Formal history has paid scant attention to the unusual story of a nautch girl who died in 1836 as a Christian princes, honoured by Emperor Shah Alam, and the friend and ally of the last foreign conquerors of India. Her life spanned the inglorious decline of Moghul rule in Hindustan, known as Gardi Ka Waqt (‘time of troubles’) and the extension of British power up to the southern limits of the Sikh Kingdom of Punjab. Farzana, wife and then widow of General Walter Reinhardt, titled Zebun Nissa by the grateful Emperor, though known simply as Begam Samru, was an indomitable survivor. Never once did she miss a step in the merciless struggle for power, until her woman’s heart warmed to an ill-judged Romance with a glamorous French chevalier in her own service. She paid dearly for it, being captured in flight by her own mutinous soldiers, chained to a cannon in the sun until she was rescued by a former admirer and restored to power. Thenceforth she steeled herself against any such waywardness. She died when nearly ninety, mourned by the thousands for whom she has been the sole benefactor. The Jaidad of Sardhana, given to her by the Emperor, and confirmed by the British in 1805, reverted to the Government upon her death. Her memory, however, lives on in the imposing Italianate cathedral she caused to be built where once she had ruled. Her tomb, surmounted by Tadolini’s statuary, and a shrine beside it, became in Indian terms an urs, drawing thousands of pilgrims from all over the country throughout the year on the second Sunday of November, and a constant stream throughout the year. Tourists and curious visitors, as they approach the spired basilica rising from the fertile plains of the Doab, greatly wonder at how a once obscure woman came to create so inspiring a memorial to her faith.
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