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29. BEGUM JĀN (QUEEN OF LIFE), BAURIKZYE.
A CANDAHAR LADY OF RANK.
IN continuation of the description of the dress and peculiarities of the women of Afghaunistaun, I take advantage of the opportunity offered, to introduce the portrait of a Baurikzye lady, by name Begum Jān (Queen of Life). When out of doors, or taking horse exercise, these ladies don an immense white sheet, reaching from the top of the skull-cap to the feet; a long square veil, attached by a clasp of gold or jewels to the back of the head, conceals the face, across which is an opening of net-work, to admit light and air. This dress is called a “Boorkha.” It conceals the whole figure, all outline of which is so entirely lost, that a stranger, on first viewing a party of these shrouded beings flitting about him in the streets, might well be at a loss to guess to what class of creatures they belonged. In addition to the winding-sheet, they wear long loose white boots of calico, fastened by a silken garter (Dulakbund), above the knee, and turned back like a falling collar, in order to display the lining. The soles of these bag-like leggings are of shawl, and the garters, “in their glitt’ring tissues bear imblaz’d Holy memorials, acts of zeal and love Recorded eminent,” from the Koraun, with scrolls and birds; the loose boots and veils also are embroidered in white and coloured silks. They sit astride on horseback, generally behind their own husband, or one of their own sex―if alone, a man leads the horse.
The construction of Afghaun houses in general is peculiar. The sides of the rooms are formed wholly, or in part, of open arches, supported on carved pillars of wood or masonry. A succession of large and small niches run up the dead wall from floor to ceiling, in which the women arrange their habiliments, toilette cases, china ware, ornaments, dried fruits, confectionery and “Culleeauns” (pipes). The interior walls are covered with talc paste, which, when wet, is embossed with elaborate scrolls and patterns, and the glittering silvery character, common to this mineral, gives a pleasing appearance of brightness and solidity to the whole. The ceilings are often enameled with looking-glasses, cut into every variety of shape, gilded and coloured woods, painted glass, peddles, and trellis-work filling up the intermediate squares. On the floor a wadded quilt is spread, over which is placed a rich Persian carpet, of smaller dimensions, with a cover of white flowered muslin stretched above the whole. Round the apartment are piled large and small pillows of silk and velvet, ornamented with numerous tassels. In winter, half-buried in these cushions, the wealthier people collect round the “Sundlee,” a low, stool-like frame, under which burns a pan of live charcoal, which is placed in the centre of the room. A large shawl or chintz coverlet is spread over it, and is pulled to the chin by the inmates, who, lying around in a circle, with their feet meeting in the middle, enjoy the grateful warmth, which is diffused over the whole body by this singular practice, to the comfort of which I can testify.
Many of these Afghaun ladies have rendered their names celebrated in history by their conjugal attachment, and devotion to the cause they supported. Among the heroines I may be allowed to mention one (whose name has already been immortalized by the able pen of Sir Alexander Burnes), the Wuffadar Begum (Faithful Queen), the favourite wife of Shauh Shujau-ool-Moolk, who, during her exile at Lahore, saved, by her undaunted courage and determination, the famous diamond, Coh-i-noor (Mountain of Light), from the covetous grasp of Runjeet Sing, at the same time delivering herself from the advances, and her daughters from the “Zunaunkhana” (Haram) of the profligate monarch. On his dethronement, in 1809, Shauh Shujau contemplated throwing himself on the mercy of his ancient foe (Runjeet), against the counsel of his faithful queen. He did so, however, in opposition to her sage advice, and was immediately imprisoned, barbarously insulted, and the Coh-i-noor stolen by his treacherous host. Whereupon the Begum effected her escape in disguise to our provinces, made arrangements, by undermining the houses near his prison, for the rescue of the Shauh, laid horses on the road, and setting an example of coolness and intrepidity to those who aided her in the bold attempt to free the royal prisoner, completely succeeded in her project.
