products in Arabia, Turkey and Iraq. The mission set out in 1785 and returned in 1789. This book is the diary of the embassy from Mysore till Basra where it abruptly cuts off. This was authored by Khwaja Abdul Qadir, the munshi (secretary) of the mission. It sheds light on Tipu’s commercial ambitions in the Persian Gulf and on certain aspects of his administration. The title literally means the ‘true facts about the House of Rome’ (Constantinople). This is translated from Persian and edited by Mohibbul Hasan who was a professor of history in the department of Islamic History at the University of Calcutta and the Aligarh Muslim University.

 

The mission was instructed by Tipu himself to visit Turkey, France and England in that order, seeking military and commercial alliances bypassing the local governor in the case of England. This fact runs counter to recently fabricated claims that Tipu Sultan was a freedom fighter who fought wars against the British. In fact, the mission was empowered to offer Trichinopoly to the British in exchange for an alliance. An elephant each was to be gifted to the monarchs of all the three kingdoms. However, the elephants – including a fourth reserve animal – died on the sea voyage. The mission was stalled at Istanbul as the French were not too eager to entertain a second embassy so close on the heels of a previous one. The team was given three objectives – a) establish factories in Turkish dominions for selling the produce of Mysore, b) secure confirmation of Tipu’s title to the throne of Mysore from the caliph as he had failed to secure an investiture from the Mughal emperor and was regarded as a usurper and c) obtain military assistance from the Ottomans against the English.

 

The diary provides a review of the political formations, the state of commerce and other facts about trade in the Arabia sea rim. It also consists of the commercial transactions undertaken by the mission and the rates obtainable for various commodities at each port of call. The threat of piracy was ever present, with bold pirates operating near every port and sea lane. The shipping was very much subservient to the weather. We read about many ships floundering in bad weather. Another notable feature is the immense influence of wealthy merchants who even controlled and guided the diplomatic relations of kingdoms and emirates which were much dependent on sea trade for survival. A Hindu trader named Maoji Seth was resident in Muscat, but had powerful agents at all ports. He loaned money to the mission at Basra. But we were taught by conventional historians that Hindus considered overseas travel as taboo which would cause them to be excommunicated. As more books on Indian traders in medieval times are published, one more falsehood at the heart of Indian historiography is being exposed. These merchants also developed practices that were later adopted by banking houses. A rich Jewish merchant named Abdullah had his agents everywhere that he issued a bill of exchange at Basra which was payable at Baghdad. When highway robbery was rampant, this was very convenient to travelers.

 

Even though the diarist is quite specific about the religious nature of the mission, both the editor Mohibbul Hasan and Irfan Habib who penned the foreword take great pains to present the effort as in fact ‘secular’. A pir (Muslim saint) always accompanied the mission. They were instructed to visit Islamic holy places in Najd and Iraq. On their return journey, Tipu insisted that they pay a visit of Mecca and Medina. A clear picture of slavery which was widely practiced by Tipu Sultan and his nobles is seen in the narrative. When one of the four ships of the embassy caught fire and sank, Jafar Khan – one of the four leaders of the mission – rescued a male and female slave from the sinking ship with much difficulty and then kept them for his own use. When their original owner knew of this and demanded them back, Khan returned only the male slave. When the owner complained to higher authorities, Khan had no option but to return the girl too. He then restored the slave to her owner along with five rupees!

 

Mohibbul Hasan’s commentary also remarks on the lack of any tangible results of the expedition. The cost in men and material incurred by Mysore was immense. Three out of the four ships that sailed out to Turkey were wrecked at sea. A huge sum of money was spent in arranging merchandise for trade and as offerings to dignitaries. Many of the retinue died of dysentery, fever, cold and plague. Out of the 900 men who embarked on the perilous journey, only a handful returned after three years. Despite enormous expenses and loss of life, the mission was only able to obtain the caliph’s permission for Tipu to assume the title of an independent king, the right to strike coins and to have the Friday prayers recited in his name. The embassy could not obtain any commercial privileges. The Ottoman sultan was already in alliance with the British in response to the political manipulations in Eastern Europe which directly affected Turkey’s interests as Austria and Russia were teaming up for emancipation of the European provinces that were under Turkish occupation.

