Begum Joanna Nobilis Sombre (ca 1753–1836), popularly known as Begum Samru (Kashmiri: बेगम समरू (Devanagari), بیگم سمرو (Nastaleeq)), (also known as Farzana Zeb un-Nissa) started her career as a Nautch girl in 18th Century India, and eventually became the ruler of Sardhana, a principality near Meerut.[1] Later on, she played a key role in the political power struggle in 18th and 19th century India.
She was the head of a professionally trained mercenary army, inherited from her European mercenary husband, Walter Reinhardt Sombre. This mercenary army consisted of Europeans and Indians. She is also regarded as the only Catholic Ruler in India, as she ruled the Principality of Sardhana in 18th and 19th century India.[2][3]
She died immensely rich. Her inheritance was assessed as approximately 55.5 Million Gold Mark in 1923 and 18 Billion Deutsch Mark in 1953. Her inheritance continues to be disputed to this day.[4] An organization named “Reinhards Erbengemeinschaft” still strives to resolve the inheritance issue.[5]
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Begam Samru was of slight stature, fair complexion and distinguished by exceptional leadership abilities of an uncommon order. More than once, she headed her own troops in action. She was of Kashmiri descent.[6] When she was in her early teens, she married (or started living with) a mercenary soldier Walter Reinhardt Sombre of Luxembourg, who was operating in India.
Walter Reinhardt Sombre, a European mercenary, then 45-year-old, came to the red light area and fell for the charms of Farzana, then a girl of 14, says Johan Lall in his well-researched work: "Begum Samru - Faded Portrait in a Gilded Frame".
A soldier of fortune, Sombre moved from Lucknow to Rohilkhand (near Bareilly), then to Agra, Deeg and Bharatpur and back to the Doab. Farzana helped him in those times of intrigue and counter-intrigue. Farzana was courted by some of the European officers who were associated with her husband.
Among them were Le Vassoult, a Frenchman, and George Thomas, an Irishman. The Begum favoured the Frenchman and when, in 1793, the rumour spread that she had married him, her troops mutinied. The couple sought to escape secretly by night - Le Vassoult on horseback and the Begum in a palanquin. Misinformed that Le Vassoult had been shot, she stabbed herself but survived. Her lover, however, died of a self-inflicted wound to the head. One version has it that she suggested a suicide pact but only nicked herself when the unsuspecting Le Vassoult shot himself dead.
When Lord Gerard Lake met the Begum in 1802, in a fit of enthusiasm he gave her a hearty kiss, which appalled her troops. But with her customary tact, Begum Samru pacified them by saying that it was only "the kiss of the Padre to a repentant child". The Begum, though only 4½ feet tall, wore a turban and rode on horseback as she led her troops to battle. So invincible did she seem that the superstitious spread the word that she was a witch who could destroy her enemies just by throwing her cloak towards them.
On the death of her husband Walter Reinhardt, she succeeded to his Principality yielding about £90,000 per annum, and on the introduction of British Rule in 1803 in North India, she managed to retain her possessions as an Independent Ruler. Her conduct in the internal management of her estate was highly commendable.
Over a period of time, she became a powerful lady of North India, ruling a large area from Sardhana, Uttar Pradesh. Her support was even acknowledged by the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II. The British East India Company considered her a threat to its territorial ambitions in undivided India.
On the 7th of May, 1781, at the age of about forty, Begum Samru was baptized Joanna Nobilis, by a Roman Catholic priest.
She died at Sardhana, the capital of her Principality, in January 1837 at the age of 85, bequeathing the greater part of her property to David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre, who descended from Walter Reinhardt Sombre, from his first wife.[4]
Several stories and novels have been written based on her political and diplomatic astuteness and on crucial battles fought by troops directly commanded by her.
The palace built by her in Sardhana near Meerut was the centre of much activity during the reign of Mughal Emperor, Akbar Shah. Shah Alam, the predecessor and father of Akbar Shah, regarded Begum Samru as his daughter. He did so because the Begum had saved Delhi from an invasion by a force of 30,000 Sikhs, under Baghel Singh in 1783. They had encamped at Tis Hazari (the name of the place being derived from the number of those who constituted the force, estimated at 30,000). Thanks to the Begum's parleys, the Sikhs did not enter the city and went back to Punjab after getting a generous monetary gift from Shah Alam.
In 1787(?), when the emperor, Shah Alam, blind and feeble, was in pursuit of Najaf Quli Khan and trying to quell the rebellion stirred up by him, an incident occurred at Gokalgarh that brought the Begum closer to Shah Alam. Seeing that the emperor's troops were wavering in their resolve to attack the rebel leader, she advanced with a force of 100 men and whatever big guns she had and opened fire on Najaf Quli Khan and his men. This did the trick and Najaf sought the Begum's help to make his peace with Shah Alam. Thankful for her intervention, the emperor bestowed special honours on her at the royal court and declared her to be "his most beloved daughter". Not only that, she was also confirmed in her estate at Sardhana, which was the subject of a dispute with Louis Balthazar alias Nawab Zafaryab Khan, another son of her late husband, General Sombre, by his first wife, Badi Bibi.
The palace in Chandni Chowk was built in a garden gifted by Akbar Shah to the Begum when he ascended the throne after the death of Shah Alam in 1806. Her palatial building still stands in Chandni Chowk, New Delhi.
She died at the age of 90 in 1836. Her grandson, through her stepson, David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre, died in 1851 at London, from where his body was brought to Sardhana and buried beside the Begum in the imposing church she had built there. It is now known as the Basilica of Our Lady of Graces, and is the centre of two annual pilgrimages in March and November when thousands come to bless the Begum and pray to the Virgin Mary. Begum Samru set an astonishing example of feminism and religious freedom in her own person at a time when there was no public conception of these values. She also inspired large numbers in her kingdom to adopt the Roman Catholic faith. Her most well known descendant was Indira Iyengar who was a spokesperson of India's 20 million strong Roman Catholic community, particularly when it found itself under attack after the ascendance of right-wing Hindu nationalism in recent decades.
