The proposal by INTACH to the Delhi Government to restore 14th century Malcha Mahal of Firozshah Tughlak is a step long overdue. I remember that in the late 1970s a strange sight greeted us at New Delhi railway station – a gaunt middle-aged woman standing at platform No. 1 arms akimbo. Trains came and went but she continued to stay unperturbed by the sick hurry of life.
When Begum Wilayat Mahal got tired, she went and sat down in the VIP lounge of the ceremonial platform, where she and two of her four children, Sakina Mahal and Raza Mahal, had made their home. They used to eat in the station refreshment rooms while sharing, along with a number of dogs, a conspicuous corner of platform, their boxes piled up neatly on one side and a bedsheet hanging from a cord tied to two pillars, their only screen from prying eyes. Villagers carrying children on their shoulders paused sometimes to stare at the strange family, smiled and then rushed to catch a waiting train, while the urban commuters only cast a furtive glance at them, blissfully unaware of their identify.
Sometimes the slim boy and girl were not to be seen for hours, but their mother continued to stand alone, lost in thought, her dark saree rippling in the soft breeze that wafts through the station in the wake of incoming trains, her hair falling just above her shoulder, her face, which must have been beautiful at one time, sad, and her eyes staring (like Mona Lisa) vaguely into the distance as though gaining sustenance from that romantic chapter in the history of Lucknow that threw up such dandies as Wajid Ali Shah. She was related to that colourful nawab and her long stay at New Delhi station was a sort of sit-in dharna in support of her demand for a share in the property of her ancestor, who had been banished to Bengal, after the annexation of Oudh, in 1856.
The vigil continued for many more years and then in 1978 a kind of compromise was reached. The Begum, on Indira Gandhi’s suggestion, agreed to make her home in one of the lesser known monuments of Delhi. After a hectic search for such a place, the Begum and her children finally picked on Malcha Mahal, situated on the Ridge, opposite Chankyapuri. The 650-year-old shikargah (hunting lodge) of Firozshah Tughlak became their home. The story goes that on one of his shikar trips the emperor lost his way and was taken care of by a gypsy girl. It was in gratitude to her that Firoz is said to have built Malcha Mahal in the midst of a jungle. The surroundings of the three-roomed structure have not changed much despite its proximity to Chankyapuri, the posh diplomatic colony.
Why Wilayat Mahal picked on Malcha Mahal was evidently because of its central location. Initially, the family had a retinue of servants in outlandish livery, who used to bring their meals from the city restaurants. Then that stopped and the meals were prepared in the mahal itself, which was out of bounds to visitors with barbed wire all around and 12 big dogs guarding the place night and day.
Slowly, all but one of the servants left and of the dogs too only one remained, the others having been poisoned by thieves. Stray dogs then took their place. After that nothing much was heard about the family until the revelation that the Begum had swallowed a crushed diamond and ended her life in 1993.
However, the main branch of the family of Wajid Ali Shah went along with him to Metiabruz in Calcutta in 1856. It included the chief begum and other members of the harem. But the favourite, Hazrat Mahal, stayed put in Lucknow and played a leading role during the 1857 revolt after the claim of her minor son, Birjis Qadr, to the gaddi of Oudh was rejected by the British.
After bracing many dangers, the begum escaped to Nepal, following the recapture of Lucknow by the East India Company’s forces in 1858. She stayed on there despite British attempts to seek her extradition on charges of rebellion and put her on trial. The Begum lived till the early 1880s.
However, Wajid Ali Shah, who died a few years before Hazrat Mahal, was survived by his many children, among whom were the main claimants to the nawabi. Their claims were partly recognized by Queen Victoria and her Government.
Begum Wilayat Mahal, whose husband pre-deceased her, was one of the descendants. He was a Government official and only after his death did it occur to the begum to stake claim for compensation. No one of her family survives after the death from starvation of Prince Raza, who became a pauper in 2017. Since then the ruined Mahal is lying vacant. Its restoration will be a valuable addition to Delhi’s tourist circuit.
The writer is a veteran chronicler of Delhi
