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Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official by William Sleeman

W >> William Sleeman >> Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official




The Firozpur Jagir was one of the principalities created under the
principle of Lord Cornwallis's second administration, which was to
make the security of the British dominions dependent upon the
divisions among the independent native chiefs upon their frontiers.
The person receiving the grant or confirmation of such principality
from the British Government 'pledged himself to relinquish all claims
to aid, and to maintain the peace in his own possessions.'[5]
Firozpur was conferred by Lord Lake, in 1805, upon Ahmad Baksh, for
his diplomatic services, out of the territories acquired by us west
of the Jumna during the Maratha wars. He had been the agent on the
part of the Hindoo chiefs of Alwar in attendance upon Lord Lake
during the whole of that war. He was a great favourite, and his
lordship's personal regard for him was thought by those chiefs to
have been so favourable to their cause that they conferred upon him
the 'pargana' of Loharu in hereditary rent-free tenure.


In 1822, Ahmad Baksh declared Shams-ud-din, his eldest son, his heir,
with the sanction of the British Government and the Rajas of Alwar.
In February, 1825, Shams-ud-din, at the request of his father, by a
formal deed assigned over the pargana of Loharu as a provision for
his younger brothers by another mother, Amin-ud-din and Zia-ud-
din;[6] and in October 1826 he was finally invested by his father
with the management; and the circumstance was notified to the British
Government, through the Resident at Delhi, Sir Charles Metcalfe.
Ahmad Baksh died in October, 1827. Disputes soon after arose between
the brothers, and they expressed a desire to submit their claims to
the arbitration of Sir Edward Colebrooke,[7] who had succeeded Sir
Charles Metcalfe in the Residency of Delhi.[8] He referred the matter
to the Supreme Government; and by their instructions, under date 11th
of April, 1828, he was authorized to adjust the matter. He decided
that Shams-ud-din should make a complete and unencumbered cession to
his younger brothers of the pargana of Loharu, without the
reservation of any right of interference in the management, or of any
condition of obedience to himself whatever; and that Amin-ud-din
should, till his younger brother came of age, pay into the Delhi
treasury for him the annual sum of five thousand two hundred and ten
rupees, as his half share of the net proceeds, to be there held in
deposit for him; and that the estate should, from the time he came of
age, be divided between them in equal shares. This award was
confirmed by Government; but Sir Edward was recommended to alter it
for an annual money payment to the two younger brothers, if he could
do so with the consent of the parties.

The pargana was transferred, as the money payment could not be agreed
upon; and in September Mr. Martin, who had succeeded Sir E.
Colebrooke, proposed to Government that the pargana of Loharu should
be restored to Shams-ud-din in lieu of a fixed sum of twenty-six
thousand rupees a year to be paid by him annually to his two younger
brothers. This proposal was made on the ground that Amin-ud-din could
not collect the revenues from the refractory landholders (instigated,
no doubt, by the emissaries of Shams-ud-din), and consequently could
not pay his younger brother's revenue into the treasury. In
calculating the annual net revenue of 10,420 rupees, 15,000 of the
_gross_ revenue had been estimated as the annual expenses of the
mutual [_sic_] establishments of the two brothers. To the arrangement
proposed by Mr. Martin the younger brothers strongly objected; and
proposed in preference to make over the pargana to the British
Government, on condition of receiving the net revenue, whatever might
be the amount. Mr. Martin was desired by the Governor-General to
effect this arrangement, should Amin-ud-din appear still to wish it;
but he preferred retaining the management of it in his own hands, in
the hope that circumstances would improve.

