Joanna Nobilis Sombre (– 27 January 1836), popularly known as Begum Samru (née Farzana Zeb un-Nissa),
[.] a convert Catholic Christian started her career as a
nautch
The nautch (; meaning "dance" or "dancing")Scott A. Kugle, 2016When Sun Meets Moon: Gender, Eros, and Ecstasy in Urdu Poetry p.230. was a popular court dance performed by girls (known as "nautch girls") in India. The culture of the performing ...
(dancing) girl in 18th century India, and eventually became the ruler of
Sardhana
Sardhana is a city and a municipal board in Meerut district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is northeast of New Delhi and 13 mi from Meerut. It is 5 km from Meerut Karnal National Highway and 12 km from National Highway 5 ...
, a small principality near
Meerut
Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...
.
[ She was the head of a professionally trained ]mercenary
A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...
army, inherited from her European mercenary husband, Walter Reinhardt Sombre
Walter Reinhardt Sombre (born Walter Reinhardt or Reinert; ) was a European adventurer and mercenary in India from the 1760s.
Early life
Sombre is thought to have been born in Strasbourg or Treves. His birthplace and nationality, being given in va ...
.[ This mercenary army consisted of Europeans and Indians. She is also regarded as the only Catholic ruler in India, as she ruled the ]principality of Sardhana
Sardhana is a city and a municipal board in Meerut district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is northeast of New Delhi and 13 mi from Meerut. It is 5 km from Meerut Karnal National Highway and 12 km from National Highway 5 ...
in 18th- and 19th-century India.
Begum Sumru died immensely rich but without an heir
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...
. Her inheritance was assessed as approximately 55.5 million gold marks in 1923 and 18 billion deutsch marks in 1953. Her inheritance continues to be disputed to this day. An organisation named "Reinhards Erbengemeinschaft" still strives to resolve the inheritance issue. During her lifetime she had converted to Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
from Islam.
Life
Begum Samru was of slight stature, fair complexion and distinguished by exceptional leadership abilities of an uncommon order. More than once, she headed her own troops in action. She was reportedly of Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to:
* People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir
* Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley
* Kashmiri language, their language
People with the name
* Kashmiri Saikia Baruah ...
descent.
When she was in her early teens, she married (or started living with) a mercenary soldier Walter Reinhardt Sombre
Walter Reinhardt Sombre (born Walter Reinhardt or Reinert; ) was a European adventurer and mercenary in India from the 1760s.
Early life
Sombre is thought to have been born in Strasbourg or Treves. His birthplace and nationality, being given in va ...
of Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
, who was operating in India. Walter Reinhardt Sombre, a European mercenary, then 45 years old, came to the red light area and fell for the charms of Farzana, then a girl of 14, says Johan Lall in his "Begum Samru - Faded Portrait in a Gilded Frame".
A soldier of fortune, Sombre moved from Lucknow to Rohilkhand (near Bareilly), then to Agra, Deeg and Bharatpur and back to the Doab. Farzana helped him in those times of intrigue and counter-intrigue.
Ruler
On the death of her husband Walter Reinhardt in 1778, she succeeded to his Principality yielding about £90,000 per annum. Over time, she became powerful, ruling over a large area from Sardhana, Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
. Her conduct in the internal management of her estate was highly commendable.
On 7 May 1781, aged around thirty, Begum Samru was baptized ''Joanna Nobilis'', by a Roman Catholic priest.
Throughout her life, she had only one friend, Begum Umdaa, who belonged to the other Jagirdar Family of Sardhana became her closest friend with time and fulfilled her relation until her death with Begum Samru. Even after Begum Umdaa was married, Begum Samru took out time to visit her to Meerut
Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...
in good and bad.
Farzana was courted by some of the European officers who were associated with her husband. Among them were Le Vassoult, a Frenchman, and George Thomas, an Irishman. The Begum favoured the Frenchman and when, in 1793, the rumour spread that she had married him, her troops mutinied. The couple sought to escape secretly by night - Le Vassoult on horseback and the Begum in a palanquin. Misinformed that Le Vassoult had been shot, she stabbed herself but survived. Her lover, however, died of a self-inflicted wound to the head. One version has it that she suggested a suicide pact but only nicked herself when the unsuspecting Le Vassoult shot himself dead. When British General Lord Lake
Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake (27 July 1744 – 20 February 1808) was a British general. He commanded British forces during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and later served as Commander-in-Chief of the military in British India.
