Wicked Women of the Raj

by Coralie Younger

Except for the odd woman captured by pirates and sold into a Mughal harem, the first European women to enter India owed their presence to the Portuguese, in the 16th century, and later to the East India Company -- in the expectation that they would marry and provide solace to lonely European traders and merchants. During India's cold weather season, women would sail out from England to India to plunder its plentiful storehouse of bachelors, regardless of the dangers of the tropical climate and a culture that bore no resemblance to the one they had known at home. Who were these women? Were they gold-diggers, or hopeless romantics hoping to enact their own Cinderella fairy-tale? Did they live happily ever after? Set against the backdrop of India's independence struggle, Wicked Women of the Raj is an unputdownable factual account with stories of twenty such women who broke society's rules to marry the 'heathen' Indian princes.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, India, Biography, Romance, Historical

260 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2005

Reviews

[Rama Rao · Rating 5 out of 5]

European Maharanis

White women marrying men from royal families of India, especially when the men had several wives and children was a daring experiment. Some of these women were treated with incredible deference by the rest of the royal family and also by the native population. This book reveals the traditions and culture in all its richness and vitality, and how the maharaja and his European bride made it work. Some of these marriages were happy and lasted a long time and some did not. Some of them adapted to the Indian culture and remained loyal to their husbands and stood by the kingdom. They found true love. Others used their husbands to live in the lap of luxury; a lavish life style both in India and Europe; a big circle of famous Indian and European friends; British Royalty, and fabulous riches framed by the beauty and culture. These women enjoyed the best life could offer, but also handled the difficult times in their personal lives with mixed results. These are amazing stories which reads like fairy tales. It is highly engaging and written with passion for history.

Researching from many firsthand sources, memoirs, letters, photographs, and diaries, author Coralie Younger has provided a splendid picture of European women who married Indian maharajas and princes much to the displeasure of European media, their own people and the British Empire. It was distressing for India office, the administrative body of British Imperial administration. It had to wrestle with the idea that interracial marriage is a carnal sin and sons of this marriage will be hard to deal with as princes. They also had to worry about the consequences of mass uprising against British authority if they had interfered in the life of a maharaja. This is a collection of compelling real-life dramas full of adventure, romance, and heartbreak in the most complex colony of the British Empire.

Stories included in this book are; Bamba Muller (married Maharaja Duleep Singh of Punjab); Ada Douglas Wetherill (married to Maharaja Duleep Singh of Punjab); Florrie Bryan (married Maharaja Rajendar Singh of Patiala); Olive Monolescue (married Maharaja of Sind); Anita Delgado (married Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Karputhala); Eugenie Grosupova (married Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Karputhala); Dolly Parnell (married Prince Nasir Ali Khan of Rampur); Elsie Thompson (married Maharaja Gopal Narain Singh of Tikari); Molly Fink (married Raja Martanda Bhairava Tondaiman of Padukkottai); Morag Murray (married Syed Abdullah of Koh Fort); Nancy Miller (married Maharaja Tukoji Rao Holkar of Indore); Molly Eslip (married Prince Ali Khan of Jaora); Stella Mudge (married Maharaja Paramjit Singh of Karputhala); Marguerite Lawler (married Maharaja Yeshwant Rao Holkar of Indore); Euphemia Crane (married Maharaja Yeshwant Rao Holkar of Indore); Joan Falkiner (married Nawab Taley Mohamed Khan of Palanpur); Sandra McBryde (married Maharaja Hanwant Singh of Jodhpur); Yvonne Martin (married Nawab Mohamed Mubarak Abbasi); Annabella Parker (married Maharaja Bhagavat Singh of Udaipur); and Helen Simmons (married Nizam Mukarram Jah Bahadur of Hyderabad).

A brief summary of the book is as follows:
Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Karputhala, the son of the powerful ruler Ranjit Singh, married Anita Delgado, a teenage dancer from Madrid, Spain. They move into the royal palace at Karputhala, but when the maharaja's health failed, his wife turned to the arms of one of his sons from another marriage. When she was caught, Anita was banished to Europe with a generous settlement. A movie entitled; “The Black Prince” based on Javier Moro’s book “Passion India,” was planned in 2006. Actress Penelope Cruz brought the rights for the book, but never got off the feet because the Karputhala Royal family brought a law-suit alleging the story is fabricated.