Shams-ud-din, however, pressed his claim to the restoration of the
pargana so often that it was at last, in September, 1833, insisted
upon by Government, on the ground that Amin-ud-din had failed to
fulfil that article of the agreement which bound him to pay annually
into the Delhi treasury 5,210 rupees for his younger brother, though
that brother had never complained; on the contrary, lived with him on
the best possible terms, and was as averse as himself to the
retransfer of the pargana, on condition that they gave up their
claims to a large share of the movable property of their late father,
which had been already decided in their favour in the court of first
instance. Mr. W. Fraser, who had succeeded to the office of Governor-
General's representative in the Delhi Territories, remonstrated
strongly against this measure; and wished to bring it again under the
consideration of Government; on the grounds that Zia-ud-din had never
made any complaint against his brother Amin-ud-din for want of
punctuality in the payment of his share of the net revenue after the
payment of their mutual establishments; that the two brothers would
be deprived by this measure of an hereditary estate to the value of
sixty thousand rupees a year in perpetuity, burthened with the
condition that they relinquished a suit already gained in the court
of first instance, and likely to be gained in appeal, involving a sum
that would of itself yield them that annual sum at the moderate
interest of 6 per cent. The grounds alleged by him were not
considered valid, and the pargana was made over to Shams-ud-din. The
pargana now yields 40,000 rupees a year, and under good management
may yield 70,000.

At Mr. Fraser's recommendation, Amin-ud-din went himself to Calcutta,
and is said to have prevailed upon the Government to take his case
again into their consideration. Shams-ud-din had become a debauched
and licentious character; and having criminal jurisdiction within his
own estate, no one's wife or daughter was considered safe; for, when
other means failed him, he did not scruple to employ assassins to
effect his hated purposes, by removing the husband or father.[9] Mr.
Fraser became so disgusted with his conduct that he would not admit
him into his house when he came to Delhi, though he had, it may be
said, brought him up as a child of his own; indeed he had been as
fond of him as he could be of a child of his own; and the boy used to
spend the greater part of his time with him. One day after Mr. Fraser
had refused to admit the Nawab to his house. Colonel Skinner, having
some apprehensions that by such slights he might be driven to seek
revenge by assassination, is said to have remonstrated with Mr.
Fraser as his oldest and most valued friend.[10] Mr. Fraser told him
that he considered the Nawab to be still but a boy, and the only way
to improve him was to treat him as such. It was, however, more by
these slights than by any supposed injuries that Shams-ud-din was
exasperated; and from that day he determined to have Mr. Fraser
assassinated.[11]

Having prevailed upon a man, Karim Khan, who was at once his servant
and boon companion, he sent him to Delhi with one of his carriages,
which he was to have sold through Mr. McPherson, a European merchant
of the city. He was ordered to stay there ostensibly for the purpose
of learning the process of extracting copper from the fossil
containing the ore, and purchasing dogs for the Nawab. He was to
watch his opportunity and shoot Mr. Fraser whenever he might find him
out at night, attended by only one or two orderlies; to be in no
haste, but to wait till he found a favourable opportunity, though it
should be for several months. He had with him a groom named Rupla,
and a Mewati attendant named Ania, and they lodged in apartments of
the Nawab's at Daryaoganj. He rode out morning and evening, attended
by Ania on foot, for three months, during which he often met Mr.
Fraser, but never under circumstances favourable to his purpose; and
at last, in despair, returned to Firozpur. Ania, had importuned him
for leave to go home to see his children, who had been ill, and Karim
Khan did not like to remain without him. The Nawab was displeased
with him for returning without leave, and ordered him to return to
his post, and effect the object of his mission. Ania declined to
return, and the Nawab recommended Karim to take somebody else, but he
had, he said, explained all his designs to this man, and it would be
dangerous to entrust the secret to another; and he could, moreover,
rely entirely upon the courage of Ania on any trying occasion.

