The Mirror of Beauty by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi

Author:Shamsur Rahman Faruqi [Rahman Faruqi, Shamsur]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9788184759938
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2013-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

39

A couple of blissful years pass by, a wedding is celebrated in Navab Shamsuddin Ahmad’s family, but storm clouds gather on the horizon

TWO YEARS PASSED. Those were the two best years in the life of Shamsuddin Ahmad Khan. His control over his State was firmer than ever before. Crops had been good; tradesmen visited his territories in larger numbers. Under his strong and just rule his lands became free of thugs, highwaymen and dacoits. The annual revenue, between three and five hundred thousand rupees in his father’s time, rose and became seven hundred thousand to a million rupees. His love for Wazir Khanam grew apace. Navab Mirza’s intelligence, quickness of wit and comprehension, and cheerful playfulness won the hearts not only of his parents but also of all those who saw him. By the time he was eleven months old, Navab Mirza had begun to talk and comprehend the conversation around him. By the age of two, he knew many verses and small songs by heart. His sense of rhythm and notes was so strong that he could sing simple songs keeping to the rhythm and the tune.

As a child of three, he was able to pick up enough Persian through his father’s conversations, and understand the language when it was delivered slowly. Soon after, he was able to talk in Persian, if haltingly. His physical beauty grew as fast as his faculty of speech. He could be distinguished among his peers not only for his good looks and sweet temper, but also for his well-developed, well-proportioned and bigger-than-average body. Everyone now believed that very soon Shamsuddin Ahmad would marry his beloved Bahu Khanam and have Navab Mirza’s succession approved by the durbars at Alwar and Calcutta.

During this time, the wedding ceremonies of Shamsuddin Ahmad Khan’s sister Navab Begam were performed with great pomp and circumstance. The actual wedding took place at Firozepur Jhirka, but food was given to the poor of Delhi for seven days, and huge trays of food, called torah, were sent over to all friends’ and relatives’ houses.

The bridegroom was Zain-ul Abidin Khan Arif, a nineteen-year-old aristocrat and poet; extremely handsome, but somewhat wan and pale of face, he was later diagnosed with phthisis. His father, Sharaf-ud Daulah Navab Ghulam Husain Khan Masrur, was the son of Sharaf-ud Daulah Navab Faizullah Khan Bahadur Suhrab Jang, a close relative of Shamsuddin Ahmad Khan. Navab Ghulam Husain Khan’s wife and the bridegroom’s mother, Buniyadi Begam, were the daughters of Navab Ilahi Bakhsh Maruf, younger brother of Navab Ahmad Bakhsh Khan. Thus, Buniyadi Begam was first cousin to Shamsuddin Ahmad Khan, and her son, the bridegroom, was his nephew.

There was also another older connection between the two families: Arif’s great-grandfather was Qasim Jan. Gali Qasim Jan, a street named after him, still exists in Delhi. The title Sharaf-ud Daulah was conferred upon him by the Mughal Prince Ali Gauhar in recognition of his gallantry in a battle in the Province of Bihar. Ali Gauhar, affectionately known as Lal Mian,

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