During those operations of the Candahar force which, commencing in 1840 (when tranquility prevailed through the remainder of Afghaunistaun), continued through the general rise up to our evacuation of the city itself on August 8th, 1842, we were carrying on incessant warfare night and day with the Douraunees, who combined in most earnest opposition against us at one time under two powerful chiefs, Ukraum and Aukhtar, Khauns of Zemeendauwur, a district south of Candahar. On the seventeenth of August, 1841, their army, consisting of five thousand men, was met at the Ghurree (fort) of Secunderabad, in the valley of Durawut on the Heraut frontier, by a force commanded by the late brave and experienced officer Major Griffin, consisting of four six-pounders, three hundred and fifty men of the 2nd Bengal Grenadiers, eight hundred 1st and 5th Shauh’s Infantry, a wing of Leeson’s Cavalry, and the Jaunbauz Horse. The enemy received us on the heights, and stood a gallant charge of bayonets from the whole line. We lost one hundred and fifty, killed and wounded, and the Douraunees seven hundred left on the field. The brunt of the affray fell on Lieut. Cooke’s and Travers’ companies of the 2nd Grenadiers, the latter of whom killed four men single-handed. This proved a more bloody encounter than any our troops had been engaged in since we entered the country; seven hundred casualties on the enemy’s side, being equal to more than one-third of those that occurred during the whole of Lord Keane’s campaign, and nearly double the amount of the slain at any of the thirty actions which took place since February 1840. After this and several other engagements, which, with much loss on both sides, ended in their total discomfiture, both these chieftains still refused to tender their allegiance to the Shauh. Aukhtar Khaun preferred flight to the mountains of Hindoo Coosh, to “Knee-tribute yet unpaid, prostration vile, That were low indeed, and shame beneath This downfall, thus to bow and sue for grace With suppliant knee.” Not so Ukraum, who, “tho’ the field was lost, Had courage never to submit or yield;” and so, with immortal hate, defied us. Brave warrior! ill-fated and betrayed; scarce had his determination been made known, when his enemies learnt by secret intelligence that he was to sleep with a few followers in a village on the Helmund, seventy miles south of Candahar. By a rapid night-march, and with the assistance of the traitor-spy as guide, his resting-place was surrounded by a picked body of men, and the betrayed and bewildered chief surprised in his bed. Seized and brought back a prisoner to the capital, he was tried by lynch-law, and condemned, for presuming to hold his own, and declining to profess friendship for a king and government he hated, ―to be bound hand and limb to the mouth of a cannon, and shot away. This cruel and unjust sentence was, to the shame of those who awarded it, carried into full effect.
From this date, September, 1841, till the beginning of 1842, the Douraunees, beyond night-attacks on our lines and occasional murders of our people, rested on their oars, without coming to a regular stand-up fight. But then Aukhtar Khaun again appeared, joined by all the influential chiefs around, with an army of fifteen to twenty thousand men, whom we routed at Killa e Shuk. Again in May 1842, with ten thousand men at his back, taking possession of the low rocky range of hills near cantonments, he came down upon Candahar. As the enemy drew near, a white object was observed in the centre of their front ranks, which seemed the rallying point for the “Ghazees” (champion martyrs of the faith) chieftains, Moollahs, kettle-drum, and standard-bearers. This proved to be no less a personage than the heroic widow of the slaughtered Ukraum Khaun. Throwing aside her timid nature with her “Boorkha,” she had left the sacred privacy of the Zunauna for the foremost rank in the battle-field, had bestrode her husband’s charger, and, with his standard in her hand, had assembled his tribe. Calling also on the neighbouring clans, she united them all on the grounds of one common faith and universal hatred of the Feringhees, to avenge Ukraum’s brutal death, and drive those who had slain him from the country. A desperate struggle took place. The Ladye and her allies were driven back, with a loss of four hundred men, to their encampment beyond the Urghandaub, a rapid river north-east of Candahar. Thus ended as remarkable a contest as any in the annals of Afghaun history. A cause so just, and a self-devotion so noble, merited a more successful termination.
[Keywords]
dalaqband/ sandali/ zanana-khana/ Begam Jan Barakzay/ Qandahar/ burq‘a/ Qur’an/ qaliyan/ Wafadar Begom/ Shah Shuja‘ al-Mulk/ Koh-e Nur/ Ranjit Singh/ Durrani/ Akram Khan/ Akhtar Khan/ Zamindawar/ Sekandarabad/ Dehrawad/ Janbaz/ Hindu Kush/ Ghazi/ Arghandab
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