White Mughals
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| White Mughals | |
| Author | William Dalrymple |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Subject(s) | Narrative history |
| Publisher | Penguin Books |
| Publication date | 29 March 2002 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
| Pages | 512 pp (Paperback edition) |
| ISBN | ISBN 014200412X |
| Preceded by | The Age of Kali |
| Followed by | Begums Thugs And White Mughals - The Journals Of Fanny Parkes |
White Mughals is a 2002 history book by William Dalrymple.
Dalrymple's fifth major book is a work of social history about the warm relations that existed between the British and some Indians in the 18th and early 19th century, when one in three British men in India was married to an Indian woman. It documents the interracial liaisons between British officers, such as Major-General Charles Stuart, and Indian women, and the geopolitical context of late 18th century India. Like From the Holy Mountain, it also examines the interactions of Christianity and Islam, emphasizing the surprisingly porous relationship between the two in pre-modern times.
At the heart of White Mughals is the story of a love affair which saw a British dignitary, the East India Company resident of Hyderabad, Captain James Achilles Kirkpatrick, convert to Islam and marry Khair-un-Nissa, a Hyderabadi noblewoman of royal Mughal descent. As the British resident of Hyderabad, Kirkpatrick is shown to balance the requirements of his employers, the East India Company, with his sympathetic attitude to the Nizam of Hyderabad.
Kirkpatrick and Khair-un-Nissa's children were, Sahib Allum, later christened William George Kirkpatrick and Noor un-Nissa, Sahib Begum, later christened Kitty Kirkpatrick.
