" Mariam-Uz-Zamani " -- The Forgotten Enigma | Part-2

"She was of Rajput caste, daughter of a Hindu chief.....a very beautiful, and it is said, a very amiable woman..... She was a very sensible woman, whose councils had great weight with His Majesty, the Emperor. The people of India, no doubt, owed much of the good they enjoyed under the long reign of Akbar, to this most excellent woman, who inspired not only her husband but the most able Muhameddan minister that India has ever had, with feelings of universal benevolence. "
 
" His majesty's only fault was an inclination to learn the art of magic, which was taught to him by an old Hindu religious mendicant.....absence of bigotry on the part of Akbar."

                                                       -- From the personal diary of Lt. Colonel Sir William Henry

Friends,
Before reading this post, please go through these 3 posts: 

" Mariam-Uz-Zamani " -- The Forgotten Enigma - I
Account of Akbar and HIS Favorite Rajput Wife
Facts about Akbar and Mariam-Uz-Zamani Begum

And then come back here. This will prove to be VERY beneficial in better understanding this post.

I have titled this post as " Mariam-Uz-Zamani -- The Forgotten Enigma - II " as this is in continuation of the part-1. 

Artistic Depiction of Hindu Queen of Mughal Emperor Akbar. Probably in V and A Museum.

Background

This post is based on an account from the 1800's, which was penned down by a Lieutenant Colonel (later Major General), who served in the British Army in Bengal. He was a distinguished officer of the British administration and a close confidante of Lord Dalhousie, the Governor General of India at that time (1848-56). Lord Dalhousie appointed Sir William to the post of British Resident at the court of the ruler of Awadh. Before this, he had served as a British Resident at Lucknow. He was also an associate of the Maratha Chief Scindhia. He had a decorated career and was a dedicated officer, known for his "honesty to the law", who rose from the post of a mere cadet to the Major General of the British Bengal Army Regiment.!!

{
Before i start with the main post, i want to mention an interesting anecdote from the life of this honest officer who lived up to his high ideals throughout his life, even going against his own British Government at one time.! 

Many of us might be knowing that the then Governor General of India, Lord Dalhousie had devised the policy of "Doctrine of Lapse", according to which - "If the ruler of a princely (protected) state died without leaving a natural heir, his state was not to pass to an adopted heir as sanctioned by the age old law of this country. Instead, it was to be annexed to the British Indian Empire, unless the adoption had been approved earlier by the British authorities."

Many states like Satara in 1848 and Nagpur and Jhansi of Rani Lakshmi Bai in 1854 were annexed by applying this doctrine. Lord Dalhousie also refused to recognise the titles of many ex-rulers or to pay their pensions. Thus, the titles of Nawab of Carnatic and of Surat, the Raja of Tanjore were extinguished. Similarly, after the death of ex-Peshwa Baji Rao II, the Raja of Bithur, Lord Dalhousie refused to extend his pay/pension to his adopted son, Nana Sahib. 

Lord Dalhousie was keen on annexing Awadh also. Here the British Resident was Sir William, the official on whose personal diary this blog post is based. Awadh could not be annexed using the Doctrine of Lapse, as the ruler had many heirs. Also, the Nawabs of Awadh had been British allies since the Battle of Buxar and were "obedient" to them. Hence, some other pretext had to be found. Finally, Lord Dalhousie hit upon the idea of alleviating the plight of the people of Awadh. The ruler - Nawab Wajid Ali Shah - was "accused of having misgoverned his state and refusing to introduce reforms". Finally, in 1856, Awadh was annexed.

But, this annexation was opposed by this officer, when this idea became known to him.
Here is a letter, which he wrote to Lord Dalhousie in 1854. But this letter was publicly published only in November, 1857, in The Times .!

" We have no right to annex or confiscate Oude(old name of Awadh) ; but we have a right, under the treaty of 1837, to take the management of it, but not to appropriate its revenues to ourselves. We can do this with honour to our Government and benefit to the people. To confiscate would be dishonest and dishonourable. To annex would be to give the people a government almost as bad as their own, if we put our screw upon them."