Twenty rupees were due to the treasury by Ania on account of the rent
of the little tenement he held under the Nawab; and the treasurer
consented, at the request of Karim Khan, to receive this by small
instalments, to be deducted out of the monthly wages he was to
receive from him. He was, moreover, assured that he should have
nothing to do but to cook and eat; and should share liberally with
Karim in the one hundred rupees he was taking with him in money, and
the letter of credit upon the Nawab's bankers at Delhi for one
thousand rupees more. The Nawab himself came with them as far as the
village of Nagina, where he used to hunt; and there Karim requested
permission to change his groom, as he thought Rupla too shrewd a man
for such a purpose. He wanted, he said, a stupid, sleepy man, who
would neither ask nor understand anything; but the Nawab told him
that Rupla was an old and quiet servant, upon whose fidelity he could
entirely rely; and Karim consented to take him. Ania's little
tenement, upon which his wife and children resided, was only two
miles distant, and he went to give instructions about gathering in
the harvest, and to take leave of them. He told his wife that he was
going to the capital on a difficult and dangerous duty, but that his
companion Karim would do it all, no doubt. Ania asked Karim before
they left Nagina what was to be his reward; and he told him that the
Nawab had promised them five villages in rent-free tenure. Ania
wished to learn from the Nawab himself what he might expect; and
being taken to him by Karim, was assured that he and his family
should be provided for handsomely for the rest of their lives, if he
did his duty well on this occasion.


On reaching Delhi they took up their quarters near Colonel Skinner's
house, in the Bulvemar's Ward,[12] where they resided for two months.
The Nawab had told Karim to get a gun made for his purpose at Delhi,
or purchase one, stating that his guns had all been purchased through
Colonel Skinner, and would lead to suspicion if seen in his
possession. On reaching Delhi, Karim purchased an old gun, and
desired Ania to go to a certain man in the Chandni Chauk, and get it
made in the form of a short blunderbuss, with a peculiar stock, that
would admit of its being concealed under a cloak; and to say that he
was going to Gwalior to seek service, if any one questioned him. The
barrel was cut, and the instrument made exactly as Karim wished it to
be by the man whom he pointed out. They met Mr. Fraser every day, but
never at night; and Karim expressed regret that the Nawab should have
so strictly enjoined him not to shoot him in the daytime, which he
thought he might do without much risk. Ania got an attack of fever,
and urged Karim to give up the attempt and return home, or at least
permit him to do so. Karim himself became weary, and said he would do
so very soon if he could not succeed; but that he should certainly
shoot _some European gentleman_ before he set out, and tell his
master that he had taken him for Mr. Fraser--to save appearances.
Ania told him that this was a question between him and his master,
and no concern of his.

At the expiration of two months, a peon came to learn what they were
doing. Karim wrote a letter by him to the Nawab, saying that '_the
dog_ he wished was never to be seen without ten or twelve people
about him; and that he saw no chance whatever of finding him, except
in the midst of them; but that if he wished, he would purchase this
_dog_ in the midst of the crowd'. The Nawab wrote a reply, which was
sent by a trooper, with orders that it should be opened in presence
of no one but Ania. The contents were: 'I command you not to purchase
_the dog_ in presence of many persons, as its price will be greatly
raised. You may purchase him before one person, or even two, but not
before more; I am in no hurry, the longer the time you take the
better; but do not return without purchasing _the dog_.'[13] That is,
without killing Mr. Fraser.

They went on every day to watch Mr. Fraser's movements. Leaving the
horse with the groom, sometimes in one old ruin of the city, and
sometimes in another, ready saddled for flight, with orders that he
should not be exposed to the view of passers-by, Karim and Ania used
to pace the streets, and on several occasions fell in with him, but
always found him attended by too many followers of one kind or
another for their purpose. At last, on Sunday, the 13th of March,
1835, Karim heard that Mr. Fraser was to attend a 'nach' (dance),
given by Hindoo Rao, the brother of the Baiza Bai,[14] who then
resided at Delhi; and determining to try whether he could not shoot
him from horseback, he sent away his groom as soon as he had
ascertained that Mr. Fraser was actually at the dance. Ania went in
and mixed among the assembly; and as soon as he saw Mr. Fraser rise
to depart, he gave intimation to Karim, who ordered him to keep
behind, and make off as fast as he could, as soon as he should hear
the report of his gun.


A little way from Hindoo Rao's house the road branches off; that to
the left is straight, while that to the right is circuitous. Mr.
Fraser was known always to take the straight road, and upon that
Karim posted himself, as the road up to the place where it branched
off was too public for his purpose. As it happened, Mr. Fraser, for
the first time, took the circuitous road to the right, and reached
his home without meeting Karim. Ania placed himself at the cross way,
and waited there till Karim came up to him. On hearing that he had
taken the right road, Karim said that 'a man in Mr. Fraser's
situation must be a strange ('kafir') unbeliever not to have such a
thing as a torch with him in a dark night. Had he had what he ought',
he said, 'I should not have lost him this time'.