Georgina (Gina) May Egan (married Maharaja Jagaddipendra Narayan of Cooch-Behar,) a ravishingly beautiful woman who possessed wisdom, strength and courage to negotiate the complicated etiquette and political intrigue of the royal court with grace and style. She had a very difficult job of fitting in the family with her mother-in-law, Maharani Indira Devi and sister-in-law, Gayathri Devi, the Maharani of Jaipur. The marriage was kept secret for three years from her dowager mother-in-law.

Georgina May Egan of Cooch-Behar, Nancy Miller of Indore and Joan Falkiner of Palanpur disproved the British theory that only white women of “lower Class” marry Indian princes. Nancy Miller was born in Seattle, Washington and came from a well-educated family. She met Tukoji Rao Holkar in Switzerland and fell in love with him. Despite the fact he had two wives, she accepted that fact and got the blessing of her family. She converted to Hinduism and used the name Sharmistha Devi. As the Maharani, Nancy was an unqualified success. In his last years, Tukoji became ill and broken hip, Nancy nursed him and stayed close to him. She also nursed the daughter of senior Maharani when she was diagnosed with tuberculosis. She remained loyal to Tukoji until his death in May 1978. She was devastated at his death and remained in India and did not wish to return to United States.

Morag Murray married Syed Abdullah. She liked simple things in life and wore Scottish pearls even when she was a guest of another kingdom, instead of wearing glittering jewels. Morag also despised institutional bigotry promoted by the British Imperial Machine. She yearned for the day when East and West would meet on an equal footing. Knowing she was out of step with popular opinion, she made an impassioned plea to end racial intolerance and inequality.

Molly Fink married Martanda Bhairava Tondaiman of Padukkottai. Moly was a good wife and also a perfect mother and a role model for her young son. During the latter part of her life, after her husband’s death, she became an alcoholic, and depressed. In November 1967, Molly passed away due to bowel cancer and she is interred at Golders Green Crematorium in London next to her husband Martanda, and 17 years later their son was laid to rest next to them.

Stella Mudge was a wayward girl since she was in her early teens. Maharaja Paramjit saw her when she was 18 in Paris. He was instantly smitten. He was a man who was more concerned about his personal enjoyment and entertainment than the welfare of his people. After marrige, she literally broke into the treasury of Karputhala so hard that the assets were disappearing faster than anyone can imagine. In 1988 her jewelry and treasures were auctioned off in Paris. In 1997, a British TV program “For love and Money” chronicled her life and asked the viewers if they know where the rest of her treasures are.

[George Ilsley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Everything was slightly off in this book, from the title to the arrangement of the short chapters. The title tries too hard to be salacious, but many of the women were not "wicked", even by the standards of the day. The chapters were short, each focused on one (or two) women, roughly arranged chronologically. Yet in a couple of instances there were generations of marriages (i.e. father married a European woman, son did too), and even though these women knew each other their chapters were told separately. The result was a narrative which never really got off the ground, mostly just sketched the barest facts about someone's life, plus lots of discussion about gemstones and the double-bladed sword of racism that cuts both ways.

The introduction tried to provide some context, and is full of examples of feisty interesting women and their connection to India (such as the Naga Queen and her Sten gun). The problem here? — these women were not part of this book. So why use the introduction to talk about interesting women who turn out NOT to be the subjects of your book about women?