Background
He was ...
met the Begum in 1802, in a fit of enthusiasm he gave her a hearty kiss, which appalled her troops. But with her customary tact, Begum Samru pacified them by saying that it was only "the kiss of the Padre to a repentant child".
The Begum, though only feet tall, wore a turban and rode on horseback as she led her troops to battle. So invincible did she seem that the superstitious spread the word that she was a witch who could destroy her enemies just by throwing her cloak towards them. Her army occupied the left of the Maratha
The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...
line at the battle of Assaye
The Battle of Assaye was a major battle of the Second Anglo-Maratha War fought between the Maratha Empire and the British East India Company. It occurred on 23 September 1803 near Assaye in western India. An outnumbered Indian and British forc ...
and hers was the only part of the Mahratta force that was not driven in disarray from the battle field. Having annihilated an advance by the 74th Highlanders and a picket detachment commanded by a Colonel Orrock, her army then withstood a cavalry charge from the Raj before marching from the field in good order. She inducted Jat
The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and su ...
s into her irregular armies.[Nonica Datta]
"Forming an identity"
The Tribune ''The Tribune'' or ''Tribune'' is the name of various newspapers:
United States Daily California
*''Oakland Tribune''
* ''The Tribune'' (San Luis Obispo)
*'' San Gabriel Valley Tribune''
Indiana
*''Kokomo Tribune''
*'' Peru Tribune''
* ''The Trib ...
, 3 July 1999.[Nonica Datta, 1999]
"Forming an Identity: A Social History of the Jats
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
Press, page 12.
After the fall of Aligarh
Aligarh (; formerly known as Allygarh, and Kol) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district, and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capita ...
in September 1803, she was induced to surrender to Lord Lake
Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake (27 July 1744 – 20 February 1808) was a British general. He commanded British forces during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and later served as Commander-in-Chief of the military in British India.
Background
He was ...
and afterwards lived on good terms with the British, receiving visitors including the Bishop of Calcutta, Reginald Heber
Reginald Heber (21 April 1783 – 3 April 1826) was an English Anglican bishop, man of letters and hymn-writer. After 16 years as a country parson, he served as Bishop of Calcutta until his death at the age of 42. The son of a rich lando ...
, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army Lord Combermere and Italian adventurer Jean-Baptiste Ventura
Jean-Baptiste (Giovanni Battista) Ventura, born Rubino (25 May 1794 – 3 April 1858), was an Italian soldier, mercenary in India, general in Maharaja Ranjit Singh's Sarkar-i-Khalsa, and early archaeologist of the Punjab region of the Sikh Empi ...
.
Death
She died at Sardhana in January 1837 at the age of 85, bequeathing the greater part of her property to David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre, who descended from Walter Reinhardt Sombre, from his first wife. Several stories and novels have been written based on her political and diplomatic astuteness and on crucial battles fought by troops directly commanded by her.
There is a rumor that One of the sons of the Begum had been killed by the Begum herself, as he had some physical disorder due to which he couldn't get married.
Palace at Chandni Chowk, Jharsa and Sardhana
She built palaces at Sardhana, Chandni Chowk in Delhi and Jharsa. The paragana
Pargana ( bn, পরগনা, , hi, परगना, ur, پرگنہ) or parganah, also spelt pergunnah during the time of the Sultanate of Delhi, Sultanate period, Mughal Empire, Mughal times and British Raj, is a former administrative unit of ...
of Badshahpur
Badshapur is one of the 4 sub-division of Gurugram district of Haryana state, situated on the Gurugram-Sohna road ( NH-248A). It is named after the Badshahpur Fort, which in turn was the abode of the wife of Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. ...
-Jharsa
Jharsa is a village in Sector 39, Gurugram city of Gurugram district in Haryana State, India. It has a population of about 32,709; it is located from the Gurugram city centre and from the state's main city, Chandigarh. It is surrounded by Moh ...
in Gurugaon in Haryana was also ruled by Begum Samru.[
]
Jharsa palace and cantonment in Gurugram
Begum Samru Place at Gurugram lies between Badshahpur
Badshapur is one of the 4 sub-division of Gurugram district of Haryana state, situated on the Gurugram-Sohna road ( NH-248A). It is named after the Badshahpur Fort, which in turn was the abode of the wife of Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. ...
