The Princess and the Political Agent Read online

  BINODINI

  The Princess and the Political Agent

  Translated from the Manipuri by L. Somi Roy

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  CONTENTS

  Historical Events Timeline

  Important Characters: In Alphabetical Order

  History, Family and Fiction: A Note from the Translator

  Foreword

  The Princess and the Political Agent

  Epilogue

  Follow Penguin

  Copyright

  PENGUIN MODERN CLASSICS

  The Princess and the Political Agent

  MAHARAJ KUMARI BINODINI DEVI (1922–2011) was an award-winning writer from Manipur, in North-east India. She was the youngest daughter of Maharaja Sir Churachand Singh of the erstwhile kingdom of Manipur and his queen Maharani Dhanamanjuri Devi. Besides her Sahitya Akademi Award–winning Boro Saheb Ongbi Sanatombi (The Princess and the Political Agent), she wrote short stories, radio plays, dance dramas, essays and song lyrics. She wrote original film scripts for features and documentary films and adapted several of her works into screenplays for films like My Son, My Precious (1981) and Ishanou (1990) that premiered internationally at Cannes and the Museum of Modern Art. She was also a translator of Bangla literature and a sculptor who studied at Santiniketan. She held political office and used her writing for environmental, civil and women’s causes. She was the founder of LEIKOL, the Manipuri women writer’s collective and a founding member and president of Roop Raag, an arts organization of Manipur.

  L. SOMI ROY is the translator of his mother Binodini’s works from their original Manipuri. He is the founder of Imasi: The Maharaj Kumari Binodini Devi Foundation in Imphal. A film curator from out of New York, he has curated for US institutions like the Museum of Modern Art, Film Society of Lincoln Center, the Whitney Museum of American Art and Asia Society. He has written on film, theatre and photography for Artforum, Drama Review, the British Film Institute and International Documentary Association. He has given talks at the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian, Harvard University and the Royal Asiatic Society of London, and has taught at New York University and Manhattan Marymount College. His translations of Binodini include Crimson Rainclouds (2012) and The Maharaja’s Household: A Daughter’s Memories of Her Father (2015). He is a promoter of international polo in Manipur and works for the preservation of the Manipuri pony.

  Your Highness, my aunt,

  Please forgive my breach of courtesy.

  I have taken your royal name

  In this book I have written.

  The Princess and the Political Agent

  I dedicate to you.

  —Binodini

  Historical Events Timeline

  The Kingdom of Manipur in the 19th Century

  1819 Occupation of Manipur by the Burmese.

  1825 During the First Anglo-Burmese War, Prince Gambhirsingh and Prince Narasingh expel the Burmese from Manipur with British help. The British establish a presence in Manipur.

  1825 Princess Sanatombi’s great-grandparents Maharaja Gambhirsingh and Maharani Kumudini, Lady of Meisnam, ascend the throne.

  1833 Maharaja Gambhirsingh dies, leaving behind his two-year-old son Chandrakirti. Crown Prince Narasingh rules as regent.

  1843 Princess Sanatombi’s great-granduncle Maharaja Narasingh ascends the throne.

  1844 Grand Queen Mother Kumudini, the Lady of Meisnam, flees to India with her twelve-year-old son Chandrakirti.

  1850 Princess Sanatombi’s grandfather Maharaja Chandrakirti becomes king.

  1886 Death of Maharaja Chandrakirti.

  1886 Princess Sanatombi’s father Maharaja Surchandra becomes king.

  1886 Death of the Grand Queen Mother, the Lady of Meisnam.

  Events of the Anglo-Manipuri War (The Battle of Khongjom), 1891

  SEPTEMBER 1890 Princess Sanatombi’s uncle Prince Koireng leads a rebellion against her father Maharaja Surchandra.

  SEPTEMBER 1890 Maharaja Surchandra goes into exile in Calcutta.

  SEPTEMBER 1890 Princess Sanatombi’s uncle Maharaja Kulachandra becomes king.

  MARCH 1891 The British try to capture Prince Koireng. Five British officers including Political Agent Grimwood are massacred.

  APRIL 1891 The British attack Manipur and the Anglo-Manipuri War breaks out. The British prevail in the Battle of Khongjom.

  APRIL 1891 Major Maxwell arrives in Manipur. He raises the Union Jack.

  AUGUST 1891 The British imprison Maharaja Kulachandra in India and execute Prince Koireng.

  SEPTEMBER 1891 Princess Sanatombi’s cousin, seven-year-old Churachand, great-grandson of Maharaja Narasingh, is installed as king.

  NOVEMBER 1891 Death of Princess Sanatombi’s half-brother Prince Lukhoi, the only son and heir of Maharaja Surchandra and Queen Maharani Premamayi.

