Understanding The Self Proclaimed Decedents Of 'The House Of Awadh'

 [First published in YouthKiAwaaz]

A family, headed by Wilayat Mahal, claiming to be the descendants (and rightful claimants) to the Kingdom of Awadh made headlines in the mid-1970s, when they ensconced themselves in the first class waiting room at New Delhi Railway station, and threatened to remain there till the properties of the erstwhile royal family were given back to them.

While the legitimacy of the family was questioned, the nature of the demand and the bizarreness of the mode of protest caught the attention of the public, and the story was often picked up by the media. The family continued to be the subject of an occasional story even after they were finally settled in a ruined hunting lodge in the Ridge Forest in Delhi.

Each of those stories focussed on the eccentricity of Wilayat Mahal and her family, and on the contrast between their tall claims and the penurious conditions in which they lived, and off the odd juxtaposition of their luxurious furnishings against the grand ruins. Though the family made interesting copy, none of the reporters made an effort to verify their claim of royalty or tried to understand what made them tick.

What stands out in Aletta André and Abhimanyu Kumar’s “The House of Awadh: A Hidden Tragedy” is the empathy with which they approach the subject. Unlike others who projected the family as an extreme example of the exotic and eccentric Indian Royals, André and Kumar have, through reportage, interviews and scanning archival material, not only attempted to verify Wilayat’s claims but also tried to understand what motivated her to seek the kind of life they sought.

The book is divided into three sections- in the first part, they recount the story told in the voices of the family and their trusted retainers, in the second part, they trace the history of the Awadh dynasty and the many claimants to the title of “rightful heir”, and in the third section, they try to unravel the history of Wilayat Khan before she turned up at the railway station claiming to be the rightful heir. They have meticulously traced down people who knew Wilayat in the many stages of her life, and have not only documented the stories, but analysed them deeply to try and pierce together how and why their attitude, beliefs and actions might have changed over the years.

Though the book is the story of Wilayat Mahal, it is also a story of displacement, loss and changing loyalties. Her story encompasses the trauma of Partition, the attempts at building Pakistan and the search for a new life and identity in India. Wilayat Mahal had deep ties to Kashmir, and the book goes deep into narrating various stages of the Kashmir issue through the lived experiences of people.

The book is meticulously researched, yet at no point does it come across either as drab reportage or as sensationalism. The authors have put personal narratives in the proper historical context to tell a story that is compelling and non-judgemental. Where Wilayat Mahal and her family frauds, or were they merely victims of trauma- we will never know for sure, but this book will certainly lead us to certain conclusions.

I received a review copy from Harper Collins India, and this is my unbiased review.