In palace of darkness, a princess prepares a poisoned death

“I think she might do it any day,” says her brother Prince Riaz Oudh, his mood as dark and sombre as his surroundings. “My sister is in deep distress and since the Begum died, has been wearing black. She has not combed her hair even once.” As a morbid reminder, their mother’s ashes are kept in a crystal vial in the middle of a large room ringed by stone arches.

In May 1985, Malcha Mahal was allotted to the royals of Oudh, led by the imperious Begum who for years laid a siege of the VIP lounge at the New Delhi Railway Station, with her fast-depleting stock of antiques and her loyal pack of ferocious hounds.

The Begum killed herself on December 10, 1993, by drinking poison — which has been the time-tested means of death with their ancestors, since the days of Nawab Sadat Khan, the founder of the Oudh dynasty.

But the poison consumed by the 62-year old Begum — who fought a lone battle with the Government for return of their ancestral property in Lucknow but got only the ruin called Malcha Mahal and a paltry monthly allowance of Rs 500 in exchange — was even more potent.

According to Prince Riaz, his mother died by consuming crushed diamonds, extracted from ornaments which she never wore. On that fateful Friday morning, he recalls, she powdered the jewels and filled the ceramic bowl which she always kept on her table.

It is difficult to get the querulous Prince and his eccentric sister to talk, but once they do, they lay bare a bizarre, if not macabre story. The Begum died on her writing desk and for 10 days after that, her body was placed on the same marble slab where her ashes now rest. The Prince and Princess allowed the body to “dehydrate” and at night, slept alongside it.“We could not bear to be parted from our mother,” bemoans Sakina, who is dressed in jeans and a flowing black cape and has uncombed hair which have turned into ringlets. “For us she is still there…she is omnipresent and I will soon follow her.”

On the tenth day following the Begum’s death, using secret ingredients and the technique adopted by the Pharaohs, Riaz Oudh says he carefully embalmed his mother. Working single-handedly with a heavy crowbar, he dug a vault in the forest and along with the body, buried some of her precious belongings. The rest of the Begum’s jewels, mostly diamonds, pearls and rubies were strewn on the body. After six months on June 24, 1994, the second embalming took place.

But the Begum was not allowed to rest in her glittering rocky retreat. Riaz Oudh says it was the fear of the vault being vandalized as well as his sister’s black mood as the Begum’s first death anniversary approached, that made him do what he later did. He opened the vault and on a bright sunny morning, consigned his mother to flames.

Since then, her ashes have been kept in the crystal vial and the new stone vault, surrounded by stone arches, protected by her precious Blue Danes and Dobermans.

In happier days, the Oudhs had 27 dogs, which except for one or two retainers they employ, were the only company they kept. Now, only nine are left. Most of the others have been reportedly poisoned by the Bawarias, members of the tribe who have invaded the forest around Malcha Mahal in the garb of woodpickers. Once, the Bawarias poisoned seven Great Danes and on another occasion, they carted away a huge silver table as well as gold and silver tableware.

But Sakina Oudh seems to have lost her love for everything old and expensive, which they have in any case been selling to survive. As she talks, she holds up a bundle containing a shawl, a pair of black gloves and shoes, the last of her mother’s belongings, which she says she will carry with her to her death. Her brother interrupts her, “I will not let you do it! Why do you always talk of death?”

Sakina Oudh throws back her head and looks sideways, “We may not have the diamonds but there are other ways to do it,” she says with stoic pride, so reminiscent of her mother, “These things should not be done in a hurry. It may take some time….”