  DECEMBER 1891 Princess Sanatombi’s father Maharaja Surchandra dies in Calcutta.

  The Princess and the Political Agent

  1892 Princess Sanatombi elopes with Political Agent Maxwell.

  1892 Lt Colonel Maxwell is transferred from Manipur.

  1894 Maxwell returns to Manipur as Political Agent.

  1894 Princess Sanatombi becomes the consort of Political Agent Maxwell.

  1895 Maharaja Churachand is sent to boarding school in India.

  1896 Maxwell is transferred to India. Princess Sanatombi goes with him.

  1897 Political Agent Maxwell and Princess Sanatombi return to Manipur.

  1897 Maxwell and Princess Sanatombi move into the new British Residency.

  1901 Viceroy Lord Curzon visits Manipur.

  1904 Princess Sanatombi offers a ras dance at the British Residency.

  1904 Burning of the bungalow of J.G. Dunlop, Assistant Superintendent, precipitating the Women’s War against the British.

  1905 Princess Sanatombi’s cousin Maharaja Churachand weds Maharani Dhanamanjuri, Lady of Ngangbam.

  1905 Maxwell leaves Manipur for good. Princess Sanatombi dies soon after.

  Important Characters

  In Alphabetical Order

  ANGANGMACHA, YOUNGER LADY OF NGANGBAM: Step-grandmother of Princess Sanatombi. She is a queen of Maharaja Surchandra, and sister of Maharani Premamayi, later the Dowager Queen.

  BAMACHARAN MUKHERJEE: Indian clerk, first in the palace and later for the British.

  BORACHAOBA, PRINCE: The chieftain of Yaiskul. Son of Princess Sanatombi’s great-granduncle Maharaja Narasingh. Cousin and childhood friend of Maharaja Chandrakirti.

  CHANDRAKIRTI, MAHARAJA (CHILD KING 1833–43, REIGNS 1850–86): Grandfather of Princess Sanatombi. He is the son of Maharaja Gambhirsingh and Maharani Kumudini, the Lady of Meisnam, later the Grand Queen Mother.

  CHANDRAMUKHI, LADY OF THOKCHOM: Youngest consort of Maharaja Chandrakirti.

  CHAOBIHAL, BRAHMIN MOTHER: Her daughter Mainu is Princess Sanatombi’s companion.

  CHIEFTAIN OF YAISKUL: See under Borachaoba.

  CHURACHAND, MAHARAJA (1891–1941): Cousin of Princess Sanatombi. He is the great-grandson of Maharaja Narasingh. Installed as king at the age of seven by the British in 1891 after the Anglo-Manipuri War.

  DOWAGER QUEEN: See under Premamayi.

  GAMBHIRSINGH, MAHARAJA (1825–33): Great-grandfather of Princess Sanatombi. He and his cousin Prince Narasingh expel the Burmese from Manipur in 1825 with British help during the First Anglo-Burmese War.

  GRAND QUEEN MOTHER: See under Kumudini.

  GRIMWOOD, FRANK ST CLAIR: Political Agent of Manipur starting in 1887. He is one of five British officers killed in 1891 by the palace guards of Manipur.

  JASUMATI, LADY OF SATPAM: Mother of Princess Sanatombi and Princess Khomdonsana. She is one of the que
ens of Maharaja Surchandra.

  JILASANA, PRINCE: Uncle of Princess Sanatombi; youngest son of Maharaja Chandrakirti.

  JUNIOR SAHEB: Assistant Superintendent J.G. Dunlop, whose bungalow is burned in 1904, precipitating the Women’s War of 1904.

  KHEMA, SANASAM: Love of Mainu, the companion of Princess Sanatombi.

  KHOMDONSANA, PRINCESS: Younger sister of Princess Sanatombi. Daughter of Maharaja Surchandra and Queen Jasumati, Lady of Satpam. Married to Arambam Meino.

  KOIRENG, PRINCE: Uncle of Princess Sanatombi. Half-brother of Maharaja Surchandra. Also known as Bir Tikendrajit. He is executed in 1891 by the British after the Anglo-Manipuri War.

  KOUSESWARI, ELDER LADY OF CHONGTHAM: Step-grandmother of Princess Sanatombi and fourth queen and first love of Maharaja Chandrakirti. She is the mother of Prince Koireng.

  KULACHANDRA, MAHARAJA: Half-brother of Maharaja Surchandra and Prince Koireng. Reigns 1890–91 until he is deposed after Manipur’s defeat in the Anglo-Manipuri War of 1891.

