Do You Know Kashmir Dancing Girl, Begum Sumru Owned A Kingdom In North India?

by Ashok Ogra

A four-and-a-half-foot-tall girl picked up from the streets of Delhi by a Kotha owner went on to rule a prosperous kingdom for 55 years, in a time where empires were tumbling and no man was safe- is truly an inspiring story.

How many know that Sardhana Tehsil in Meerut and two villages in Gurgaon -Jharsa and Badshapur – (where Medanta Hospital and other high end apartments stand today) – were gifted by the then emperor of Delhi Shah Alam to a dancing girl from Kashmir, Zebu Nisan Farzana.

This was in recognition of Farzana’s services of crushing a rebellion against Shah Alam in 1787.

Farzana was known by the name Begum Samru after she is reported to have secretly married a German, an Austrian mercenary, Walter Reinhardt Sombre, who would readily lend his services to any ruler willing to pay him loads of money and territory?

Today, Begum Samru’s Mahal at Badshahpur has been encroached upon to house an illegal colony.

The Mahal was built by Prithvi Raj Chauhan’s brother and Begum Samru lived there later.

Begum Samru was a nautch ( dancing) girl in the eighteenth century who eventually became the ruler of Sardhana, a small princely state near Meerut.

The Background

During the mid eigteenth century the central authority of the Mughal Empire bore pale resemblance to its earlier power and might. After Nadir Shah’s invasion of India in 1739, the Mughal Empire started crumbling with rulers of smaller principalities asserting their independence.

By the end of the eigteenth century, it was said about the Mughal ruler Shah Alam II that his writ ran only up to the Delhi suburb of Palam. He barely had 5000 troops. With no strong central power, all were scrambling for a piece of the pie.

This was also the heyday for European mercenaries, trained in European technology and organisation who offered their services to the highest bidder.

Walter Reinhardt Sombre was one such mercenary who came to India in 1750 as part of the French army. He had a very swarthy complexion and most of his European Comrades had used the sobriquet of Le Sombre.

Walter Reinhardt owed allegiance only to those who paid him at the moment. He served under Lord Dupleix, but he left them for a corps of Swiss mercenaries in the employ of the East India Company.

However, he seems to have done a great deal of wondering one way and another ultimately he went over to Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal.

With the help of Walter Reinhardt Sombre, Mir Qasim, chafing under British dominance, reoccupied Patna, after carrying out the massacre of about 150 Englishmen. Now called the Butcher of Patna, Reinhardt fled British retribution to Oudh.

According to some historians, it was sometime in 1765, at the age of 45, Sombre dropped into Khanum Bai’s kotha at GB Road, Old Delhi – for an evening of entertainment and met the charming 15-year-old Kashmiri dancer Farzana, who he soon moved to his zenana. Many Europeans maintained large harems. Farzana became Sombre’s companion and comrade in arms.

(According to some historians it was her mother and not Farzana who was the dancing girl. Similarly, it is not clear whether she actually married Sombre. But that that they were of Kashmiri descent and lived in the Kotha is not in doubt.)

In the next three years of living in Delhi, Sombre and Farzana entrenched themselves in the Mughal court. No wonder they were rewarded with the rich Jagir of SardhanaTehsil near Meerut.

The Rise of Begum

However, Walter Reinhardt Sombre did not live long to enjoy his good fortune, and died in 1778. As per the norm, his son Zafaryab Khan from his first marriage should have inherited the Jagir. But Farzana who was now known Begum Samru (from Sombre) was not about to give up her powers without a fight: she managed to get her troops to support her, and used her influence with Najaf Khan to get Sardhana secured for her.

She converted to Christianity and took the name of Joanna Nobilis Samru but she remained popular as Begum Samru in the region.

So the Begum began her career as the supreme commander of about 4,000 troops with about a 100-odd Europeans, and held court in Sardhana.

She would lead her troops into battle, and won many. She came to the help of hapless Shah Alam’s rescue many a time.

One instance was in 1783, when Baghel Singh occupied Delhi, and camped with 30000 Sikh soldiers in the area which was thus named Tis Hazari. A petrified Shah Alam asked the Begum to negotiate: she managed to get rid of them for the right to build eight gurdwaras in Delhi and a percentage of the octroi for that year.

Shah Alam admired her military acumen and he started calling her his “beloved daughter” and gave her the title Zeb-un-nisa (ornament among women).

In His Memory

In memory of Walter Reinhardt Sambru, She had an Italian-style basilica in Sardhan- based on St Peter’s in Rome. The architect of the church was Antonio Reghellini. It was completed in 1820. She sent a request to the Pope to send a Bishop.

In a letter dated January 21, 1834, she wrote to him: “I am proud to say, it (the church) is acknowledged to be the finest, without exception, in India.”

Begum Samru also patronised artists and poets. She died childless at Sardhana, the capital of her principality, in January 1837 at the age of 85. Soon after the estate reverted to the British government, which undertook to turn it over to its proper heirs.

Jharsa Cantonment

Begum Samru is credited with establishing a huge Cantonment in Jharsa village in Gurgaon where she would train her army. She built a huge palace in Gurgaon that is now the residence of the district Deputy Commissioner.

Besides, she built palatial palace Sombru Mahal in Chandni Chowk, Delhi. After her death, one gentleman by name Bhagirath bought it and is now know as Bhagirathi palace – now famous for electric shops.

According to the Gurgaon District Gazetteer, 1983, “Begum Samru owned the pargana of Jharsa or Badshahpur.” In another mention, she is described as the “well known Begum” and her husband was Sombre.

The British brought both Badshapur and Jharsa under their control vide a notification issued by the then Deputy Commissioner on October 1, 1866.

A four-and-a-half-foot-tall girl picked up from the streets of Delhi by a Kotha owner went on to rule a prosperous kingdom for 55 years, in a time where empires were tumbling and no man was safe- is truly an inspiring story.

With her diplomatic abilities and her commanding presence, Begum Joanna Nobilis “Samru” is an unlikely feminist icon from the eighteenth century.

(Author is former Associate Professor at Film and Television Institute of India who has also served Discovery Channel India. It appeared in Daily Excelsior Jammu on October 7, 2018. The write-up was lifted from author’s social media page with permission.)