 

The book includes a summary of the expedition’s diary reduced to nearly a third of the original size which we read in English. The main text is edited by Mohibbul Hasan, but remains untranslated in Persian. This is a serious drawback of the work. A full translation of the content is required to serve the purpose of presenting an important historical document to modern readers. The narration is in a stiff, academic style which deters readers.

 

The book is recommended only to serious readers of history.

 

Rating: 2 Star

The Colonial Subjugation of India

Title: The Colonial Subjugation of India

Author: Amar Farooqui
Publisher: Aleph, 2022 (First)
ISBN: 9789391047344
Pages: 298

When the Union Jack was lowered for the last time on Aug 15, 1947 in Delhi, it was marking the end of an eventful double century in which the yoke of colonialism was firmly affixed on India and a great plunder – the likes of which the world had not seen yet – had taken place. Since modern India still maintains many of the institutions introduced by the British, there is a distinct perception among anglophile Indians that the Empire was benign towards India. This is far from the truth. A careful analysis would show that the part of British legacy which independent India chose to sustain was only those related to political and administrative functions for running a large country. Otherwise, India did not change its cultural attributes like literature, fine arts, dance forms or visual arts. It did not change its religion or language. On the political front, India did not have a viable alternative as when the British came, she was reeling under eight centuries of Islamic invasions and forced occupation which unsettled the political stability of the country. It was the political-administrative system of the sultans which was found wanting to manage a modern state and as a consequence, was dismantled by the British – or at least a large part of it. What is to be stressed here is that the British Empire was anything but benign. This book tells the story of the establishment of a colonial empire that subjugated the native people by wars, conquests, unequal treaties and plain intimidation. The scope of the book starts with the arrival of Vasco da Gama in 1498 and ends with Indian independence in 1947, but the main focus of the narrative is from the Battle of Plassey in 1757 to the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms in 1919. Amar Farooqui was a professor of history at the University of Delhi and was a fellow of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi.

After introducing the pre-British colonial incursions on India, Farooqui also discusses the modalities of movement of trading commodities to various destinations through the sea routes. It seems that the East did not buy anything from Europe, but instead exported spices, textiles, silk and porcelain to it. This forced the West to spend silver and gold coins to purchase the merchandise. Naturally, this unequal balance of payments caused a huge drain of bullion on their economies. Consequently, they entered into intra-Asian trade also. They bought textiles from India, sold it in the emporiums of Southeast Asia and China and bought spices and silk for taking it to Europe. Trading with many partners brought in many uncertainties which they answered with invasion and piracy. It is a tempting conjecture that if there was balance in trade between the East and the West, probably the impetus to establish colonies and control the markets would have been weak or non-existent. More research is needed on this line of thought. The author however does not mention this and goes on to examine the spread of British power for a century starting from 1730. The Mughal power had faded by then and it is clearly seen that the British wrestled the bulk of northern India from the Marathas.

The book includes a good coverage of the Revolt of 1857 which marked a turning point in the colonial administration. Expelling the English East India Company from the rule of India, Queen Victoria took over the country as a subject part of her empire. The revolt was bitterly fought but there is a perception that the Punjab and southern provinces did not participate in it. Farooqui claims that contrary to colonial historiography, sepoys in Punjab also mutinied. Dispelling the notion of the ‘loyal Sikh’, he cites examples of leaders belonging to that community getting executed for rioting. Sporadic incidents of violence in the Madras army are also listed. Over a thousand sepoys were court-martialed. What is noteworthy is that the flame kindled at Meerut in 1857 elicited a response thousands of miles away in the south of the country when communication facilities were poor. But substantial sections of princely rulers, feudal elites and landed aristocracy sided with the British along with commercial classes that had benefitted from colonial rule. Contrary to popular perception that there was no military intervention or annexation over native states after 1857, Farooqui points out that such cases did occur, though rarely. The armed intervention in Manipur and cession of Berar from Hyderabad are two such examples.

