Will Exile End?

The fading moments of Mughal glory and the tragedy that followed the First War of Independence in 1857 have been revived in public memory as the campaign to bring back the mortal remains of the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar is set afloat
Bahadur Shah Zafar
Will exile end?
Nirupama Dutt

A painting depicting dancing girls in Delhi during Bahdur Shah Zafar’s reign

THE lament of the last of the proud Mughal emperors, Bahadur Shah Zafar, remains ever alive in the collective consciousness of the subcontinent in which the emperor who was also a poet cried out of his misfortune at not being able to avail of the two yards of land in his beloved country: Kitna hai badnaseeb Zafar dafn ke liye/Do gaz zameen bhi na mili koo-e-yaar mein. These two lines are embedded in the Indian psyche are indeed a part of popular culture. This couplet still has the power to sadden the human heart to let out a helpless grieved sigh.

This summer a campaign of sorts is being built to bring back the mortal remains of the emperor back from Rangoon (now Yangon) in Myanmar. The campaigners of this very just although somewhat delayed demand are a handful of liberals and Leftists who see in Zafar a symbol of the composite culture of pro-colonial India. These include the old guard like journalists Kuldip Nayar and Saeed Naqvi, lawyer Rajinder Sachar, historian Mushirul Hasan, Left-wing theatre artiste Shamsul Islam, Prem Singh, general secretary, of the near-forgotten Socialist Party of India.

After a Press conference in early May in New Delhi, a public meeting was held at the Law Institute in the Capital but the old guard is rather surprised that but for stray reporting, the media has not highlighted the campaign with the emphasis that it required.

In 2006, an initiative had come from the government itself in this direction, a year before the 150th anniversary of the War of Independence. A high-level meeting was held at 7 Race Course Road, residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, attended by the who's who of Indian politicians, academics, artists, writers and journalists. The Prime Minister raised the issue, describing Zafar as the man who defined India's diversity, liberalism, integrity and the national movement. All were in unison that the remains of the emperor who suffered great tragedy should be brought back and it would be poetic justice if these could be buried in the two yards at a dargah in Mehrauli. The grave is still waiting to be claimed for Zafar over a century and a half after he chose it. Zafar's wish was to be buried in the dargah of Qutubuddin Bakhtiar Kaki in Mehrauli and had earmarked two yards of land there.Dargah caretakers have kept an empty grave to honour wishes of the star-crossed emperor.

The Last Mughal

(Top) Bahadur Shah Zafar gate at the entrance to the Salimgarh Fort and (below) Zafar's grave in Yangon

For all of them, Bahadur Shah Zafar is the symbol of composite and diverse Indian culture. (Top) Journalist Kuldip Nayar, (centre) theatre artiste Shamsul Islam and (bottom) columnist Saeed Naqvi

William Dalrymple in his famed book,The Last Mughal describes the journey to the sad exile thus: "At 4 am on October 7, 332 years after Babur first conquered the city, the last Mughal Emperor left Delhi on a bullock cart. Along with him went his wives, his two remaining children, concubines and servants —a party of 31 in all... the journey had been kept secret, even from Zafar himself, and the old man knew nothing of his departure before being woken up at 3 am, and told to get ready." There was no one to bid farewell to the emperor at pre-dawn as he left his beloved Dilli forever. "Will people succeed where the Government failed", asks Naqvi. He recalls the 2006 meeting, "Noted Gandhian, late Nirmala Deshpande's idea was particularly well received. She suggested that soil should be brought from Bahadur Shah Zafar'smazaar in Yangon for a memorial in the Mehrauli dargah." Time and again the issue of bringing back the remains is raised, it has not been followed up. Shamsul Islam, founder of Nishant Natya Manch, who has started a signature campaign, questions: "How long will Bahadur Shah Zafar's exile continue?" He adds, "It is unfortunate that this commander of India’s First War of Independence remains buried in a foreign land. It is high time steps are taken to bring his remains to India so that we and coming generations have the opportunity to emulate Zafar's deeds for a free and secular India".