[Vibina Venugopal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love anything frozen in time which reveals the intricacies of the time gone by in all its splendor..Indian history is my favourite..Though british period is not my cup of tea yet there are loads of events that gets me intreseted to..This book is about one such phase..
It's run down of twenty women from west tagged as wicked, who were held enchanted with the Indian prince (some for their rich and some for the like of the social standings),Not all stories belong to Raj period of India many are from post Independence..Introduction itself would leave you startling with lot of theories . It's believed that white woman were sent to India seeking a suitable match failing which they are tagged useless and most don't go home for the fear of social rejections..Some of these ladies take up prostitution,luring the Rajah and sultans for their rich and charm, in return they are provided with abundant wealth , jewels that are even worth millions, in short life of grandeur..But some were women were indeed hopeless romantics driven by magic of love to their sultans or Rajah who broke the rules laid by the society to get their fairy tale life with the man they loved, imbibing in them Indian culture and tradition some even following the purdah to an extend, lending a hand of advice with the administration and social devoir..
But Money and wealth always played a major role .. Indian prince who were sent abroad for education or for vacations become great admirers of western culture, art, culture and lifestyle eventually finding a companion in European lady who would not just sharing his name and title but becoming a retinue intellectually..Most of the marriages failed pathetically but some were indeed successful like Morag Murray who married Syed Abdullah Khan of Koh fort, Joan Falkiner who married Taley Khan of Palanpur and Nancy Miller who married Tukoji of Indore.Not all women were vice, while Stella Mudge who married Paramjith Singh, the Maharah of Kapurthala looted her state treasurey of its exquisite jweles, Marguerite Lawler nurse-stewardess who married Yeshwant Rao Holkare the Maharah of Indore,was pushed for a divorce luring for custody of his daughter but it was for him to marry Euphemia Crane..
Ladies who married Indian rajah or sultans were not just against their people but also had to fight their husband's other wives and society who looked at them skeptically..They were not recognized by the British empire often refusing to bestow the title of her Highness like that of their husbands...Finally they fall apart losing the battle drunk and immersed in luxurious parties dying with nothing much around them...
All chapters has details of the riches drawn well, the marriage, exquisite gifts, elaborate honey moon and the to the days that ends all..All along, the details of jewels laden with precious stone forms the major part of every story..
Writing is simple and engaging... Good research has shaped up the book, but the way you cling onto the writing of Woods, William Dalrymple, John Key are missing..The book is a good historic gossip that will delight you but will not leave any prints in you..

[Neha Gupta · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of the book gives you a little window to the content. Clearly it sounds about the wicked English women who lured the Rajas causing scandals and running away with the riches. Yes most of them are. The relationships and marriages are scandalous even in current times so you can imagine how it would be early 1900s. They are the fancy nautch girls of the East who with their white skin and charm lure the Princes and Kings to be of The India Raj. These white women only marry these Rajas because they bestow their wealth on them. Most of them are not even that beautiful but for the Indian princes they are fairies. As most of the Indian women followed Pardah and stayed within the threshold of their homes, these women came around as modern and nice arm candies for the social standing and fancy parties in the British high society. Most of these women returned to their homelands later taking away with them all the jewels given to them by these kings, some of these jewels worth millions and considered as one of their kinds lost to India forever. All that hullaballoo happening over corrupt money in Swiss Bank accounts, also stashes away some of the historical heirlooms of the Indian Princes.

To read and view more:
http://storywala.blogspot.in/2011/11/...

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting topic, but actually got quite repetitive and dull after awhile as most stories seemed to be the same. Didn't actually finish.

[Nivedita · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite all the research and academic abilities put in the book, it falters because of its patronising, condescending tone towards Indian princes and Indians in particular, and White women in general. The book gives a brief account of selected white women who disgraced themselves by marrying into Indian “brown” royal families and received the wrath of the British government in India, and open ridicule of white public. As much as the writer probably wanted to reinstate the fallen women in the chronicles of history, the book seems to go simply nowhere. The accounts are told in a rush with details available only in a few cases where the women have probably left memoirs or letters, and the rest of the accounts are brazenly told in the most mundane style.
Indian princes and their populace are delineated as infirm and powerless. Despite the fact that many of these princes were great pioneers of cultural change and strong advocates of change in India, the author falls prey to the appetising fairy tales that were popular about these princes amongst their English masters at the time. That’s what she concerns herself primarily with, thus, making the narrative count amongst many of those European discourses that have done nothing but misrepresent and dehumanise natives in once -colonised lands.
The book is unputdownable for sure because it fantasizes the lives of the rich and the affluent in India in times when the sun never set on the British empire. The book therefore reads like an old wives tale. Not doubting that there is truth to the stories but disturbed with the redundancy served to Indians - both rich and poor.

[Richard Hakes · Rating 3 out of 5]

i didnt thimnk the women were particularly wicked and they were not really part of the Rajbut I get the point. The women were what I would call gold diggers and there are plenty of them about only these diggers struck gold. Mostly adventurious and not particuilarly well conected they made the best they could of what they had. Many made it to wealth but not many to happiness. It is a collection of short stories all with pretty much the same plot and got a bit repetitive. Interesting but not that suprising.