A very good initiative shown by the author is to describe the constitutional, administrative and military developments taking place in the colonial state. A string of constitutional reforms and military restructuring took place after the revolt of 1857. The Bengal army was practically disbanded and the concept of martial races was introduced. The Sikhs, Pathans, Dogras, Rajputs and Gorkhas were the martial races. The irony that all these martial races were defeated on the battlefield by the supposedly non-martial Bengal army, mainly constituted by sepoys from present-day Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Bihar went unnoticed. Military recruitment became concentrated in Punjab. Bombay and Madras armies, which had sizeable lower caste soldiers, were also scaled down. This move coincided with the advent of ideas of racial superiority and eugenics in Europe.

The local population in India was subjected to 200 years of British rule which followed another 800 years of Islamic occupation of the subcontinent. However, the author uses selective emphasis of events to glorify the reign of Mughals and other Muslim dynasties in India as the last bastion of India’s fight against colonialism. This is not true. Qualitatively, the fight between the British and the Mughals was no different from the Indian point of view than that between the British and the French in India for retaining their own colonies. In this vein, the author almost sheds tears on Siraj ud-Daula’s defeat at Plassey and accuses it on the nexus between the East India Company, rebel nobles and Hindu businessmen of Murshidabad, Siraj’s capital city. Similarly, Tipu Sultan of Mysore is elevated to the status of a saint. This bloodthirsty tyrant who massacred and forcibly converted his opponents to his religion is portrayed to have possessed a great vision on international polity and to have modernized the Mysore state. Tipu’s overtures to the Ottomans and France for an alliance against the British was nothing more than a coming together of colonial forces against another colonial power. Tipu was as much a pawn of French colonialism as his successor Wodeyar was of the British. Farooqui laments at the plunder of Seringapatam in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War in which Tipu fell in battle. The pillage is artfully described to cause outrage in the minds of readers. However, this was nothing compared to the plunder of Delhi made by Nadir Shah Afzar half a century earlier. That pillage was perhaps the greatest of its kind which emptied the Mughal treasury and was one of the reasons for the collapse of the Mughals. The author is silent on this episode. This book also employs a sanitized reference to Mughal sultans in the eighteenth century to project them as respectable sovereigns. Muhammad Shah is depicted as solemn, without disclosing his disparaging sobriquet of ‘Rangeela’ that reveals the delinquency of the man.

Farooqui tries to pass on a clever argument regarding the accession of Kashmir to the Hindu Dogra dynasty as a ‘devious’ one. It is not clear what he intends to achieve by flagging an event which was quite normal in history as an act amounting to injustice. The First Punjab War between the British and post-Ranjit Singh Sikh kingdom ended with the Treaty of Lahore (1846). The British were to be indemnified with 1.5 crore rupees for the expenses of the war. The Lahore durbar was not in a position to pay such a huge sum. The author claims that a ‘devious’ stipulation was made in the treaty for ceding all hill countries between Beas and Indus including Kashmir and Hazara. Thus these territories came under British possession. What is devious in this transaction? Several examples of ceding provinces against arrears in tribute could be pointed out. The real target of Farooqui lies elsewhere. If Kashmir had stayed with Punjab or kept intact by the British, it would have automatically gone over to Pakistan as a Muslim-majority province. But it was not to be. The British themselves were in urgent need of money. They entered into a separate treaty with Gulab Singh, the leader of the Dogras, by which Kashmir was given to him in return for rupees 75 lakhs. Farooqui again accuses the article in the treaty which recognized Gulab Singh as the sovereign of Kashmir as ‘devious’. This also was fairly common in history. Gulab Singh was rewarded for the services rendered by him for ‘restoring the relations of amity between Lahore and British governments’ (p.123). One of the successors of Gulab Singh then chose in 1947 to accede to India and Kashmir became an integral part of India. By alleging these articles and actions as ‘devious’, Farooqui is, knowingly or unknowingly, buttressing the Pakistani claim on Kashmir.

