I have grown up in a world where I have always seen people moving out of Pakistan and India in search of a better life. There is a large diaspora of Indians and Pakistanis outside the subcontinent due to a variety of economic, political, and social reasons. Things weren’t always this way. There was a time when a large number of people from Europe were moving to India to try their luck.

I finished reading White Mughals last night. Aside from the fascinating story of an interracial love affair in Mughal India, the book contains a wealth of interesting historical information about Europeans living in India. Dalyrmple uses the term ‘White Mughals’ to refer to Europeans that lived in India in 18th and 19th centuries who adopted Indian culture and norms. Many spoke Indian languages, wore Indian clothes, married Indian women, and even practiced Indian religions. This tolerant era of multiculturalism ended around the mid 19th century. As the British became more dominant, their attitudes towards Indians changed. The Victorian era that followed didn’t promote the tolerance exhibited by the previous generations and the English started to look down upon Indian culture. Those who appreciated Indian culture were frowned up but the worst of the prejudice was saved for those that belonged to a mixed race. They were considered outsiders by both sides. By the end of the 1857 mutiny, the mutual respect and appreciation between Indians and British has dissipated to a large extent and the culture of white Mughals had vanished. The moderates and Anglo Indians were forced to pick a side from two extremes.

The establishment of the British East India Company resulted in many English citizens moving to India. This migration gave rise to the culture of the white Mughals. Among the white Mughals of Dalrymple’s book there were also some characters that originated from Ireland. This certainly piqued my curiosity as a couple of months ago I wrote a post about Shaykh Din Muhammad who might have been the first Indian to come to Ireland. The Irish white Mughals may have been amongst the first Irishmen to go to India. Dalrymple identified Major-General Charles Stuart, George Thomas, and Thomas Legge in his book. All three of these individuals came from Ireland and seemed to have much respect for Indian culture. They were so well assimilated into the society that I think they could be called Irish Mughals.

Thomas Legge

Thomas Legge was from Donaghdee in Ulster, which is a part of Northern Ireland. At a young age he joined a warship that was headed for Madras. He deserted the British marines when the ship arrived in India and went across the country. He reached Sindh in 1775 and stayed there for a few years before moving to Rajasthan. He served as mercenary for Jat Rana of Gohad for a while and then moved to Kabul, Afghanistan. He spent many years in Afghanistan and went as far as Bokhara before he eventually returned to Jaipur, Rajasthan. He married a Portuguese woman in Jaipur and once again served in the Jaipur army.

Legge practiced Indian healing arts, alchemy and divination and seemed to be quite an eccentric individual. He loved to tell tales and legends from central Asia and believed that he had discovered the Garden of Eden somewhere in the Hindu Kush Mountains. Legge eventually renounced his former life, became a fakir (mystic) and moved into a deserted tomb on the outskirts of Jaipur. He spent the rest of his life in the tomb and passed away in 1808.

George Thomas

George Thomas was born around 1756 in Roscea, a town in county Tipperary. He was a mercenary who eventually created his own state in modern day Haryana. He was called the ‘Irish Raja’, ‘The Rajah from Tipperary’, and ‘Jehaz Sahib’.

Thomas built a palace complete with a harem and issued his own coins. He also built a fort called ‘George Ghar’. He became so assimilated into Indian society that he had forgotten how to speak English towards the end of his life. He died in 1802. His son named Ian Thomas became a celebrated Urdu poet and lived in Delhi.

Major-General Charles Stuart

Charles Stuart who was also called ‘Hindoo Stuart’ was born in 1758 and moved to India in his teenage years. Charles referred to himself as a ‘convert to Hinduism’ in his writings and practiced the religion until he died. Reports indicate that he bathed in the Ganges every day, regularly performed puja and refrained from eating beef. Stuart had an unusual passion for Hinduism. He lived in two worlds; one in which he served in the company’s army and the other where he lived like an Indian. He had an Indian wife and Brahmin cooks who made food for his family. Once he wrote some articles for the Calcutta Telegraph where he tried to persuade European women into adopting the Sari as a dress as he believed that with their European clothes they couldn’t compete with the beauty of Indian women.

After reading this book, I was left thinking that the world must been so different during the era of the white Mughals. Countries and cultures were distant and separated as it was much more difficult to travel. Rapid Communication and international media didn’t exist either. But, tolerant and open-minded individuals existed and were willing to look past differences.  They accepted and appreciated each other’s cultures even if it was for a little while.  After all of our gains in terms of advancement we are still dealing with vague but hateful issues of ‘clash of civilizations’ between East and West, conflicts between Islam and Christianity, bigotry and narrow-minded ethnocentrism. If the individuals who lived in the era of the white Mughals could live peacefully amongst various religions, ethnicities, and cultures then there’s no reason why we can’t.

Major-General Charles Stuart
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major-General_Charles_Stuart

George Thomas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Thomas_%28soldier%29

Thomas Legge
http://home.alphalink.com.au/~agilbert/legge2.html