White Mughals

White Mughals is a blend of a history and a biography, set in late 1700 Hyderabad- India. The main character is the British resident of Hyderabad, Major James Achilles Kirkpatrick (1764-1805). As resident his role is to represent British interests at the Nizam Ali Khan's court. Like many of his contemporaries in India, Kirkpatrick takes a real liking to the particular Indian culture of the time and enculturates to an amzazing degree: he becomes fluent in the local languages, wears local dress and runs his household according to local custom. Even more, he takes a wife from a noble Indian family, the Begum Khair Un-Nissa. All this makes him remarkably effective as a diplomat, as evidenced by his negotiating three crucial treaties between the Nizam and the British. But it also makes him suspect in the eyes of his own people, most notably some of the military establishment of the "colonial force". Because of Kirkpatrick's sympathies for the Nizam and his people, he also becomes increasingly by what he considers the bullying tactics of the British Governor General, RIchard Colley Wellesley. All this leads to his eventually downfall...
The book is very well researched and gives a deep insight into the life and culture of India at that time. It depicts the blending of Hindu and Islamic cultures at the court of the Nizam, and the moral depravity of many of the British of that time. In describing the life of Kirkpatrick and other "white Mughals" i.e. people who pretty fully inculturated themselves, Dalrymple wants to show that "East and West are not irreconcilable, and never have been. Only fear, bigotry, prejudice, racism and fear drive them apart. But they have met and mingled in the past; and they will meet again." (page 501).
A very good read indeed.


Dalrymple, William. 2003. White Mughals. London: Flamingo.