The book includes a short history of the development of the Indian Civil Service (ICS) and the efforts to appoint Indians to this elite cadre. At first, the exams were conducted only in England which severely curtailed the chances of Indian aspirants. In 1892, the House of Commons passed a resolution in support of simultaneous exams for the ICS in India too. This took thirty years to implement as the colonial officialdom was strongly opposed to it. Besides, sections of Indian society also opposed this on the grounds that candidates from Bengal, especially those belonging to upper castes, would be the major beneficiaries of the simultaneous exams. The British exploited and deepened every fault line in Indian society to divide the people. They then played upon the fears of one section, projecting themselves as guardians of these interests.

Another aspect of the narrative is that the author tries to wear his leftist credentials on the sleeve. There are several references to Marx’s writings which are either irrelevant or at most marginally related to the topic under discussion. The higher echelons of Indian academia are still colonized by the Leftists who openly flaunt their political orientation by such tricks. It is obvious to a student of history that the 1919 Mont-Ford reforms was a logical corollary to the 1909 Morley-Minto reforms. But Farooqui claims that the latter package was prompted by the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. He arduously finds a left connection for the 1935 reforms as well. The brotherhood of the leftists extends across national borders and even chronological separation. He claims that Stafford Cripps was the only British politician who was sincere and sympathetic to India. And what was the reason for this sympathy? He belonged to the left-wing of the Labour party! The Quit India movement of 1942 was the final popular uprising against the British. After the War, the destiny of India was decided across the negotiating tables of Delhi and Shimla. But the author credits the subversive movements of Tebhaga in Bengal, Telangana and Punnapra-Vayalar in Travancore as popular movements for independence that forced the British hand. This is also in line with the policy of Indian communists. Their significance to Indian freedom is so vanishingly negligible that even this author also contents with just one sentence about these movements which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of volunteers.

The first part of the book resembles a high school history text book and deals with the political history of the subcontinent. It shows how the stage was being set by interconnected events that eventually led to the colonial takeover of a vast country by a foreign commercial trading house. This part is rather drab as the author uses his sources uncritically and nothing new is seen. But the latter half examining the nature and development of the imperial state after the 1857 revolt is noteworthy and neatly written in which various aspects such as constitutional reforms and indigenization of bureaucracy are discussed. Farooqui makes a short survey of the books and other writings about the Revolt of 1857 including both colonial and Indian accounts of the upheaval. He acknowledges Savarkar’s contribution to this literature and remarks that it provided a fresh interpretation of the uprising but warns that he presented no new evidence and had wanted only to put forward a political manifesto to the nation.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 2 Star

The Case that Shook the Empire

Title: The Case that Shook the Empire – One Man’s Fight for the Truth About the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

Author: Raghu Palat, Pushpa Palat

Publisher: Bloomsbury, 2019 (First)

ISBN: 9789389000276

Pages: 187

 

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre was a turning point in Indian colonial history. Till that time, Britain ruled without much hindrance over the Indian people with largescale local support or indifference. The entire government machinery – except at the higher levels – was manned by Indians. The police was almost entirely Indian. To add legitimacy to their rule, the British had genuine admirers in India who credited them with having united India politically, introducing a common administrative language and generally believed to rule in a benign way. It was this favourable perception that prompted tens of thousands of Indians to enlist in the army and fight for Britain in the World War I. This was the reason why even Gandhi came out to support the war effort and campaigned from village to village imploring people to join the British Indian army. However, when the war ended, the people who anticipated concessions from a grateful empire found themselves saddled with draconian measures such as the Rowlatt Act which curtailed the meagre civic freedoms they were enjoying. This is a poorly explained chapter in the freedom struggle. Why the British government, which was buoyed up by wholehearted public support for the war effort turned hostile and employed repressive measures against its Indian subjects? What had changed in the latter half of the war to bring about this transformation? It’s a task for historians to bring out definitive answers to these two questions. Suppression of dissent, especially in Punjab, escalated daily and culminated in Jallianwala Bagh when a British contingent led by Brigadier General Reginald Dyer sprayed bullets on an unarmed crowd of people gathered to protest against the government in a peaceful manner. The death toll is still not definitively concluded. Hundreds were killed and a huge public outcry ensued. Sir C. Sankaran Nair, who was an eminent jurist and a member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council resigned in protest. Michael O’Dwyer, the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab sued against Nair in England for libel on a remark made by him in a book on the aftereffects of the Punjab unrest. Nair valiantly fought even though the judge and jury were arrayed against him. He eventually lost, but the incident attracted much public attention and the atrocities in Punjab got wide publicity. This book is the story of the case written by Nair’s great-grandson Raghu Palat and his wife Pushpa Palat.

