Tales from later Mughals

Deadlier than the Male
When the Mughal Empire declined and its state
institutions collapsed, it provided opportunists a chance to
play an active role in the political and social affairs and
assert their authority without any challenge. One such
character was Begam Sumru (1753 - 1836). Originally called
Zebunnissa, she was a courtesan hailing from a Kashmiri
family who became the mistress of and later married a
German military adventurer, Walter Rheinhardt Sumru.
Sumru was a notorious fellow who served the East
India Company and a number of Indian chieftains and ended
up in the service of Najibud-dola, a Mughal noble who
awarded him the jagir of Sardhana, near Meerut.
When Sumru died in 1778, Zebunnissa, now known
as Begam Sumru, not only inherited his jagir but also his
mercenary army which consisted of an illiterate and
uncouth collection of soldiers of all races English, Germans,
Swiss, French, Portuguese, and Armenians. It was a
Herculean task to control this motley crew but the Begam
did it.
Three years after the death of her husband she
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