  KUMUDINI, MAHARANI, LADY OF MEISNAM; GRAND QUEEN MOTHER: Great-grandmother of Princess Sanatombi. She was the powerful queen of Maharaja Gambhirsingh and the mother of Maharaja Chandrakirti.

  LAMPHEL, CHANCELLOR: A powerful, young nobleman; son of General Thanggal.

  LUKESWARI, YOUNGER LADY OF CHONGTHAM: Step-grandmother of Princess Sanatombi and third queen of Maharaja Chandrakirti; younger sister of the fourth queen, Kouseswari.

  LUKHOI, PRINCE: Half-brother of Princess Sanatombi. Only son and heir of Maharaja Surchandra and his Queen Premamayi, the Lady of Ngangbam, later the Dowager Queen.

  MAINU: Companion to Princess Sanatombi.

  MANIKCHAND, NONGMAITHEM: Husband of Princess Sanatombi. A wealthy trader from a distinguished family.

  MAXWELL, HENRY ST PATRICK, LT COLONEL, CSI: Arrives as Major; British Political Agent of Manipur. Consort of Princess Sanatombi. Serves in Manipur: 1891–92; 1894–96; 1898–1905.

  MEINO, ARAMBAM: Brother-in-law of Princess Sanatombi; husband of her younger sister Princess Khomdonsana. Powerful official under both the monarchy and the British.

  MERI, CHANCELLOR: Musician and love of Princess Phandengsana, aunt of Princess Sanatombi.

  MOIRANG, KING OF: Father of Maharaja Churachand.

  NARASINGH, MAHARAJA (REGENT 1833–43, REIGN 1843–49): Great-grandfather of Maharaja Churachand. War hero and cousin of Maharaja Gambhirsingh. As princes, the two expel the Burmese from Manipur in 1825 with the help of the British during the First Anglo-Burmese War.

  NOT GUILTY: Orderly to Princess Sanatombi.

  PREMAMAYI, MAHARANI, LADY OF NGANGBAM; DOWAGER QUEEN: Also called Leihao, she is the stepmother of Princess Sanatombi. She is the powerful Queen of Maharaja Surchandra and mother of their only son and heir Prince Lukhoi.

  PAKASANA, PRINCE: Uncle of Princess Sanatombi. Younger blood-brother of Maharaja Surchandra and rival of Prince Koireng, his half-brother.

  PHANDENGSANA, PRINCESS: Aunt of Princess Sanatombi; she is the daughter of Maharaja Chandrakirti.

  PHEIJAO: Horse handler for Prince Pakasana. Later works for Maxwell.

  SANATOMBI, PRINCESS: Consort of British Political Agent Maxwell. Married to Manikchand. Oldest child and daughter of Maharaja Surchandra. Favoured great-grandchild of the Grand Queen Mother. Cousin of Maharaja Churachand.

  SURCHANDRA, MAHARAJA (1886–90): Father of Princess Sanatombi. Succeeds his father Maharaja Chandrakirti and is deposed in 1890 by his half-brothers led by Prince Koireng.

  TEMBI: Maid of Princess Sanatombi.

  THANGKOKPA, PRINCE: Son of Maharaja Debendra (r. 1850), the younger brother of Maharaja Narasingh. He is Princess Sanatombi’s granduncle.

  THANGGAL, GENERAL: Warrior in service to the monarchy after the expulsion of the Burmese in 1825. Executed along with Prince Koireng by the British in 1891. Father of Chancellor Lamphel.

  TONJAO OF MOIRANG: Brother-in-law of Princess Sanatombi after he marries her younger half-sister. Nobleman and ally of Princess Sanatombi and her family.

  History, Family and Fiction

  A Note from the Translator

  My mother Maharaj Kumari Binodini Devi, who wrote under the single sobriquet of Binodini, published her only novel, her Sahitya Akademi Award–winning magnum opus The Princess and the Political Agent in 1976. The historical novel is a love story of a Manipuri princess and a British officer of the Raj. It is set in fin de siècle Manipur. It spans the years before and after a watershed year when a palace insurrection precipitated the Anglo-Manipuri War of 1891. The dramatic backdrop of the love story is the loss of sovereignty as the Tibeto-Burman kingdom on the mountainous seam of South and South East Asia is annexed into the British Indian Empire. The title of Binodini’s historical novel in the original Manipuri, or Meiteilon to use its endonym, is Boro Saheb Ongbi Sanatombi. It translates literally as ‘Sanatombi, the Wife of the Big Saheb’. As Binodini wrote in her author’s preface to the original edition, ‘One big question was, why, when the British had just newly conquered Manipur and the pain of being subjugated was still raw, did the daughter of Surchandra become the wife of the enemy?’ The enemy–husband here, one half in the romance, is Lt Colonel Henry St Patrick Maxwell, the first Political Agent of Manipur under British rule, who falls in love with Princess Sanatombi, the daughter of its deposed king, and takes her as his consort.

