One among these jewels is College
for Women in Koti. Many Hyderabadi women have right to boast that
they were the student of college of love,” Koti Women's College” which is not
just a grand building, but was purpose built for love.
When the British left
Hyderabad in 1949, the Koti residency was converted into Women’s college. Now
Koti Women's College lies in the heart of the most favorite commercial and busiest
market of Hyderabad.
 |
| Lieutenant Colonel James Achilles Kirkpatrick ,his wife Khair-un-Nissa with Children |
The man who built it,
had come India to conquer the country, but it was he who was conquered, not by
an army… but by a Hyderabadi woman.
 |
| Koti Womens College College-Hyderabad |
For some strange reason,
most love stories do not have a happy fairy-tale ending. Very rarely we come
across a story that ends with “and they all lived happily ever after”.
This love
story is between British Resident Officer James Achilles Kirkpatrick (1764-1805), a high-ranking
diplomat from the East India Company at the court of Hyderabad and Khair un-Nissa (1786-1813), the great niece of the Prime Minister in court of
Nizam of Hyderabad state).
 |
| Students and Professors of Koti Womens College-Hyderabad |
Koti Women's college began its life as the
residence of the British Resident in the Deccan region on the the land provided
by the Nizam in 1803.
Both wanted to be as far away from each other yet with
the ability to keep an eye on the other. Hence this place was chosen
across the River Musi.
 |
| British officer of East India Company drinking Hukka |
And the Love story of James Achilles Kirkpatrick (British resident Officer
in court of Nizam Hyderabad) and
Princess Khair-u-nissa goes on
Love
is said to be the strongest emotion that a human can possess. It is the very
emotion that connects two souls with an unbreakable bond.
It not only connects
you with the fellow beings but will help you realize your purpose on earth and
gives you strength to do things you could never imagine.
v James Achilles
Kirkpatrick was a high-ranking diplomat from the East India Company at the
court of Hyderabad, who was so captivated by Indo-Persian culture after travelling to
India with imperialist intentions?
He quickly gave up his English habits and
wardrobe and replaced them with nauch parties
and Mughal-style outfits.
v Kirkpatrick,
who likes many other British, went completely native, adopting the native dress
and social ways. He smoked a hookah, wore Indian style mustachios and had his
fingers dyed in henna.
Moreover James had taken on the Eastern habit of
belching appreciatively after meals.
 |
| A Nauch girl in a mehfil of Britishers |
v With fluent Hindustani and Persian,
he openly mingled with the elite of Hyderabad. Kirkpatrick was adopted by
the Nizam
of Hyderabad, who invested him with many
titles: mutamin ul mulk ('Safeguard
of the kingdom'), hushmat Jung ('Valiant
in battle'), nawab
fakhr-ud-dowlah bahadur ('Governor, pride of the state, and hero').
 |
| Princess Khair-un-Nissa |
v
He fell in love with the grand-daughter Khair-un-Nissa of the Prime Minister of
Hyderabad.The union, however, would not be so easy, as she was
a Sayyadi and he was part of the East India Company, who hated the Nizams’
guts.
 |
| A British Resident in court of Nawab |
v Though
ostensibly the mission of British Resident Kirkpatrick
was to build political bridges with the Nizam, while hidden agenda was to
expand British territory, but he was vanquished by the bewitching beauty of
Khair un-Nissa — ‘most excellent among women’.
v
In a picture of Khair un-Nissa, dated 1806,
"she still looks, a little more than a child: a graceful, delicate shy
creature with porcelain skin, an oval face and dark brown eyes".
No wonder she stole the
heart of the young Resident, who first saw her at a royal wedding from behind a
curtain.
v Then the love story takes the course of a legendary
ballad, with the hero overcoming many obstacles, including breaking off the
heroine’s engagement to a local nobleman and facing stern reprimands and wrath
of his ‘superiors’. But as true love knows no impediments, Kirkpatrick
converts to Islam and marries his lady love.
Now
here tragedy is waiting for Young Lovers
v
Upon hearing of the marriage, and James’ conversion into Islam, the newly
appointed governor of India Lord Rickard Wessesley summoned him to
Calcutta, where he was reprimanded and dismissed from his position. Wellesley
strongly disapproved British-Indian liaisons.
v
Kirkpatrick later fell ill and died in Calcutta, in 1805. Khair became a
widow at a young age of 19. Despite the tragic ending, the estate that he
constructed for her,
the Residency building, which later became the Koti
Women’s College, still remains as an epitome of their love.
v
Although she, as a disgraced woman
consequent to the love affair, she was not allowed by her family to return to
Hyderabad for some years, with the death of a senior male relative she was
eventually allowed to return, and in Hyderabad on 22 September 1813 aged 27.
v
Kirkpatrick and Khair-un-Nissa
together had two children: a son, Mir Ghulam Ali Sahib Allum and a daughter, Noor-un-Nissa
Sahib Begum. Their father sent them to England to live with their grandfather
Colonel James Kirkpatrick, in London and Keston, Kent, shortly before his own,
unexpected death at a young age.
The colourful romance ends on a tragic note with Kirkpatrick
deciding to send their children to Britain and he himself dying alone in
Calcutta on way to his homeland.
"James
had died among strangers… and far from everyone he loved… he was laid in the
muddy monsoon ground. In place of tears, there was a cold military
salute." And finally Khair, too, died alone on September 22, 1813, aged
only 27, in Hyderabad
And that is the story of Koti
Women’s College Hyderabad, and the man who built it. Someone who had come to
India to conquer the country, but it was he who was conquered, not by an army…
but by a Hyderabadi woman.
Khair, the lovely princess, is still remembered by the Telangana
Government. They named a tourist boat after her.
 |
| Painting of Residency. |
 |
| Present Koti market chauraha Hyderabad |
After death of James Achilles Kirkpatrick , Khair-un-Nissa was seduced by James's assistant, Henry
Russel who replaced him as resident in Hyderabad. She remained his mistress at
Masulipatnam, after being banned from returning to Hyderabad.
La After on a visit
to Madras, Russel fell for a half-Portuguese beauty and married her.
Ultimately, the ban was lifted and Khair-un-Nissa returned to Hyderabad where
she died on September 22, 1813 aged 27.
This story is set to come alive in
a movie based on a novel by Scottish author William Dalrymple.
Written
and posted by Engr Maqbool Akram, with the help of Wikipedia and other
materials available on Net with thanks.