Chehlum of Imam Husain and Badshah Begum of Awadh Kingdom
By Prof.Mazhar Naqvi
Badshah Begum, the chief queen of King Ghazi Uddin Haider,
is famous for coup d’etat of Munna Jaan whereas she should be remembered more
for her role in extending the period of
Muharram mourning from ‘Ashra’ to Chehlum. Both British and Indian historians
have preferred to highlight her political activities and ignored her immense
contribution to the large scale active participation of women in azadari.
Instead of portraying her devotion to Ahle-Bait in right perspective,
the contemporary historians have used her aristocratic ritual inventiveness to project
her as a hot headed lady with a tendency to do at any cost whatever fancied her.
Whereas her Persian biography ‘Tareekh Badshah Begum’ translated in
English by Muhammad Taqi Ahmad in 1938, also supports the accusations made against
the Begum by the British historians and officials, Juan R.I. Cole has
attributed the unique observance of Muharram with royal splendor and a visible
active participation of women to religious genius of Badshah Begum. In his
article published in ‘Lucknow- Memories
of a City’. Cole remarks “Badshah Begum made a gender- specific
contribution to ritual change in Awadh by championing the cause of a forty –day
mourning period for commemorating Imam Husain’s martyrdom…. Certainly the
manner in which she blended elements of local Indian female and family life-
cycle rites with her celebration of events related to the lives of the Imams
showed a peculiarly feminine imagination at work”
Badshah Begum was the daughter of the famous court astrologer,
Mubashir Khan of Delhi. She was married to Ghazi-ud-din Haider years before he
was given the title of 'King' of Awadh. She did not enjoy very cordial relations
with her husband but she was the ultimate authority in the royal household and
even King refrained from interfering in the affairs of his Zenana (ladies) quarters.
Fanny
parks has given a description of the tremendous authority and dominance of
Badshah Begum in her memoirs ‘ Wanderings in the search of picturesque’
: “The old begam was the great lady, and in her palace were we received. It was
a most amazing sight, as I had never witnessed the interior of a zenana before,
and so many women assembled at once I had never beheld. I suppose from first we
saw some thousands. Women-bearers carried our tanjans; a regiment of female
gold and silver sticks, dressed in male costume, were drawn up before the
entrance…. “
Badshah Begum was a pious lady with great love and affection for
Ahle-bait. Instead of leading a luxurious or leisurely life as Chief Begum of
Ghazi Uddin Haider or queen Mother of King Naseer Uddin Haider, she used her
power and treasure for promoting azadari to a scale that Lucknow occupies a
unique position for its splendid observance of Muharram in the world. She also
did not restrict herself to only Muharram rituals but also introduced practices
in honor of all the twelve Imams revered by followers of Ahle-bait.
‘Tareekh Badshah Begum’ mentions “ she spent days and
nights in prayer and worship, she spent large sums in ' Fatiha' and ' Durud '
and mourning ceremonies every year on the day the death of each of the Imams
had occurred and regarded these observances the cause of her worldly and
spiritual betterment. She built, in the palace, one tomb for each of the twelve
Imams with one small mosque attached to each. These tombs were called-the
Rauza-e-Dowazdah Imam, i.e., the
tombs of the twelve Imams.7 Inside every tomb there was a “Zarih,'1 an
imitation of the actual tomb of the Imam and some sacred relics. Apart from
these, there was another building constructed in imitation of the tomb of
Hazrat Abbas.
Begum
had set apart a room in the palace for the Imams and nobody was allowed to
enter it. On the day of the birth of each of the Imams, the room was richly
decorated and exquisitely lighted.”
Before her emergence as a powerful queen
who could make and unmake ministers, fight against kings and lead an army to
place her own candidate on the throne. Muharram was observed for 10 days in
Lucknow. A Marsiyago of repute, Mir Khsan Ali, who lived in the days of Yaminuddaulah Saadat
Ali Khan, had strived to extend the period of Muharram mourning up to the Chehlum(
40th day of Imam Husain’s martyrdom observed on 20th day
of Islamic month Safar) but failed to get a royal proclamation in this regard. His
desire fulfilled when Badshah Begum in the first year of Naseer Uddin Haider’s
accession had it proclaimed that the Muharram mourning was to be observed up to Chehlum and that no marriages or amusement
parties were to be held within this period throughout the Kingdom and the breach of the order would invite king's
wrath and punishment.
The proclamation was modified later
as some orthodox Muslims and Hindus of the kingdom found the order as an
interference in their religious freedom and lodged a complaint to the British resident who intervened and persuaded the king to declare that his subjects were at liberty to
do what best suited their interests but personally he would abide by his pledge to observe
Muharram mourning up to the Chehlum.
Badshah Begum almost lost everything when she tried to crown
Munna Jaan as the next King of Awadh against the wishes of British after the
death of Naseer Uddin Haider. She tried to offer military resistance but suffered
defeat being no match to better trained East India company troops. She was arrested
along with Munna Jaan and confined to a palace for few days. The resident
himself visited the place every now and then to look after the captives and
always found the Begam reading the Quran and performing other religious
practices and looked not the least perturbed by such a change of fortune. Later
on, she was sent with Munna Jaan to
Kanpur where she spent the night at Parmat Ghat. From Kanpur, she was taken to Chunar
fort where she spent the rest of her life in confinement and breathed her last
in captivity. Munna Jaan too met a similar fate. Nobody knows where lies buried
the great Azadar Badshah Begum and if anyone ever recites a Fatiha for her or
not.( References available on request)
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