Copy of this letter is attached below.

Views of British Resident about annexation of Awadh by Lord Dalhousie

Views of British Resident about annexation of Awadh by Lord Dalhousie

}

Sir William wrote this memoir while travelling from Madhya Pradesh (Gwalior and Jabalpur) to Agra, Meerut, Delhi, etc. with his wife and his son. 

During this time, he was on leave on medical grounds. He started the journey in November 1835 and reached Agra on the New Year's day - 1st January, 1836. Today, exactly after 178 years, on 1st January,  2015, we have snapshots from his account in this post. Note that this is an extremely rare account.

You all must be wondering why a British officer's personal account has been posted on this blog. 

The reason being  --- In his memoir/personal diary, this officer has made some observations about the Rajput wife of the Mughal Emperor Akbar, who was the mother of Jahangir and who was very famous among the masses of Agra and its surrounding region. Today we call this region the Golden Triangle of India > Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. 

This officer was very fascinated by this lady and her equation with Akbar and noted this in his diary. 

He has based this account on the testimony of the native people of India, after "talking to them personally" and he wrote this account as a personal diary/memoir. He dedicated this account to his sister, as he wanted to tell her about the place where he was working (i.e., India).  

In the dedication page of this account, he has assured his sister that this account is an honest work of his travel in the Indian provinces, and he has NOT indulged in fiction, and has tried to be completely truthful to her in what he recorded. I found this account pretty interesting because this was his personal diary. It was not written for commercial purposes, but by a brother for his sister back in Europe, as he wanted to tell her about this land. 

The section of this account that is of significance to us is the part where he mentions about Akbar and his Rajput wife in depth.

Here we go. Cover page of this account, showing the title... >>
Constable's Miscellany of Original and Selected Publications

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Cover Page of the memoirs

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Brittle condition of the account

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The following is the "dedication", which this officer made to his sister.

Dedication made to his sister by the officer

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Here he assures his sister that this account is an honest work of his travel in the Indian provinces, and he has NOT indulged in fiction and has tried to be completely truthful to her in what he recorded.

 

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End of Dedication

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The Main Account of Akbar and His Rajput Wife

The author has recorded the name of Akbar's Rajput wife and the mother of Jahangir as Jodha Bai, as per what people told him. Akbar's wife's name is often confused with the name of the princess of Jodhpur, who was Jahangir's wife.

A mistake was also made by the translator of Ain-i-Akbari, who translated the work from Persian to English. On page 309 of that translation, he also called princess of Jodhpur as the mother of Jahangir, but he corrected himself on page 619 of the same account, by mentioning that Jodh Bai of Jodhpur was the wife of Jahangir and the princess of Amer was the mother of Jahangir. The following snap is from page 619 of the translation of Ain-i-Akbari.

Jodh Bai was erroneously called mother of Emperor Jahangir and wife of Emperor Akbar. The translator of Ain i Akbari corrects himself here.

Please note that though the name of Akbar's Rajput wife may not be known to common people, but "her persona" is very much alive in the collective memories of the people in the Golden Triangle region (Delhi, Jaipur, Agra) of India. 

The identity of Jahangir's mother has been solved by the discovery of her farman. The complete farman can be read in a descriptive blog post here : Farman of Wali Nimat Mariam-Uz-Zamani Begum with Scan of Original Persian Document


Sidenote:

Khulasat-Ut-Tawarikh, of Sujan Rai Bhandari, ed. Zafar Hasan, Page-374, mentions queen Mariam-Uz-Zamani of Amber as the mother of Jahangir. This account dates back to the 17th century. This is one of earliest accounts that names the mother of Jahangir. The account has been made available now by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, New Delhi.

