Almost a century after Nawab Hamidullah Khan manipulated his mother to grab power, the curse of his widowed sister-in-law, Kaisar Dulhan—whose sons were the rightful heirs to the throne of Bhopal—seems to have returned to haunt the ruling clan.
Hamidullah, the youngest of Nawab Sultan Jahan Begum's three sons, was never in line for the throne. As per convention, only the firstborn—or the surviving offspring of the ruler or heir apparent—could be crowned the next ruler of Bhopal.
Sultan Jahan's eldest son, Nasrullah Khan, was proclaimed heir apparent and invested with the title of Wali Ahad Bahadur (Crown Prince) at the time of his mother's accession to the masnad (throne) in 1901. The young prince was barely 26.
After completing his education privately, Nasrullah married Kaisar Dulhan in a ceremony at Gauhar Mahal on the shores of the city’s expansive Upper Lake in 1902. The union resulted in the birth of two sons—Habibullah Khan and Rafiqullah Khan.
A family of keen sportsmen, the men of Bhopal's ruling clan were known for their passion for hockey and cricket. They also enjoyed fishing and game hunting, where Sultan Jahan's sons strived to outdo everyone. On one occasion, Nasrullah killed nine tigers between dawn and dusk, earning the sobriquet of Nausherwan, or 'the man who conquered nine tigers.'
The competitiveness on the sports field, and at family events when the princes dressed to outdo everyone with their sartorial style, soon matured into full-fledged rivalries after young Hamidullah, who was the only one staying with his mother at the time, started to nurture the ambition of ruling Bhopal.
The crown prince, in the meantime, focused on the upbringing of his sons at his Idgah Mansion, poetically and perhaps ironically named Qiran-us-Saadain after mystic poet Amir Khusro's 13th-century classic describing the meeting of the Sultan of Bengal, Bughra Khan, with his son Qaiqabad on a battlefield.
Tragedy struck Qiran-us-Saadain in 1924 when Nasrullah died of advanced diabetes, leaving behind a widowed Kaisar Dulhan to fend for their two young sons, one of whom, Habibullah, would now succeed Sultan Jahan as the Nawab. Only Hamidullah had other plans.
Emboldened by Nasrullah's demise, Hamidullah expanded his manoeuvres to snatch power by ensuring Sultan Jahan's support for his accession bid. Later historians of the oral tradition said, "Sultan Jahan had vowed not to let her daughter-in-law Kaisar Dulhan become the queen or even the queen mother."
Kaisar Dulhan belonged to a family of famed beauties from Bhopal's Jalalabadi clan, which traces its roots to a small mango-producing principality in the Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh.
Known for their extreme pride in their genealogy, good looks, and slightly erratic behaviour, the Jalalabadis are believed to have offended Sultan Jahan with their careless remarks about her short stature and dark complexion.
If Nasrullah's mercurial temper had blocked palace intrigue from coming out in the open, the months following his demise saw Hamidullah and Sultan Jahan consolidate their position with help from Bhopal's noble clans to isolate Idgah.
Rare among Pathan rulers, who hang on to power until their last day, Sultan Jahan broke convention and convinced British officials to recognise Hamidullah as the heir apparent in March 1926 before abdicating in his favour a month later.
A humiliated Habibullah died of a 'malignant attack of tuberculosis' at the age of 27 in June 1930. Surprisingly, the death came within three months of his wedding to a Parsi lady, who later married Maharaja Himmat Singhji of Idar in 1934.
Qiran-us-Saadain was shattered. Kaisar Dulhan spent most of her time in prayer seeking divine intervention to fend off more misfortune, signs of which were becoming clearer by the day, with a seething Rafiqullah openly claiming that he would ensure the return of the Bhopal legacy to Idgah, its rightful place.
Royal guards arrived at Idgah one night. Rafiqullah was forcibly whisked away to an unknown location—presumably, an asylum—after his grandmother and paternal uncle believed that his mental abilities were failing.
Left alone at Qiran-us-Saadain, Kaisar Dulhan was forced to surrender the management rights of her Jagir, the Idgah Deodhi, to Hamidullah Khan, who used it for philanthropic and social development by building schools and hospitals, while saving his own estate at Ahmedabad Palace for his cronies whom he had befriended during his stint at Aligarh University as a student.
Rafiqullah died at an unspecified date prior to 1942. No one is sure if the news of her son's demise was communicated to Kaisar Dulhan immediately. Kaisar Dulhan spent the last of her days in prayer, cursing the wretched throne, which she blamed for the fate her family had met.
If gloom had descended on Idgah, the evenings at Ahmedabad were a stark contrast, with elaborate celebrations and parties as Hamidullah and his cronies consolidated the positions they would retain until the abolition of princely states in 1945.
At a time when the present-day government is finally moving in to confiscate the holdings of Hamidullah's heirs, one cannot help but be reminded of the curse of a grieving mother and the observation by contemporary Bhopal's favourite poet Rahat Indori, who said, "Jo aaj sahib-e-masnad hain kal nahiin honge, kiraayedaar hain zaati makaan thodi hai. (Those who sit on the throne today, will not be there tomorrow. They are but tenants in this world; the residence is not theirs to keep)."