White Mughals
Encyclopedia
White Mughals is a 2002 history book by William Dalrymple.
Its Dalrymple's fifth major book.
, and Indian women, and the geopolitical context of late 18th century India. Like From the Holy Mountain
, it also examines the interactions of Christianity and Islam, emphasizing the surprisingly porous relationship between the two in pre-modern times.
At the heart of White Mughals is the story of a love affair which saw a British dignitary, the East India Company
resident
of Hyderabad, Captain James Achilles Kirkpatrick
, convert to Islam
and marry Khair-un-Nissa, a Hyderabadi noblewoman of royal Persian
descent. As the British resident of Hyderabad, Kirkpatrick is shown to balance the requirements of his employers, the East India Company, with his sympathetic attitude to the Nizam of Hyderabad.
The very title of White Mughals indicates its subject: the late 18th- and early 19th-century period in India, where there had been ‘a succession of unexpected and unplanned minglings of peoples and cultures and ideas’. On one level, the book tells the tragic love story of James Kirkpatrick, ‘the thoroughly orientalised’ British Resident in Hyderabad and Khair, a beautiful young Muslim noblewoman. On another level, the story is about trade, military and political dealings, based on Dalrymple’s researches among letters, diaries, reports, and dispatches (much of it in cipher). Out of these sources he draws a fascinating picture of sexual attitudes and social etiquette, finding an ‘increasingly racist and dismissive attitude’ among the British ruling class towards mixed race offspring, after the rise of Evangelical Christianity. He paces the gradual revelations with a novelist’s skills, leading us on, after the death of Kirkpatrick, to ‘the saddest and most tragic part of the whole story’. The doomed lovers actually engender an optimistic coda, when their two children move to England. The daughter Kitty becomes a friend and muse of Thomas Carlyle, and re-establishes contact with her grandmother in India.
Its Dalrymple's fifth major book.
Summary
The book is a work of social history about the warm relations that existed between the British and some Indians in the 18th and early 19th century, when one in three British men in India was married to an Indian woman. It documents the interracial liaisons between British officers, such as Major-General Charles StuartMajor-General Charles Stuart
Major-General Charles Stuart was an officer in the East India Company Army and is well known for being one of the few British officers to embrace Hindu culture while stationed there, earning the nickname Hindoo Stuart....
, and Indian women, and the geopolitical context of late 18th century India. Like From the Holy Mountain
From the Holy Mountain
From the Holy Mountain is a 1997 historical travel book by William Dalrymple.Dalrymple's third book From the Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium saw him trace the ties of Eastern Orthodox congregations scattered in the Middle East to their ancient origins; it also deals with the...
, it also examines the interactions of Christianity and Islam, emphasizing the surprisingly porous relationship between the two in pre-modern times.
At the heart of White Mughals is the story of a love affair which saw a British dignitary, the East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
resident
Resident (title)
A Resident, or in full Resident Minister, is a government official required to take up permanent residence in another country. A representative of his government, he officially has diplomatic functions which are often seen as a form of indirect rule....
of Hyderabad, Captain James Achilles Kirkpatrick
James Achilles Kirkpatrick
Lieutenant Colonel James Achilles Kirkpatrick was the British Resident at Hyderabad from 1798 to 1805. He also built the historic Koti Residency in Hyderabad, a landmark and major tourist attraction.-Biography :...
, convert to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and marry Khair-un-Nissa, a Hyderabadi noblewoman of royal Persian
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
descent. As the British resident of Hyderabad, Kirkpatrick is shown to balance the requirements of his employers, the East India Company, with his sympathetic attitude to the Nizam of Hyderabad.
The very title of White Mughals indicates its subject: the late 18th- and early 19th-century period in India, where there had been ‘a succession of unexpected and unplanned minglings of peoples and cultures and ideas’. On one level, the book tells the tragic love story of James Kirkpatrick, ‘the thoroughly orientalised’ British Resident in Hyderabad and Khair, a beautiful young Muslim noblewoman. On another level, the story is about trade, military and political dealings, based on Dalrymple’s researches among letters, diaries, reports, and dispatches (much of it in cipher). Out of these sources he draws a fascinating picture of sexual attitudes and social etiquette, finding an ‘increasingly racist and dismissive attitude’ among the British ruling class towards mixed race offspring, after the rise of Evangelical Christianity. He paces the gradual revelations with a novelist’s skills, leading us on, after the death of Kirkpatrick, to ‘the saddest and most tragic part of the whole story’. The doomed lovers actually engender an optimistic coda, when their two children move to England. The daughter Kitty becomes a friend and muse of Thomas Carlyle, and re-establishes contact with her grandmother in India.