See Point #3 of the following post for details. 2 new snaps have been added.
Facts about Akbar and Mariam-Uz-Zamani Begum

The emphasis in Sir Williams' memoir is not on the name but on the wife of Akbar and mother of Jahangir, who was still remembered by the people of the Golden Triangle region, just by word of mouth, when this officer visited the region.

Let us begin.

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The author notes in his diary that on 6th January, 1836, when he left Agra, he passed by the "Tomb of the wife of the Emperor Akbar and the mother of Jahangir". 

{

He is referring to the Tomb of Mariam-Uz-Zamani in Sikandra. The British Army at Agra had established an "artillery testing" division in the grounds surrounding this tomb at that time. Today, that portion is preserved, and is a part of the garden/park in the Tomb Complex of Mariam-Uz-Zamani. 

}

He describes her as an "amiable and a very beautiful woman".

He also mentions something interesting about the Rajput clan, which he heard from the Muslims in this area. The snaps below state the same.

The author talks about the Tomb of Mariam Uz Zamani, the wife of Emperor Akbar and the mother of Mughal Emperor Jahangir.

The author states that the heard from many Muslims that blood better than Rajputs was not to be found in the veins of any other race in India. The author also quotes the natives of India saying that the Mughal Empire declined due to the loss of Rajput support. The author also states that all the magnificent gateways of the tomb have been taken away.

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 In the following snap, he mentions that on 8th January, 1836, he reached Fatehpur Sikri.

The author describes Fatehpur Sikri.

After this portion, some part could not be scanned. This part mentions a pilgrimage undertaken to the shrine of Sheikh Muin-ud-din Chisti at Ajmer. 

The part after that is continued below...He mentions the birth of Salim, as per the prophecy of the "old man"..

Birth of Prince Salim as per the prophecy of an old man ( Sheikh Salim Chisti) in Fatehpur Sikri. According to him, the Hindu Wife of Akbar (Mariam-Uz-Zamani) would give birth to Emperor Akbar's his heir.

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Here are the last two scans from that account. What is mentioned in these 2 pages was a treat to read. Please read for yourself. The author reserves high praise for Akbar and his Rajput wife.

Here, he is describing the big mosque in Fatehpur Sikri.

The author describes the inscription related to Jesus Christ, on the Buland Darwaza, in Fatehpur Sikri.

First, he writes about his thoughts on Akbar (below), after seeing a passage quoting Jesus on the entrance of this mosque, he concludes that Akbar was not a bigot.

After that he writes the following about the mother of Jahangir and the wife of Akbar.

" He showed us the little roof of stone tiles, close to the original little dingy mosque of the old hermit, where the Empress gave birth to Jahangir ; and told us, that she was a very sensible woman, whose councils had great weight with the Emperor."

First, he writes about his thoughts on Akbar (below), after seeing a passage quoting Jesus on the entrance of this mosque, he concludes that Akbar was not a bigot.

After that he writes the following about the mother of Jahangir and the wife of Akbar.

" He showed us the little roof of stone tiles, close to the original little dingy mosque of the old hermit, where the Empress gave birth to Jahangir ; and told us, that she was a very sensible woman, whose councils had great weight with the Emperor."

The people of India, no doubt, owed much of the good they enjoyed under the long reign of Akbar, to this most excellent woman, who inspired not only her husband but the most able Mahomedan minister that India has ever had, with feelings of universal benevolence.

It was from her that this great minister, Abul Fazl, derived the spirit that dictated the following passages in his admirable work, the Ain-i-Akbari: .... 

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Continued from previous page...

Every sect becomes infatuated with its particular doctrines; animosity and dissension prevail, and each man deeming the tenets of his sect to be the dictates of truth itself, aims at the destruction of all others, vilifies reputation, stains the earth with blood, and has the vanity to imagine that he is performing meritorious actions. Were the voice of reason attended to, mankind would be sensible of their error, and lament the weaknesses which led them to interfere in the religious concerns of each other. Persecution after all defeats its own end; it obliges men to conceal their opinions. but produces no change in them.

