Traitors Of India

Topical 1 for the 23rd June 2007- the 250th anniversary of the battle of Plassey.

By K.D.L.Khan The word Namakharam-literally Untrue to the Salt is a very derisive word in Hindi.

Indian history is replete with namakharams, who deceived and left their masters in the lurch, like the greatest namakharam of all nawab Mir Jafar..

It is interesting to consider the story of other namakharams, who also plotted the victory of the enemy over their own masters.

There are havelis and even mazhars ( tombs) in dishonourable memory of these rogues.

In the famous Chandni Chowk street of old Delhi we have a mansion known as Namakharam's ke Haveli.

It was owned by Bhawani Shankar,one of the most trusted companions of Jaswant Rao a great Maratha warrior, who was fighting the British..

Bhawani Shankar later deserted him at a crucial moment and went over to the British side.

Thus he was called a namakharam and hence, the strange name for his haveli (mansion) persists even today.

But a mazhar or tomb for a Namakharam is unbelievable, but we have that too in India.

Situated at Etawah-Ffarrukhabad road in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh is Chughalkhor's Mazaar (backbiter's tomb).

Chughalkor is a slang term for Namakharam.

The belief attached to the tomb is that if any tormented or craving person hits the tomb five times with either a shoe or a slipper his or her wish will be granted.

Legend goes that the man who lies buried in the tomb was a backbiter.

Though the centuries-old structure today has turned effete, it has not lost the significance attached to it.

Behind all this are different tales, that are part history, part legend and one that goes back to the earliest Muslim invasion of India by Muhammad Ghauri.

According to one, the man buried in the tomb, posing as a Pir, had got many battalions of the Rajput King fighting Muhammad Ghauri, killed through treachery.

It is believed that the king considered this betrayal of trust as an unpardonable crime, and so sentenced the man to death.

To hold it as a lesson to the future generations, the king is said to have ordered an epitaph on the grave inscribed with the title Chughalkhor ka Mazaar and declaring that whoever will hit the tomb five times with either a shoe or a slipper will certainly get his wish granted.

Over the last 900 years, many locals found that their wishes had been granted and the mazaar is well known in Etawah.While the epitaph has been lost.

The title can be seen even today scribbled on the inner walls of the tomb.

Of course, the first prize among Namakharams goes to Mir Jafar, the general of Nawab Siraj ud daula, who did not allow his soldiers to fight the British in crucial stages of the Battle of Plassey, on June 23, 1757, 250 years ago and thus ensured the imposition of British rule in India.

In the city of Murshidabad we have the ruins of the old palace of Mir Jafar, the most dishonourable of the namakharams of our nation.

It is interesting to recount here how Mir Jafar entered Indian history.

Mir Jafar Ali Khan (1691-1765)ÿ was an Arab by descent (son of Sayyed Ahmad Najafi) and had come to India as a penniless adventurer like his master Nawab Alivardi Khan, who gave him the hand of his half-sister (Shah Khanam) and raised him to the post of bakhshi, a position next only to the nawab himself.

Alivardi Khan was succeeded by his son.

the 20 year old Nawab Sirajuddaula.

But this was not welcome to Mir Jafar, who wanted to become the Nawab himself and opened negotiations with the British for the overthrow of his master.

The infamous meeting to finalise the betrayal between Mir Jafar and the Britisher Watts took place at Jaffarganj palace of the traitor, in Murshidabad.

This palace now stands in ruins at the place, but close to it is a gate called Namakharamer Deori (literally traitor's gate) where Watts is supposed to have entered the palace disguised as a purdanasheen (Urdu for veiled) lady in a palanquin.

At six o'clock in the morning of June 23, 1757, the battle of Plassey began, and by five in the afternoon the huge Indian army with elephants and camels, horses and clumsy ox-drawn cannon, was fleeing from the field.

So far Mir Jafar had not helped Clive, neither, however, had he helped the Nawab.

He had stood aloof waiting to see which side would win.

And when the Nawab's most trusty general Mir Madan was killed and the Nawab himself in despair threw his turban on the ground at the namakharam's feet, begging for help, he soothed him with soft words.

But instead of helping him he sent more messages to Clive, asking him to attack the Nawab's army.and India lost the Battle of Plassey..

Plassey is one of the most important of Indian battles.

It is not important because of the number killed-on Clive's side there were only twenty-two and on the Nawab's five or six hundred.

It is important because at one blow it gave to Britain the whole of Bengal, for Mir Jafar was merely a tool in the hands of the British.

As per their agreement, Clive collected 25 million rupees for the company, and 2.5 million rupees for himself from the Nawab's treasury.

In addition, Watts collected a million rupees for his efforts.

The annual rent of three lakhs of rupees payable by the Company for use of the land around Fort William was also transferred to Clive for life.

Becoming the Nawab cost Mir Jafar the initial amount of 3 million pounds, which in terms the purchasing power of 2007 is nearly 3000 crores of rupees.

A cheap enough price for the East India Company, but costly for the Indian Nation.