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       #Post#: 16173--------------------------------------------------
       "Wicked Women of the Raj" by Coralie Younger
       By: Alharacas Date: May 25, 2019, 6:21 pm
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       It's about European women who married Indian princes. Lots of
       depressing stories about dead-poor actresses and dancers who
       somehow "caught the Maharajah's eye" and/or basically got sold
       into marriage by their relatives (for quite impressive sums, of
       course), and who then usually died of either tuberculosis or
       alcoholism, but most of all of loneliness. Their in-laws and the
       first - Indian - wives were less than thrilled by the European
       competition, while the British government - having first tried
       to stop the marriage from taking place at all - usually refused
       to acknowledge their existence. Meaning they were "not
       received", the equivalent of social death.
       However, there is the odd exception. My favourite so far is
       Elizabeth Louise McKenzie, who wrote her autobiography under the
       pseudonym Morag Murray. She fell in love with Syed/Sirdar
       Abdullah, a Pathan chieftain's son, while he was studying
       medicine at the University of Edinburgh in 1916. "Syed's father,
       who was strongly opposed to the union, cabled asking Morag if
       she came from a Highland clan of warriors and whether, if called
       upon, she was able to hold the fort."
       "Syed's father's domain [lay] in what the British called 'No
       Man's Land' - an eight-hundred-mile corridor of land between
       Chinese Turkhestan in the north and Baluchistan in the south,
       which separated India from Afghanistan. [...] The seventy-eight
       clans of the region, each of which consisted of several thousand
       people, warred among themselves even more than they did against
       intruders. A clan Chieftain's house would be in the middle of a
       village, surrounded by high walls with watchtowers at the
       corners and gateways that were closed and bolted at dusk."
       "Syed was devoted to Morag. He was openly affectionate, calling
       her his bulbul, his nightingale, and gave her much greater
       independence than most men in his position would have done. In
       turn, Morag not only embraced Islam but also Syed's country and
       his way of life, acting with courage and imagination. When her
       sister-in-law Salima became engaged to the son of the chief of
       Killa Fort, the women celebrated with an engagement feast marked
       by displays of shooting, jumping and wrestling. While their
       attention was focused on these athletic displays, a stranger
       stole into the fort and took off with a splendid Arab horse, one
       of the engagement gifts. The men rode off in hot pursuit but
       while they were away, the fort was attacked by brigands. Morag
       and the women held off the assault until the men returned and
       managed to repulse the brigands."
       "On another occasion when the fort was under attack and Syed and
       his men were in danger, Morag took advantage of the clansmen's
       superstition to save the day. She dressed up in long white
       flowing robes and pretended to be the mythical White Lady - a
       figure both revered and feared. This caused consternation among
       the attackers and the raid failed."
       "Morag's most dangerous adventure took place in Snake Valley.
       While travelling through this barren territory, she was captured
       by a ferocious old brigand who said he loved her and was intent
       on marrying her. He locked her away in a room in his decaying
       fort which writhed with snakes 'brought back from hindoostan',
       saying he would not release her until she agreed to become his
       wife. Ever resourceful, Morag found some rags, knotted them
       together, lowered herself down from the window and escaped."
       Edit: I've now finished it. And "Mostly rather stupid, very
       greedy and generally quite unfortunate women" really would have
       been a better title. Apart from Elizabeth/Morag - who doesn't
       love a soppy love story? - what most stood out in the book to me
       were casually strewn-in phrases to the tune of "...the
       Maharajah, whose father had just been forced to abdicate by the
       British...". It's proof - not that it's needed - that you often
       know something without really being aware of its implications.
       Because of course I'd known long before I read the book that
       British occupation was no walk in the park for India, but it was
       these half-sentences which really brought home the constant
       humiliations, large and small, its people were subjected to in
       colonial times.
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