Nana Saheb Peshwa died in Nepal, says one story. Begum Hazrat Mahal was born in Nepal, holds another. Both seem to have remained unsolved mysteries. “One of the unsolved mysteries of Asiatic history,” wrote Percival Landon in 1928, “will always be the exact date of the death of Nana Sahib and the manner of his ending”. The other one, if at all we can call it a mystery, is in respect of the birthplace of begum Hazra Mahal, perhaps unmentioned by any known historian so far.
Now, first Nana Sahib alias Dhondu Pant. He was a relative adopted by Baji Rao, the Peshwa ruler of Poona, and a representative of the Maratha claim to the empire of India. During the Sepoy Mutiny – later also known as the ‘Fist War of Indian Independence’ – of 1957 AD, this rebel leader had earned the nickname “Devil Incarnate” at the hands of the British. Chased by the British from his stronghold in Kanpur, he, along with his 13-year old wife, Kasi Bai, and the widow of Baji Rao, crossed into Nepal in December of that year.
They were received at the Nepal-India border by Kedar Narsing, a Nepali general, who had been specially deputed from Kathmandu for the purpose. Others who entered into Nepal along with Nana Sahib included rebel leaders such as Tantia Tope, begum Hazrat Mahal, Benee Madhoo and the Raja of Gonda, Munnoo Khan. The Nepal authorities took upon themselves the responsibility of providing shelter to the Begum of Oudh, the rwo wives of Bazi Rao II, the wives of Nana Saheb and Bala Rao whom they had escorted to Kathmandu. Not only that; they were also given a monthly subsidy pf Rs. 400 each and a residence at Thapathali in Kathmandu.
It is alleged that Kathmandu had given asylum to the rebel leaders partly because of their immense wealth which they had brought with them from India. Of course, as could be expected, most of jewelleries of the rebels were bought by, among others, premeir Jung Bahadur himself. And why shouldn’t he?
But there are also instances of Nepal helping some indigent rebel leaders with free gifts of land and offers of job. Col. Lawrence, the British Resident, himself reported that ‘the Nepal Durbar had conferred a Jagheer (free-hold land) on Surfraz Ali Khan, a rebel leader. Also “Surfraz Ali’s son was given an employment in the Nepal Durbar with a pay of Rs. 200.00 a year”, writes Ashad Hussain, another known researcher on the subject.
The very act of providing asylum to thr anti-British rebels was in itself like challenging the British Lion. But challenge she did, as eloquently put by the noted historian, Dr. Tara Chand, who writes: “The plots which were hatched in different parts of India received encouragement from the neighbouring countries, especially Nepal…while (the Gurkhas) maintained minimum relations with the British envoy in their country.” This is corroborated by the British Resident himself, thus: “The more I hear and see what is pasing at this (Nepal) Durbar, the more convinced I am that the sympathies of the Sardars and the army are with the rebels rather than with us.”
It is not, however, necessary to go into the details as to what traswpired later. But, while most historians believe that NanaSaheb died of Aul (Malaria) at Deokhuri in west Nepal as reported by Lt. Col. Ramsay, the British Resident in Kathmandu, in his letter dated October 8, 1859, it is still a matter of conjecture whether it was actually Nana Saheb who had died or was it someone else! For, even as late as in 1895, various stories of Nana Saheb having surfaced up at this place or the other, at one time or the other, kept on circulating.
Now to turn to to Begum Hazrat Mahal. Most of us have seen, to this day, a tomb on the right side of the Durbar Marg-Bag Bazar crossing as we proceed southwards towards the Tundikhel; that tomb is believed to contain the mortal remains of Hazrat Mahal. But little do we know that this historical personality, a leader of the Indian Mutiny on her own right, had desired to ‘return’ to Nepal not only for reasons of safety, but because she beleived Nepal to be her country of birth in the first place. This not a little surprising revelation, though yet to be historically corroborated, appears in an aticle published in Bhaaratiya Nepali Baangmaya, a literary magazine coming out from Darjeeling, in its issue dated December 1980. It deserves to be quoted almost in its entirety, and here is how it goes:
“Wazed Ali Shah, the last Nawab of Lucknow, sat on the throne in the year 1847. Given to the pleasures of life, he was very fond of dance, songs and music. Around this time, some local courtesans came across a beautiful Nepali girl in the streets of Lucknow. They took her with them, had her trained in the art of the muses, and took her to the palace of Wazid Ali. In course of time, this Nepali girl rose to the status of one of Wazid Ali’s begums (queens) and was named Hazrat Mahal. That was a time when the wave of Sepoy Mutiny had been sweeping across India.