 

The official Indian reckoning of the freedom struggle was for a long time confined only to the actions of the Indian National Congress. Brave countrymen who sacrificed their lives and families for the nation were edged out to make way for timid leaders who happened to be in the right party at the right time. Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair’s contributions to the national movement is overshadowed and sidelined by animosity against his criticism of Gandhi’s civil disobedience movement. Sankaran Nair was one of the greatest Indians of the modern era. He was a lawyer, member of the legislative council of Madras, president of the Indian National Congress, advocate general of Madras, judge of the High Court of Madras and a member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council. This position was second only to that of the Viceroy in colonial hierarchy. He was part of the ruling establishment but was bold enough to talk straight to the face of top British officials which sometimes appeared rude. At a dinner meeting held by O’Dwyer, his dog approached Nair docilely for a little petting but he drove the animal away. Seeing this, Lady O’Dwyer remarked that even though Indians professed kindness to all animals, they didn’t love the dogs half as much as the English did. Nair angrily retorted that it was because the English were nearer to the dogs in their evolution, while Indians moved further away in their 5000-year old history. Imagine this dialogue taking place between the guest and his hostess! In his personal life too, Nair was a stern man. He loved children dearly but did not interact with them. He was always aloof, reserved and unemotional. His relationship with his only son was also distant.

 

The book scenically portrays the carnage occurred at Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919 and the events which preceded and followed this horrible crime. The army platoon led by Dyer discharged 1650 rounds of bullets on unarmed people out of sheer colonial fury to avenge the physical assault on Europeans in the city a few days ago. Dyer casually estimated the death toll at 200-300, but the actual tally was many times higher. There was no warning to disperse and the troops were ordered to shoot into the crowd. Dyer checked his fire and directed it upon places where the crowd was the thickest. He later admitted that he had made up his mind to punish the Indians for disobedience at having assembled there. When a few soldiers initially shot in the air, an annoyed Dyer yelled at them to fire low to ensure maximum casualties. Those who tried to scale the perimeter wall to escape the carnage were methodically shot down. Three months later, 120 bodies were taken out of a well in the compound. After the firing, he left the place leaving the wounded to die of the sustained injuries and unattended by anybody. Dyer also tried inhuman and deeply humiliating punishments on the local population. Marcella Sherwood, a Christian missionary, was assaulted at Kucha Kurrichchan earlier, and Dyer ordered that every Indian man using the street must crawl across its length on his hands and knees. This order was enforced for seven days. He even justified the order in a discourse filled with unbridled contempt for Indians thus: “Some Indians crawl face downwards in front of their gods. I wanted them to know that a British woman is as sacred as a Hindu goddess and therefore they have to crawl in front of her too”. 

 

Nair resigned in protest against the massacre from the executive council of Viceroy Lord Chelmsford. Relations with this haughty official were never relaxed anyway. The viceroy formally asked Nair whether he had any suggestions as to his replacement. Nair stunned him by suggesting the name of the viceroy’s liveried chamber attendant who was standing nearby as that man would truthfully carry out his orders to the letter. In London, Nair was coopted to the Secretary of State’s Council for India. It was in this period that he wrote ‘Gandhi and Anarchy’, setting out the physical state of India. He criticized Punjab’s Lt. Governor Michael O’Dwyer for inept handling of the volatile situation. He had access to several government documents which depicted the true actions of O’Dwyer, who took offense at this perceived slight and sued Nair for libel. 