[Diana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apocryphal, sparse on the kind of details one might hope for after reading the title. :P

[Ellen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Shallow.

[Vatsal Anand · Rating 4 out of 5]

My father had this book on his shelf and i had a sudden urge to read this and i gotta say i enjoyed it like alot

[Aysha Imran · Rating 4 out of 5]

My last read of the year 2020 was “Wicked Women of the Raj” by Coralie Younger.
This book is a very different take on British Raj.
It’s an unputdownable factual account of the Zenana world of Rajas and Sultans of India, concentrating on the Firangi bahus and begums of this veiled of myths and folklore. The book gives us the stories of many different European women who broke society's rules to marry the heathen Indian princes. Who were these women? Were they gold diggers or hopeless romantics hoping to enact their own Cinderella fairytale? Did they live happily ever after?
There is a reference of Quaid e Azam in one the passages and his influence on Maharaja Jagjit Singh of Kapurthala .
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in real life fairytales.

[Barun Ghosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely book which gives you an idea how these many European, Australian and American women took on such risks mostly in order to marry the man they loved and in return had to face ostracism from both sides of the racial divide.

[Mrinal Gaur · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. I am not sure how much of it was fact checked as some written parts were too deep for century-old events hence, doubtful. Honestly, I think it has a slight gossipy tone which keeps the book engaging.

[Subhadip C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pop history. Gives a glimpse of white women who hitched up with members of Indian royalty.

[Pip Jennings · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite fascinating. A little view into another world.

[AnnikaH · Rating 2 out of 5]

After a few chapters, it becomes repetitive.

[Seema · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book exposes the indulgence , excessive fortune, and purposeless life of the Indian Maharajas

[PRATIK BHADANE · Rating 4 out of 5]

'WICKED WOMEN OF THE RAJ' is the book which gives you the stories of the "MAHARAJAS"who broke the society's rule and married the European womens.
As you would read you would witness the stories of wealthy kings and the life they had lived in their golden era."WICKED" is the term which can be reffered to "HIS HIGHNESS" as well because most of the marraiges proved to be the disaster and some potrayted the pure form of love.
The MAHARAJ in some cases left their "GADI"or the kingship for their"MAHARANI"and strived hard to get her the recognition which she deserved.On the other hand Maharajas poisoned their Maharani to get rid of her and "MAHARANI" being admitted to asylum because of torture they had to face.
Some of the Maharani stayed with their "HIGHNESS" still his last breath and some went on to leave the Maharajas for their self intrest.
This book takes you on the tour of some of the most exquisite stories where life was great,divorces were expensive, jewelleries were price less and the era was beautiful!!!

[Fareeha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable for a Victorian era subcontinent buff like me. However, except from 2 accounts, all had a more or less tragic end. Moreover, the 'white people's' disdain for our local nobility is so evident even from most of the wives of those very kings/princes from whom they reaped all possible luxuries, jewels, etc. -- no wonder the 'locals' didn't like those ladies. The British nobles machinations are also very much in play ofcourse.

[Jane Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I adore tales about interesting victorian women. I think this book was let down by the final couple of chapters, especially the story of Helen Simmons. Yes, her story is interesting, but not in this book. Ditch this one and flesh out some of the more interesting characters from the earlier periods. I found this part of the book jarring. Apart from that, it's a highly enjoyable read about a fascinating world.

[Devina Dutta · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting and informative to read up on the various European women who came to India dreaming of exotic lives with gold laden Indian princes. While most of them were petty gold diggers, others had some really interesting love stories.
A treat to read if you have the time and passion for pre independence India.

[Penelope Myers · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title is way too melodramatic. Most of the women were just looking for adventure and financial security. Gets a little tedious as most of the stories don't end too well, but one or two of the women were quite admirable. I found out about this book by reading France's Brody's Murder on a summer's day. One of the characters is based on one of the women profiled in this book.

[Sudha Hariharan]

Not a bad read...but not very intresting either!

[Srividhya · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book leaves the reader in awe of the lives of the rich Indian princes who lived extravagant lifestyle with their European wives or mistresses. Liked the book but only some stories stood out.