They passed him on the road somewhere or other almost every afternoon
after this for seven days, but could never fall in with him after
dark. On the eighth day, Sunday, the 22nd of March, Karim went, as
usual, in the forenoon to the great mosque to say his prayers; and on
his way back in the afternoon he purchased some plums which he was
eating when he came up to Ania, whom he found cooking his dinner. He
ordered his horse to be saddled immediately, and told Ania to make
haste and eat his dinner, as he had seen Mr. Fraser at a party given
by the Raja of Kishangarh. '_When his time is come_,' said Karim, 'we
shall no doubt find an opportunity to kill him, if we watch him
carefully.' They left the groom at home that evening, and proceeded
to the 'dargah' (church) near the canal. Seeing Ania with merely a
Stick in his hand, Karim bid him go back and change it for a sword,
while he went in and said his evening prayers.

On being rejoined by Ania, they took the road to cantonments, which
passed by Mr. Fraser's house; and Ania observed that the risk was
hardly equal in this undertaking, he being on foot, while Karim was
on horseback; that he should be sure to be taken, while the other
might have a fair chance of escape. It was now quite dark, and Karim
bid him stand by sword in hand; and if anybody attempted to seize his
horse when he fired, cut him down, and be assured that while he had
life he would never suffer him, Ania, to be taken. Karim continued to
patrol up and down on the high-road, that nobody might notice him,
while Ania stood by the road-side. At last, about eleven o'clock,
they heard Mr. Fraser approach, attended by one trooper, and two
'peons' on foot; and Karim walked his horse slowly, as if he had been
going from the city to the cantonments, till Mr. Fraser came up
within a few paces of him, near the gate leading into his house.
Karim Khan, on leaving his house, had put one large ball into his
short blunderbuss; and when confident that he should now have an
opportunity of shooting Mr. Fraser, he put in two more small ones. As
Mr. Fraser's horse was coming up on the left side, Karim Khan tumed
round his, and, as he passed, presented his blunderbuss, fired, and
all three balls passed into Mr. Fraser's breast. All three horses
reared at the report and flash, and Mr. Fraser fell dead on the
ground. Karim galloped off, followed at a short distance by the
trooper, and the two peons went off and gave information to Major Pew
and Cornet Robinson, who resided near the place. They came in all
haste to the spot, and had the body taken to the deceased's own
house; but no signs of life remained. They reported the murder to the
magistrate, and the city gates were closed, as the assassin had been
seen to enter the city by the trooper.

Ania ran home through the Kabul gate of the city, unperceived, while
Karim entered by the Ajmer gate, and passed first through the
encampment of Hindoo Rao, to efface the traces of his horse's feet.
When he reached their lodgings, he found Ania there before him; and
Rupla, the groom, seeing his horse in a sweat, told him that he had
had a narrow escape--that Mr. Fraser had been killed, and orders
given for the arrest of any horseman that might be found in or near
the city. He told him to hold his tongue, and take care of the horse;
and calling for a light, he and Ania tore up every letter he had
received from Firozpur, and dipped the fragments in water, to efface
the ink from them. Ania asked him what he had done with the
blunderbuss, and was told that it had been thrown into a well. Ania
now concealed three flints that he kept about him in some sand in the
upper story they occupied, and threw an iron ramrod and two spare
bullets into a well near the mosque.

