Mariam Khan and the Legacy of Mughal Women in Early Modern Literature of India

Abstract

In John Dryden’s play, Amboyna, or the Cruelties of the Dutch to the English Merchants (1673), the Indonesian princess Ysabinda is an almost unidentifiable re-creation of a historical figure named Mariam Khan, wife of the English trader Gabriel Towerson. 1 Amboyna is based on the 1623 torture and murder of Towerson by the Dutch and is therefore invested in an accurate if martyrized depiction of Towerson, whose name remains “Gabriel Towerson” in the play. Towerson’s real wife, Mariam Khan, is not transferred similarly but “recast” as Ysabinda and married to the Towerson of Dryden’s text. As contemporary criticism points out, Mariam Khan virtually disappears in the transformation to Ysabinda, and at first glance, the departure appears inconsequential since there is limited information about her. 2 Mariam Khan (dates unknown) was a resident of the Mughal Empire in northern India (1526–1858) and the daughter of Mubarak Khan, an influential merchant in the courts of the Mughal emperors Akbar (r. 1556–1605) and Jahangir (r. 1605–27). While Mughal emperors were Muslims, their subjects and associates were of different nationalities and religions, from Persians and Turks to Hindus and Portuguese Catholics. Mubarak Khan and Mariam Khan were Armenian Christians, of which there were large communities throughout early modern India. 3 These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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