 

Nair didn’t believe in Gandhi’s extraordinary policies in fomenting public unrest as a form of political struggle. This book gives a brief glance of the points of dispute. As part of the 1919 constitutional reforms, the possibility of a round-table conference in 1921 arose. Gandhi nipped this opening in the bud by raising impossible preconditions. His first priority was the reinstatement of the Ottoman caliph as he was the spiritual leader of Muslims all over the world. He also demanded that the French should leave Syria and wanted the British to vacate Egypt. Nair thought Gandhi to be impractical. Being a man of law, he did not agree with civil disobedience movement. He believed that it would lead to disorder, chaos, riots and bloodshed. Nair was eventually proved right many times on each of the points.

 

As is expected, several chapters in the book are reserved for the legal fight between O’Dwyer and Nair. In his book, Nair accused the former of complicity in the highhanded action. O’Dwyer sued for libel in the Court of the King’s Bench in London knowing that an English court would side with him. A large section of the English public still believed that Dyer’s inhuman action had saved the empire from collapse. Zamindars of Punjab appeared in the court on the side of O’Dwyer irrespective of religious lines. Nair’s witnesses were mostly Indian and they had their sworn testimonies recorded on paper and sent to England. These were then read in open court. Obviously, this arrangement was sure to benefit O’Dwyer. In addition to all this, judge McCardie openly sided with the plaintiff throughout the trial. Instead of finding whether Nair’s words were libelous to O’Dwyer, the judge wanted to establish whether Dyer was justified under the circumstances he found himself in on that fateful day. This was designed to elicit concurrence from an all-white jury. Summing up the arguments, the judge suggested the lines in which the jury should arrive at a consensus. Surprisingly, they returned with a hung verdict. At this point, the proceedings should’ve been declared a mis-trial and repeated. But McCardie opted for a majority decision which went in favour of O’Dwyer 11-1. Even though Nair lost the case and had to pay compensation, all information regarding the atrocities had come out in the press during the trial and O’Dwyer was completely dishonoured. Nair lost all confidence in British justice and declined to appeal. However, this episode boosted the morale of the national movement by uniting and firmly linking the intelligentsia with it.

 

The book is pleasant to read but much depth should not be expected. Even though Raghu Palat is the great-grandson of Sankaran Nair, there is practically no personal touch to the narrative. This is in sharp contrast to one of the other books by the same authors titled ‘Destiny’s Child’ reviewed earlier here. The authors shed some light on Nair’s opposition to Gandhi’s disobedience movement which is normally not mentioned in mainstream books on the subject. This was because he was a man of law and didn’t want to see anarchy encouraged as an ideal. But the reason given for his animosity to non-violence is quite strange by enlightened standards. Palat states that, ‘being a Nair, he could not accept a fight through non-violence’ (p.107). This refers to the Nair caste’s traditional occupation as soldiers – mostly mercenary in nature. But in the early twentieth century, Nair soldiery was a thing of the past often remembered as a nostalgic thought than any serious avenue for employment. Besides, many of the leaders who organized the movement in Kerala belonged to the Nair caste.

 

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

Destiny’s Child

Title: Destiny’s Child – The Undefeatable Reign of Cochin’s Parukutty Neithyaramma

Author: Raghu Palat, Pushpa Palat

Publisher: Penguin Viking, 2022 (First)

ISBN: 9780670096305

Pages: 269

 