Burmese king

Meanwhile, at the time of his hasty burial in Yangon in November 1862, a bamboo fence surrounded his grave and with grass growing over the precise spot was lost for a long time and only in a restoration exercise as late as 1991 was the original brick-lined grave discovered. The Burmese Muslims then built a shrine and Zafar is worshipped there as a Saint to whom devotees go for wish fulfillment. Ironically, Zafar's own wish remains unfulfilled. The sad chapters of colonial history tell that while Zafar was exiled to Myanmar, King Thibaw of Burma (1859-1916) was exiled to India and died pining for his land in Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. Of late, Myanmar has been wanting the tomb of the King to be relocated in his native country. Political dignitaries have not responded to this civil-society demand that has yet to gather popular momentum. Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj is the perhaps the only one who has warmly supported this campaign. The responses to her statement on Twitter show that not many are interested setting the wrongs of the faraway 1857 in present times. One response smirks at concern for what happened over a 150 years ago, while another asks about the ‘mortal remains’ of the BJP in Karnataka. The British had showed callousness to the last Mughal and now it is indifference. So is there a hope for the lost cause unless some smart Bollywood director brings him back into public domain like Aamir Khan did to Mangal Pandey, the rebel soldier who led the 1857 revolt?

Befitting memorial for Rani of Jhansi The towering figure of resistance to the Indians in the 1857 chronicle is Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi and Subhadra Kumari Chauhan's ballad in tribute: Bundele harbolon ke munh hamne suni kahani thhi, Khoob ladi mardani woh to Jhansi wali Rani thhi (We had heard her tale from the mouths the Bundel bards, Bravely, like a man, fought the queen of Jhansi) still gives goose pimples to the listener or reader. This is so in spite of the gender bender, so irksome to feminists, of "like a man". Her popular image is that of a handsome woman astride a horse, with her child tied to her back, a shield in one hand and a sword in the other fighting till her last breath, was a motivational force for the National Movement. Saeed Naqvi says: "It is the statue of Rani Jhansi that should be installed in the vacant canopy across India Gate. This statue would be acceptable to every Indian, irrespective of caste, creed or political allegiance." The canopy has been vacant since the mid-1960s when it was removed from there as it was a sad reminder of the humiliation and torment of British colonial rule. However, Parliament could not decide on the statue that should be put there as every leader's name aroused a controversy. "There can be no controversy over the image of the Jhansi wali Rani," says veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar. Emperor in search of a director Stories of grandeur, justice, love and tragedy have always been sought after in the glitter of Muslim historical films of Hindustani cinema. Top of the charts was, of course, K. Asif's Mughal-e-Azam (1960) with the king-prince conflict in the latter's romance with an ill-fated dancing girl. Earlier, the same saga had been told with some mesmerising music in Anarkali (1953). Then there was the K. L. Saigal-starrer, Shahjahan(1946) which told the story of the emperor's court poet Sohail's unrequited love for the beautiful Ruhi and the subsequent death of Mumtaz Mahal and the building of the Taj Mahal. The romantic saga of Shahjahan and Mumtaz Mahal was set to lilting music in Taj Mahal (1963). The tragedy of Shahjahan and his daughter Jahanara as well as the tyranny of Aurangzeb enticed the audiences in Jahanara (1964). The tragic saga of the king who would be poet never quite caught the imagination of a Bollywood director in spite of the wide gamut of emotions and poetry that it offered. Lal Quila (1960) with Jairaj, Nirupa Roy and Helen wilted in its B-grade handling. All that is remembered of this non-starter are two of the ghazals sung emotionally by Mohammad Rafi. There were some films on the 1857 War for Independence like Shatranj ke Khiladi (1977),Junoon and Mangal Pandey (2005). None of these focused on Zafar. B.R. Chopra did a tele-serial Bahadur Shah Zafar in the 1980s with some of the good Urdu poetry of the times and Ashok Kumar in the lead role. But the serial could not meet the standards of Gulzar's Mirza Ghalib, with Naseeruddin Shah playing the poet and Jagjit Singh singing the verses. Thus the last of the Mughals, who may well be our own King Lear and more, still awaits the magical touch on big or small screen.