  Now largely forgotten around the world, the Anglo-Manipuri War grabbed international headlines in 1891. A scandal of imperial avarice and colonialist policy, it sat on the front pages of the London Illustrated Newspaper, the New York Times, and the Statesman of Calcutta, to name but a few, for the better part of the year. A Reuters correspondent came to Manipur and flashed updates from the field around the world. Avid readers in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and France followed the events as they unfolded.

  The Princess and the Political Agent therefore uncovers a lost chapter in the history of the British Raj—a diplomatic storm that had pitted Empress Victoria against Viceroy Lansdowne, imperialists against nationalists, empire versus kingdom, and had been hotly debated in the British Parliament. But it does so through characters, historical and fictional, high and low, that Binodini brings to life, telling her story through the eyes of the defeated and through their loves and sorrows at home and in the palace.

  Binodini’s own father, Maharaja Churachand, a cousin of Princess Sanatombi, was installed by the British in 1891 as the king of Manipur. The fatherless boy-king was promptly packed off by Maxwell to boarding school at Mayo College in distant desert Rajasthan, the Eton of the East as it used to be known. The India-born Scotsman, in Binodini’s novel, assumes a quasi-parental role in grooming her father into a modern king.

  With her own father as a major character in the novel, The Princess and the Political Agent was a very personal book for Binodini. Growing up in privilege in the palace as a princess herself, Binodini veered into leftist ideology in college in Shillong, then further broadened her horizons as a humanist and artist as a student at the art school in Rabindranath Tagore’s Santiniketan. Her writings until The Princess and the Political Agent—short stories, plays, essays and lyrics—were about ordinary folk. Her novel took Manipur by storm upon its publication. A part of the reason was that her own relatives frowned upon her airing a family scandal long-thought buried. But it was also because it evoked for the first time, and in painterly detail, an insider’s portrait of the vanished splendour of Manipur of a bygone age. Moreover, it was about 1891, a date that still stings Manipuris today as the year when the kingdom lost its sovereignty and, with it, its identity.

  For all the story’s foundation in Manipur’s history and its author’s deep first-hand knowledge of the milieu and mores of its courtly culture, Binodini was clearly emphatic in her original author’s preface that The Princess and the Political Agent ‘is not biography, it is not history’, but a work of fiction. Binodini’s most important historical source was the court chronicle of Manipur. She wrote, ‘Someone had said to me that this w
as a book of record, and that I would not get much material from it for the story. But for me, if the chronicle had not existed, this book would not have been possible.’

  Binodini gleaned incidents and characters from the most fleeting of records in the court chronicle and other documents. She melded them with family lore and memory to fictionalize the palace and social realities in her story. Only Binodini knew precisely—and was careful not to divulge—which parts of her novel were from these sources, oral or text, and which were the creation of her imagination.

  The essential framework of the novel is a flashback, or rather, a series of flashbacks, that come back time and again to the setting of her opening chapter right to the very end. The story of Sanatombi and Maxwell slips in and out of two historical periods. The first is the period of early alliance with the British after the First Anglo-Burmese War of 1825. The second, and more pivotal to the novel, is the reign of her grandfather and her father in the second half of the nineteenth century. This was the era of amicable Anglo-Manipuri relations that ended with the disastrous war and British victory in 1891.

  In brushing in historical and political character to her portrait of Sanatombi, Binodini forefronts two major women characters. Sanatombi’s wilful childhood and youth centre around Binodini’s portrayal of the formidable Grand Queen Mother, a boldfaced presence in Manipur’s court chronicle like no other queen. A second remarkable woman, the deposed Dowager Queen, one of several queens Binodini rescues from the mists of history, unpacks the internal intrigues of the palace and Anglo-Manipuri politics around 1891. In Binodini’s hands, the former also becomes the key to Sanatombi maturing into an astute and political young woman.

  The kings of Manipur were allowed multiple queens. Polygamy was common in Manipur, a practice no doubt further boosted by the loss of men during the seven-year occupation of the kingdom by the Burmese from 1819 to 1825. Women are allowed to remarry through a ritual of social recognition called loukhatpa that did not involve a formal marriage. Women in relations with married British men, who often left their wives and families back in Britain as Maxwell did, were called native wives during the Raj. But in Manipur, and in accordance with local custom, women in loukhatpa relations are recognized simply and fully as wives. Hence, Binodini’s reference to Sanatombi as Maxwell’s wife in the Manipuri title of her novel.