-Jharsa
Jharsa is a village in Sector 39, Gurugram city of Gurugram district in Haryana State, India. It has a population of about 32,709; it is located from the Gurugram city centre and from the state's main city, Chandigarh. It is surrounded by Moh ...
in Gurgaon
Gurgaon (pronunciation: ʊɽɡãːw, officially named Gurugram (pronunciation: ʊɾʊɡɾaːm, is a city located in the northern Indian state of Haryana. It is situated near the Delhi–Haryana border, about southwest of the nationa ...
. The pargana
Pargana ( bn, পরগনা, , hi, परगना, ur, پرگنہ) or parganah, also spelt pergunnah during the time of the Sultanate period, Mughal times and British Raj, is a former administrative unit of the Indian subcontinent and each ...
of Badshahpur-Jharsa was ruled by Begum Samru.[Begum Samru Palace, Gurugram]
, Haryana Tourism
Haryana Tourism Corporation (HTC) was constituted as a Public Limited Company under the Companies Act, 1956 on 1 May 1974. As an agent of the Government of Haryana, ''Haryana Tourism Corporation'' runs and maintains 44 Tourist Complexes sprea ...
. She built a palace for herself between Badshahpur and Jharsa.[ Jharsa was the place of Samru's principal cantonment.][ Parts of her fort compound have been completely lost to encroachments. Palace building is located between Gurgaon and Jharsa village, which is used as the official residence cum camp office of the ]district collector
A District Collector-cum-District Magistrate (also known as Deputy Commissioner in some states) is an All India Service officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre who is responsible for ''land revenue collection'', ''canal reven ...
of Gurugram district. The Jharsa place is built in Islamic style.[Hope for decrepit French memorial in Gurugram as official issues directions for restoration]
Hindustan Times, Jun 2018.
Hindustan Times, Jun 2018. A 1882 land revenue settlement report records that the idol of Sitla Mata was brought to Gurugram 400 years earlier (15th century). Begum Samru claimed the offering to Sitla Mata temple of Gurugram during the Chaitra
Chaitra (Hindi: चैत्र) is a month of the Hindu calendar.
In the standard Hindu calendar and India's national civil calendar, Chaitra is the first month of the year. It is the last month in the Bengali calendar, where it is called Cho ...
month and the revenue from the offerings given to the deity for rest of the month was distributed among the prominent Jat
The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and su ...
families of the area. In 1818, Bharawas
Bharawas is a village in Rewari tehsil of Rewari district in the Indian state of Haryana. It lies on National Highway 15 (India), NH15 south of Rewari at about on the Rewari-Bawad road.
History
Buddha Prakash, a scholar of the Kurukshetra Un ...
district was disbanded and Gurugram was made a new district. In 1821, the Bharaswas cantonment was also moved to Hidayatpur in Gurugram.
Sardhana palace
The palace built by her in Sardhana near Meerut was the centre of much activity during the reign of Mughal Emperor, Akbar Shah. Shah Alam II
Shah Alam II (; 25 June 1728 – 19 November 1806), also known by his birth name Ali Gohar (or Ali Gauhar), was the seventeenth Mughal Emperor and the son of Alamgir II. Shah Alam II became the emperor of a crumbling Mughal empire. His powe ...
, the predecessor and father of Akbar Shah, regarded Begum Samru as his daughter. He did so because the Begum had saved Delhi from an invasion by a force of 30,000 Sikhs, under Baghel Singh in 1783. They had encamped at Tis Hazari
Tis Hazari is a neighbourhood in Old Delhi, India just south of the Northern Ridge. It is the location of the Tis Hazari Courts Complex which was inaugurated on 19 March 1958 by Chief Justice Mr. A. N. Bhandari of the then Punjab High Court. ...
(the name of the place being derived from the number of those who constituted the force, estimated at 30,000). Thanks to the Begum's parleys, the Sikhs did not enter the city and went back to Punjab after getting a generous monetary gift from Shah Alam.
In 1787(?), when the emperor, Shah Alam, blind and feeble, was in pursuit of Najaf Quli Khan and trying to quell the rebellion stirred up by him, an incident occurred at Gokalgarh that brought the Begum closer to Shah Alam. Seeing that the emperor's troops were wavering in their resolve to attack the rebel leader, she advanced with a force of 100 men and whatever big guns she had and opened fire on Najaf Quli Khan and his men. This did the trick and Najaf sought the Begum's help to make his peace with Shah Alam. Thankful for her intervention, the emperor bestowed special honours on her at the royal court and declared her to be "his most beloved daughter". Not only that, she was also confirmed in her estate at Sardhana, which was the subject of a dispute with Louis Balthazar alias Nawab Zafaryab Khan, another son of her late husband, General Sombre, by his first wife, Badi Bibi (senior wife).Until his death, Emperor Shah Alam and his major wives treated her almost as a relative, and embraced her when she entered the zenana (women) quarters. as the English visitor Ann Deane noted in late December 1808: " ....and afterwards I accompanied her to the royal residence ......we then ascended ....to the zenanah women's quarters'... the begum now led the way through crowds of eunuchs ....Here we were met by the queen Dowager....an ugly, shriveled old woman, whom the begum embraced."