The next morning, when he heard that the city gates had been all shut
to prevent any one from going out till strict search should be made,
Karim became a good deal alarmed, and went to seek counsel from
Moghal Beg, the friend of his master; but when in the evening he
heard that they had been again opened, he recovered his spirits; and
the next day he wrote a letter to the Nawab, saying that he had
purchased the dogs that he wanted, and would soon return with them.
He then went to Mr. McPherson, and actually purchased from him for
the Nawab some dogs and pictures, and the following day sent Rupla,
the groom, with them to Firozpur, accompanied by two bearers. A
pilgrim lodged in the same place with these men, and was present when
Karim came home from the murder, and gave his horse to Rupla. In the
evening, after the departure of Rupla with the dogs, four men of the
Gujar caste came to the place, and Karim sat down and smoked a pipe
with one of them,[15] who said that he had lost his bread by Mr.
Fraser's death, and should be glad to see the murderer punished--that
he was known to have worn a green vest, and he hoped he would soon be
discovered. The pilgrim came up to Karim shortly after these four men
went away, and said that he had heard from some one that he, Karim,
was himself suspected of the murder. He went again to Moghal Beg, who
told him not to be alarmed, that, happily, the Regulations were now
in force in the Delhi Territory, and that he had only to stick
steadily to one story to be safe.

He now desired Ania to return to Firozpur with a letter to the Nawab,
and to assure him that he would be stanch and stick to one story,
though they should seize him and confine him in prison for twelve
years. He had, he said, already sent off part of his clothes, and
Ania should now take away the rest, so that nothing suspicious should
be left near him.

The next morning Ania set out on foot, accompanied by Islamullah, a
servant of Moghal Beg's, who was also the bearer of a letter to the
Nawab. They hired two ponies when they became tired, but both flagged
before they reached Nagina, whence Ania proceeded to Firozpur, on a
mare belonging to the native collector, leaving Islamullah behind. He
gave his letter to the Nawab, who desired him to describe the affair
of the murder. He did so. The Nawab seemed very much pleased, and
asked him whether Karim appeared to be in any alarm. Ania told him
that he did not, and had resolved to stick to one story, though he
should be imprisoned for twelve years. 'Karim Khan,' said the Nawab,
turning to the brother-in-law of the former, Wasil Khan, and Hasan
Ali, who stood near him--'Karim Khan is a very brave man, whose
courage may be always relied on.' He gave Ania eighteen rupees, and
told him to change his name, and keep close to Wasil Khan. They
retired together; but, while Wasil Khan went to his house, Ania stood
on the road unperceived, but near enough to hear Hasan Ali urge the
Nawab to have him put to death immediately, as the only chance of
keeping the fatal secret. He went off immediately to Wasil Khan, and
prevailed upon him to give him leave to go home for that night to see
his family, promising to be back the next morning early.

He set out forthwith, but had not been long at home when he learned
that Hasan Ali, and another confidential servant of the Nawab, were
come in search of him with some troopers. He concealed himself in the
roof of his house, and heard them ask his wife and children where he
was, saying they wanted his aid in getting out some hyaenas they had
traced into their dens in the neighbourhood. They were told that he
had gone back to Firozpur, and returned; but were sent back by the
Nawab to make a more careful search for him. Before they came,
however, he had gone off to his friends Kamruddin and Johari, two
brothers who resided in the Rao Raja's territory. To this place he
was followed by some Mewatis, whom the Nawab had induced, under the
promise of a large reward, to undertake to kill him. One night he
went to two acquaintances, Makram and Shahamat, in a neighbouring
village, and begged them to send to some English gentleman in Delhi,
and solicit for him a pardon, on condition of his disclosing all the
circumstances of Mr. Fraser's murder. They promised to get everything
done for him through a friend in the police at Delhi, and set out for
that purpose, while Ania returned and concealed himself in the hills.
In six days they came with a paper, purporting to be a promise of
pardon from the court of Delhi, and desired Kamr-ud-din to introduce
them to Ania. He told them to return to him in three days, and he
would do so; but he went off to Ania in the hills, and told him that
he did not think these men had really got the papers from the English
gentlemen--that they appeared to him to be in the service of the
Nawab himself. Ania was, however, introduced to them when they came
back, and requested that the paper might be read to him. Seeing
through their designs, he again made off to the hills, while they
went out in search, they pretended, of a man to read it, but in
reality to get some people who were waiting in the neighbourhood to
assist in securing him, and taking him off to the Nawab.