“Wazid Ali, arrested by the British on February 7, 1856, was imprisoned at Metiabruz near Calcutta. It was then that Hazrat Mahal rose up in arms against the Britishers…
“Wazid Ali died while still under the British custody at Metiabruz on September 1, 1887 at the age of 68. On his death, Hazrat Mahal espressed her desie to spend her last days in Nepal. Mangal Pandey, the brain behind the Sepoy Mutiny, was put to the gallows on April 8, 1857. The Britishers then turned against the members of the Pandey family and, whomsoever they came across, had him or her tied to the nozzle of the canon to be blown up…
“Bujhawan Pandey, a close relative of Mangal Pandey, in collusion with the king of Gonda, undertook the task of reaching the Begum to Nepal.
“Believe this story or not,” adds the writer, “but it’s true”. It may well be. But one inaccuracy in this story is in respect of the year of the Begum’s escape into Nepal, for, as far as we know, it was not in 1887 but some 30 years prior to that year. However, the question remains: was the Begum, after all, a Nepali? Granted that she was; even if so, is it a matter of pride for us Nepalis ? Should we not, instead, hang our heads in shame in discovering that the hated traffic in Nepali girls and women from Nepal to India isn’t a new phenomenon at all – as they used to be sold to the Indian harems and brothels even at the time of Hazrat Mahal – i.e., a full one-and-a-half century or more earlier, as well ? *
*A slightly different, also more elaborate, version of the Hazrat Mahal story has come to our notice since. An article penned by one Gopal Singh Vishwa of Kanpur, India, and appearing in the 1984 Puja Supplement of the Himalchuli Nepali daily, Siliguri, had the following to add (abridged):
“Nawab Wazid Ali Shah once fell in love with one of his mother’s beautiful slave-girls. The girl in question, a Nepali, had (earlier) been bought off the Lucknow market for Rupees 7 and, after having been trained as a courtesan, was resold to the Nawab household.
“Sometime later, the Nawab suddenly fell ill. Astrologers divined his illness as having been the result of a spell cast by one of the 28 palace slave-girls bearing kundalis (an evil omen in the shape of hair-curls?) at her napes…and suggested that such signs be done away with. Most of the slave-girls, save the Nepali one, fled the palace out of fear….The nape of Hazrat Mahal’s neck was branded with red-hot iron rods, but she suffered the resultant pain with surprising equanimity. Wazid Ali was so impressed with her as to fall in love, and, braving his mother’s protestations, married her. Soon she bore him a son who was named Birjis Kadir (Quadr?).
“…When the Nawab was taken into British custody and removed to Calcutta as a war-prisoner, Begum Hazrat was among the very few not to lose their cool. She not only stood her ground against the British invaders of Awadh, but also mobilised her subjects to rally behind her, thereby earning for herself a great acclaim as one of the foremost leaders of India’s First War of Independence.
“On July 5, 1857, she also enthroned her son, British, as the Nawab of Awadh.
“…The war waged in order to shake-off the British yoke continued till February 1958. …But this prolonged struggle had sapped the vitality both of the Begum and her subjects….Ultimately, she had perforce to leave her Kesarbagh palace and to seek reuge in Muhammadabad (March 16, 1858).
“But Sir Colin Campbell would not let the Begum escape unharmed and had her trailed wherever she went. …At long last, she and Brijis were safely escorted to Nepal by (rebel leader) Bujhawan Pandey and the king of Gonda, Devi Baksh…
“The Begum breathed her last at a place called Nuwakot in Nepal on April 7, 1879.”
[Coutesy: Nepal: Some Tales, Some Truths, published by Cross Inter-media, Kathmandu,1987)
