The Asiatic Society of Mumbai, Mumbai Research Centre
The Nawab, the Letter and the Novel Dr. Kenneth Robbins, MD
13th December 2022 at 5 p.m.
This is the story of two Muslim feminist sisters Nazli and Atiya Fyzee (of the Tyabji family) and their husbands, Nawab Sidi Ahmad Khan of Janjira and the painter-writer Fyzee Rahamin respectively. When the Nawab took a second wife to produce an heir, Nazli Begum left to live in Bombay with Atiya and Fyzee. After the Nawab’s death, the Begum contested Janjira state’s claim that she was divorced. She wrote a long diatribe to Queen Mary against her late husband, claiming the state's progress to her efforts. All of her charges were expanded in Fyzee Rahamin’s novel "Gilded India". Nazli’s letter and Fyzee’s novel are important early feminist documents extolling the benefit of rule by women over that by men.
Kenneth X. Robbins is an independent scholar on South Asia. His major areas of interest are the Maharajas and Nawabs, minority groups in India (such as African Muslim elites and Jews), and religious traditions (Sufis, the Bhakti movement, etc.). He has published about 120 articles and edited or authored many books. As an archivist-collector, Robbins has curated many exhibits and scholarly conferences dealing with Maharajas and Nawabs in Indian history, paintings, photographs, art, religion, medicine, numismatics, and philately as well as multiple exhibits on Jews in India.
- Dr. Shehernaz Nalwalla, Chairperson, Mumbai Research Centre
- Prof. Mangala Sirdeshpande, Hon. Secretary