.. Summarily. the Hindus are religious, affable, courteous to strangers, prone to inflict austerities on themselves, lovers of justice, given to retirement, able in business, grateful, admirers of truth, and of unbounded fidelity in all their dealings. This character shines brightest in adversity. Their soldiers know not what it is to fly from the field of battle: when the success of the combat becomes doubtful, they dismount from their horses, and throw away their lives in payment of the debt of valour.{<This most probably refers to the practice of Saka of Rajputs.} They have great respect for their tutors; and make no account of their lives when they can devote them to the service of their God.

.. They consider the Supreme Being to be above all labour. and believe Brahmah to be the creator of the world, Vishnu its preserver, and Sewa its destroyer. But one sect believes that God, who hath no equal, appeared on earth under the three above mentioned forms, without having been thereby polluted in the smallest degree, in the same manner as the Christians speak of the Messiah; others hold that all these were only human beings, who, on account of their sanctity and righteousness, were raised to these high dignities."

The author writes that Akbar was very much interested in Hindu practices. I could not get the entire page. This is what he mentions about Akbar: 

" His majesty's only fault was,"he said, "an inclination to learn the art of magic, which was taught him by an old Hindoo religious mendicant," whose apartment near the palace he pointed out to us.

Fortunately, said our cicerone, "the fellow died before the Emperor had learnt enough to practise the art without his aid."

{
"His Majesty or H.M. " refers to Akbar.

Clearly, the "fellow" referred to in the above anecdote is a Brahmin named Devi, who had his seat near the chambers of Akbar in Fatehpur Sikri. He was well versed in the ancient Hindu scripture/epic - Mahabharata, and he used to 'teach' him this epic. 

I was impressed to read that along with the account of his Rajput wife, Akbar and Devi's story was famous too. Clearly, this establishes that Akbar placed the people of other religions in high regard. We even have a Farman by his mother issued to a Hindu Brahmin of Mathura. Farman of Hamida Bano Begum to a Brahmin of Goverdhan.
}

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Conclusion:

Every one has some faults and Akbar is no exception. I am talking of some good qualities, which I found in this monarch. We all know that Akbar took interest in various religions and his reign is regarded in high terms among that of many other kings during the period of medieval Indian history. He also held religious debates in the Ibadat Khana (Hall of Worship) in Fatehpur Sikri.

{I would like to mention that fortunately I have obtained some photocopies of the proceedings of the religious debates,  which were held in Fatehpur Sikri. I will slowly scan and upload them. }

Akbar had an urge to know more and more about various religions and sects. In this journey, there were various people who inspired him. His Rajput wife was one among them, but, I would add, a very important one. There was something very special between these two people, which amazes many people even today. Shah Jahan required a big monument to make posterity remember him and his wife Mumtaz. Still, it the story of Akbar and Mariam-Uz-Zamani, which was, and still is, on the lips of the people of this region, to the extent that this officer made a special note of it in his account.

The Oxford Encyclopedia Of Women in World History, Volume-4, Page-656, notes about this Rajput wife of Akbar, the princess of Amber, as an influential wife in Akbar's life, who exemplified his religious tolerance and also in shaping many policies in the Mughal Empire.

Just by word of mouth, hers and Akbar's relation is remembered even today in the Golden Triangle region of India. For those who plan to travel to Agra, Sikandra or Jaipur - make sure you talk to the local people in this region. Especially, the caretakers in the museums of Rajasthan. Royal descendants still admire them and are in awe of the very special bond between Akbar and his Rajput Queen. The scans, which were included in this post, are an articulation of the same fact.

We also have a regular blog member who posted her views about the story of Akbar and MUZ, in one of her comments on this blog. She also belongs to the Golden Triangle region. Do read her comments on the post about Mosque of Mariam-Uz-Zamani Begum at Lahore. 

Click here to read Comment-1.
Click here to read Comment-2.



Article Category : Mughals(Akbar).