This is the story of a diminutive yet regal woman, hardly 4 feet 9 inches tall and slightly plump who was a stern and ruthless individual whom her attendants found generally not approachable. She had vested state powers in her own hands and the British gave her the entitlement of a 17-gun salute – the first Indian lady to be thus honoured. She was Parukutty Neithyaramma, the consort of Maharaja Rama Varma XVI of Cochin State. She belonged to the Nair caste which was traditionally lower than the Kshatriya rajas but managed to enter into a sambandham (a loose conjugal relationship once practiced in Kerala which was entered into between a Nair woman and an upper caste man and in which the male partner had no responsibility for the offspring of the union). Against all odds of discrimination by princesses of the royal family, she steadfastly adhered to her husband. He was sixth in line in seniority to the throne, but due to deaths in the line and abdication of the reigning raja, Kunji Kidavu – Parukutty’s husband – was fortunate to ascend the throne and rule for eighteen years till his death. Parukutty wielded immense power both directly and indirectly by strictly controlling access to the ruler and regulating appointments to key positions including that of the Diwan – the chief minister of the kingdom. Many allegations were levelled against her on corruption and nepotism. She cleverly met her opponents employing deft strategies such as lining up on the side of nationalism which was growing in stature at that time. After her husband’s death, she quietly entered a calm, private life. Raghu Palat is a banker, consultant, writer and teacher. He is also the great-grandson of the protagonist of this story, Parukutty Neithyaramma and has included personal reminiscences to add a touch of liveliness to the narrative. The co-author Pushpa Palat is his wife.

 

Many a Nair woman’s ticket to riches hinged on the sweet chance of finding the right paramour to enter into a sambandham. Parukutty’s Brahmin father was well connected with the Cochin royal family and requested the prince who was sixth in line to the Crown and was 17 years her senior having his hair prematurely greyed for an alliance with his daughter. Interesting facts about the union show how outrageously one-sided the selection was. Her father took her to the palace in Thrissur to introduce her to the prince who was staying there. They met him sitting at the far end of a verandah. After a few words, the prince asked her to walk to the other end and come back, just to observe her gait. This may set present-day feminists’ blood on the boil but the lady took this in her stride – literally. Even after this interview, there was no intimation of acquiescence from the groom. So the father went to Thripunithura where the royal family was permanently residing and obtained his consent for sambandham. But he would not come to her house nor will any ceremonies be held. Finally, her father took her to Thripunithura and presented her before the prince. She then stayed with him flouting centuries-old traditions that forbade Nair spouses from cohabiting with their Kshatriya partners in the palace. This caused the nobility to turn against her. But Parukutty was a strong woman who won’t bow down even to her husband on issues which she deemed to be for the benefit of the family. Unlike the other princes, her husband used to spend his allowances frugally and used his savings to lend to farmers at interest with their title deeds as collateral security. If they couldn’t pay back the debt, their lands would belong to the prince. With tactful management of his finances ably supported by Parukutty, the royal couple was able to amass a huge wealth even before he became the ruling king of Cochin.

 

The authors recount the family strife Parukutty was forced to endure from the prince’s family members on account of the supposed low birth of the consort. In fact, that was not the real bone of contention. Many other princes, including the reigning Rama Varma XV, had had entered into sambandhams with Nair women. But this prince let her stay with him in the palace allotted to him thereby bringing in a semblance of equality to the woman who was his partner. The palace women employed taunts and barbs at every available opportunity that she stopped visiting the Purnathrayeesa temple altogether, which was frequented by the royals. As a woman of character and diehard will, she made it a practice to visit the Chottanikkara temple every day in a bullock cart. A lifelong devotion thus sprang between the wronged woman and the goddess who was known for curing mental sickness. The prince however knew the real worth of his wife and allowed her to be present and participate in his meetings. This was a partnership many couldn’t quite understand and most envied.

 

The authors have taken some liberty to creatively portray some events that add colour and life to the narrative. The exquisite description of the coronation of Rama Varma XVI at the Dutch Palace in Mattanchery is one such incident. His journey from the Hill Palace in a car, the boat ride from Ernakulam and the rituals are rendered in so lifelike a manner as to be like watching in a movie. The British did not recognize sambandham as a lawful marriage and treated it more as a morganatic engagement. Consequently, the lady was never invited to official meetings nor met senior British officials. Rama Varma XVI made a clean break from the past on this point too. Within a short time of taking over the reins of the state, he performed a solemn ceremony at the palace in which he was crowned and bestowed the title of ‘Neithyar’ on his wife. With this, she was elevated to the rank of royal consort. The authors do not explain the meaning or etymology of the word Neithyar. True to the weight of her title, he sometimes openly solicited his consort’s advice in open court. Parukutty readily offered her opinion in a stern voice accompanied by a disclaimer that it was her own opinion and it was for His Highness to take the final decision. Within a short time, the courtiers found that the ruler’s opinion was always in sync with that of his dear consort.