Chandani Chowk palace
Begum Samru's palace in Chandni Chowk
The Chandni Chowk, also known as Moonlight Square is one of the oldest and busiest markets in Old Delhi, India. It is located close to the Old Delhi Railway Station. The Red Fort monument is located at the eastern end of Chandni Chowk. It was bu ...
, now called Bhagirath Palace, was built in a garden gifted by Akbar Shah, a later day mughal, to the Begum when he ascended the throne after the death of Shah Alam
Shah Alam () is a city and the state capital of Selangor, Malaysia and situated within the Petaling District and a small portion of the neighbouring Klang District. Shah Alam replaced Kuala Lumpur as the capital city of the state of Selangor in ...
in 1806. Her palatial building still stands in Chandni Chowk, New Delhi. It is currently owned by the State Bank of India
State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian multinational public sector bank and financial services statutory body headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. SBI is the 49th largest bank in the world by total assets and ranked 221st in the ''Fortune ...
, Chandni Chowk Branch.
Death
Begum Samru died on 27 January 1836 at the age of 82 or 83 and was buried under the Basilica of Our Lady of Graces
Basilica of Our Lady of Graces is a Roman Catholic Church in Sardhana, 19 km north-west of Meerut, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Overview
Basilica of Our Lady of Graces, also known as ''Churches among the Churches'', is dedicate ...
which she had built.
Popular culture
The Begum Samru is depicted as a prominent noble lady in TV drama series ''Beecham House
''Beecham House'' is a short-lived British historical drama television series set in 1795, co-created, directed and produced by Gurinder Chadha. The six-part series was announced in August 2018 and was broadcast between Sunday 23 June ...
'' first aired June 2019. The role was portrayed by Indian actress Lara Dutta
Lara Dutta (born 16 April 1978) is an Indian actress, entrepreneur and the winner of the Miss Universe 2000 pageant. She was previously crowned as Miss Intercontinental 1997. In her career, she has primarily worked in Hindi films. She is the r ...
. She also features as a prominent character in the novel ''Flashman and the Cobra Flashman or Flash Man may refer to:
* Harry Flashman, a character in the 1857 novel ''Tom Brown's School Days'' by Thomas Hughes
** ''The Flashman Papers'', a series of novels by George MacDonald Fraser based on the Hughes character
*** Flashman (n ...
'' by Robert Brightwell.
Begum Samru appears as the antagonist in the British colonial author William Browne Hockley's short story "The Natch".
Sir Walter Scott's Old Mother Montreville in '' The Surgeon's Daughter'' is based on Begum Samru.
See also
* Nautch
The nautch (; meaning "dance" or "dancing")Scott A. Kugle, 2016When Sun Meets Moon: Gender, Eros, and Ecstasy in Urdu Poetry p.230. was a popular court dance performed by girls (known as "nautch girls") in India. The culture of the performing ...
* Tawaif
A ''tawaif'' was a highly successful entertainer who catered to the nobility of the Indian subcontinent, particularly during the Mughal Empire, Mughal era. The tawaifs excelled in and contributed to music, dance (mujra), theatre, and the Urdu l ...
* Prostitution in colonial India
The practice of prostitution in colonial India was influenced by the policies of British rule in India. During the 19th and 20th centuries the colonial government facilitated, regulated and allowed the existence of prostitution. Not only was pro ...
Citations
References
* .
* .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samru, Begum
1753 births
1836 deaths
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Islam
People from Meerut district
Kashmiri people
Indian former Muslims
Indian courtesans
Indian female royalty
Indian Roman Catholics
Women in Jammu and Kashmir politics
Indian women in war
Stabbing survivors
Women in 18th-century warfare
Women in 19th-century warfare
18th-century Indian women politicians
18th-century Indian politicians
19th-century Indian women politicians
19th-century Indian politicians
18th-century Indian women artists
19th-century Indian women artists
Dancers from Jammu and Kashmir
Women artists from Jammu and Kashmir
18th-century dancers
18th-century Indian artists