Finding on their return that Ania had escaped, they offered high
rewards to the two brothers if they would assist in tracing him out;
and Johari was taken to the Nawab, who offered him a very high reward
if he would bring Ania to him, or, at least, take measures to prevent
his going to the English gentlemen. This was communicated to Ania,
who went through Bharatpur to Bareilly, and from Bareilly to
Secunderabad, where he heard, in the beginning of July, that both
Karim and the Nawab were to be tried for the murder, and that the
judge, Mr. Colvin, had already arrived at Delhi to conduct the trial.
He now determined to go to Delhi and give himself up. On his way he
was met by Mr. Simon Fraser's man, who took him to Delhi, when he
confessed his share in the crime, became king's evidence at the
trial, and gave an interesting narrative of the whole affair.

Two water-carriers, in attempting to draw up the brass jug of a
carpenter, which had fallen into the well the morning after the
murder, pulled up the blunderbuss which Karim Khan had thrown into
the same well. This was afterwards recognized by Ania, and the man
whom he pointed out as having made it for him. Two of the four
Gujars, who were mentioned as having visited Karim immediately after
the murder, went to Brigadier Fast, who commanded the troops at
Delhi, fearing that the native officers of the European civil
functionaries might be in the interest of the Nawab, and get them
made away with. They told him that Karim Khan seemed to answer the
description of the man named in the proclamation as the murderer of
Mr. Fraser; and he sent them with a note to the Commissioner, Mr.
Metcalfe, who sent them to the Magistrate, Mr. Fraser, who
accompanied them to the place, and secured Karim, with some fragments
of important papers. The two Mewatis, who had been sent to
assassinate Ania, were found, and they confessed the fact: the
brother of Ania, Rahmat, was found and he described the difficulty
Ania had to escape from the Nawab's people sent to murder him. Rupla,
the groom, deposed to all that he had seen during the time he was
employed as Karim's groom at Delhi. Several men deposed to having met
Karim, and heard him asking after Mr. Fraser a few days before the
murder. The two peons, who were with Mr. Fraser when he was shot,
deposed to the horse which he rode at the time, and which was found
with him.

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Various - "Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 102, June 11, 1892"

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We do not know the women's names, but their voices are quite distinct. All are pregnant. But while the first woman awaits the birth of her baby with a moon-like serenity, the other two are not so lucky. One, whose previous pregnancies have failed to go to term, is experiencing a heartbreaking late miscarriage; the other is a young student whose accidental pregnancy will end in her child being put up for adoption.

Sylvia Plath's only play was never intended for the stage, being broadcast instead on BBC radio in August 1962. Less than six months later, Plath killed herself, but not before the burst of astonishing creative energy that produced her extraordinary, terrifying Ariel poems.

Anyone who knows Plath's poetry will see the connection between Three Women and Plath's subsequent poems, particularly in the way she talks about the agony of childbirth, the rush of love for this tiny alien being, and both the wonder and wounded rawness of motherhood. It is a beautiful piece, full of startling imagery that draws you in through the sheer intensity of its femaleness, and because it so precisely articulates the emotions that are often thought but seldom voiced by women - certainly not in the early 1960s - about men, motherhood and our relationship to our bodies.

It's been 20 years since there has been an attempt at a professional stage version and - in a theatre world that happily accepts the poetic offerings of Sarah Kane and Debbie Tucker Green, or the staged possibilities of The Waves, one of Plath's own inspirations for the piece, I see no reason why it shouldn't be brought to life. Sadly, it doesn't breathe here, in a production by Robert Shaw that is clearly a labour of love, but which never finds a way to give the internal a physical reality. Plath's poetry, like most babies, is more robust than it appears - and won't break if treated with a little less reverence and considerably more grit.

Instead, what we are offered is tinkling piano music, mournful mood lighting, an innocuous pale setting, as well as three perfectly good but indisputably ladylike performances that capture none of the wounded redness of Plath's poetry, and do her the disservice of making her sound bleached and somewhat prissy. It's a pity. What might have been a wonder ends up a mere curiosity.

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