 

From what is presented in the book, it is fairly obvious to everyone that Parukutty’s administration of the kingdom was riddled with large scale corruption. She made screening interviews on the appointment of diwans and senior officials who were expected to obey her bidding. As retaliation for the trouble she suffered at the hands of high-born princesses, she took control over the Amma Raja Estate, which was a fund constituted for the welfare of thampurattis (princesses) and their children. It is likely that public funds were siphoned off under various guises. This book does not mention any such case, but an incident narrated by Robert Bristow in his book Cochin Saga may have a direct bearing on this. Bristow found that the country boats carrying material for the construction of the harbour at Kochi were found to be stopped in Cochin State’s territory and an unauthorized toll of around 13 per cent of the value of the material was levied by a few people. Bristow personally intervened to stop this extortion and raised the issue with the Diwan who expressed happiness that the issue was resolved but expressed his own helplessness saying that “there are some things that even a Diwan is wise to put up with”. Possibly, the rani’s agents might have been behind this illegal collection of money. You can find this incident mentioned in Chapter 10 – Currents and Undercurrents in Bristow’s book. Nepotism was another curse of the rani’s administration. She made her son Aravindaksha Menon the chief engineer of the state even though he was very young and had little experience in the field. She also made a nephew the civil surgeon of Thrissur. She even tried to appoint her son-in-law Ramunni Menon Palat the Diwan in 1930, but the British firmly declined the suggestion.

 

The book describes the frequent interventions of the abdicated ruler Rama Varma XV in the administration of his successor which provides an interesting side story. Even though he is hailed as Rajarshi (royal sage) for relinquishing the throne, it is hinted in this book that he did not expect the British to accept his offer of abdication. His resentment led to continuous interference in the policies of Rama Varma XVI. While on the throne, he had purchased shares of the Moopley Valley Rubber Company in the name of the raja of Cochin. After demitting office, he wanted its dividends to be paid to his personal account which the reigning raja declined. The abdicated raja then filed a suit in a Travancore court where the company was headquartered and lost. This caused much bad press for the royal family. This book also depicts the end of Parukutty’s influence as the prince suffered a stroke and was partially paralyzed. Doubts were raised against his sanity by his own family members who clamoured for an investigation by a British mental expert. A capable practitioner was engaged from Mumbai, but the raja quietly passed away a few days before the examination was to take place thereby avoiding a huge embarrassment for the state. The authors also bring out the protagonist’s plans for retirement as she had anticipated the event much earlier. She had planned to settle in her home town of Thrissur and made a lot of improvements to the town. She is the architect of modern Thrissur. She built the ring road at the heart of the city and was instrumental in the development of Ramavarmapuram nearby which she planned to develop like a university town in the model of Oxford. She had planned to transfer the Maharaja’s College functioning at Ernakulam to Ramavarmapuram and also transferred the museum and zoo at Ernakulam to Thrissur.

 

The book is pleasant to read which opens up a mirror to Kerala society as it existed a century ago. It is also the saga of a woman who enforced her will in a male-dominated world hard bound by customs which never made her life easier. That she was unscrupulous in her mission to gain financial self-sufficiency for herself and future generations is fairly obvious even though the authors have given only indirect hints here and there of the rampant corruption prevalent in her administration. Since the co-author is her own great-grandson, this is excusable. It also gives a clear picture of the political drama and string-pulling that was normal practice in a princely state under British control. Readers also get a few glimpses of the old Ernakulam town and how it had staged some of the political events narrated in this book.

 

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star