'White Mughals' by William Dalrymple

I have just finished reading 'White Mughals’ by William Dalrymple and I must say that I for one was largely ignorant of this particular facet of British rule in India. This work has been a real eye-opener and a lesson in the history of the sub-continent under British rule.

Dalrymple writes about India at the turn of the 19th century and focuses his research on the life of James Kirkpatrick, an officer of the East India Company and British Resident in Hyderabad.

This is primarily the story of James Kirkpatrick and his teenage wife Khair-un-Nissa, the great-niece of Hyderabad’s Prime Minister. It is a love story but also delves deeply into the politics, scandal and trauma which surrounded and impacted their relationship. Through this relationship Dalrymple lays out the complexion and complexities of Indo/British interactions of that time.

Dalrymple, himself a descendent of “White Mughals,” has done remarkable and considerable research on this period in Indo/British history and the numerous relationships between East India Company officers and their mostly Muslim “Bibis”, or ladies. Most of these women belonged to the Indian Muslim nobility and aristocracy of that time.

The story of James Kirkpatrick and Khair-un-Nissa is fascinating but ultimately tragic, for them and particularly for their children. It is not the only such story from that period in Indo/British history.

Fawzia Naqvi