The Arrival of British in Delhi as Depicted in Ahmed Ali's "Twilight in Delhi"

Introduction: Muslims and the British Arrival

For centuries, Muslims ruled India and built a civilization centered on Persian culture, Islamic learning, and Mughal administration. With the arrival of the British, this world began to collapse. The transition was not just political, but also psychological, social, and economic.

As Sir William Hunter noted in The Indian Musalmans (1870), several British administrative decisions had a disastrous impact on Muslims. The replacement of Persian with English as the official language in 1835 through Lord Macaulay's Minute, the abrogation of waqf laws, and the misappropriation of funds from Muslim schools cut off Muslims from government service and education. Between 1835 and 1870, the proportion of Muslims to Hindus in government jobs was less than one-seventh.

The situation worsened with British support for Christian missionary activity. Administrators like Sir Henry Lawrence and Sir Robert Montgomery in Punjab and Sindh backed missionaries, while Lord William Bentinck's laws in Bengal protected Christian converts' right to inheritance. Missionaries continued medieval-style denunciations of Islam, which further embittered Muslims. Thus, by the early 20th century, the Muslim community in Delhi lived with a deep sense of injustice and cultural loss.

Ahmed Ali captures this moment in Twilight in Delhi (1940). For him, the arrival of the British is not just a historical event, but a slow, painful erosion of a civilization.

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The Coronation Durbar of King George V, 1911

The most direct depiction of British power in the novel is the Coronation Durbar of King George V held in Delhi on 7th December 1911. The Durbar was meant to display British grandeur and assert imperial authority.

As the dates were announced, Delhi was transformed. Government offices were whitewashed, roads were cleaned and oiled, and people poured in from England and across India. But for the residents of Old Delhi, it was not a celebration — it was humiliation.

Ahmed Ali shows the reaction of middle-class Muslim women. Begum Jamal asked bitterly: "What would these beaten-with-the-broom Farangis do?" Begum Nihal replied: "When the Mughal King used to go out, rupees and gold mohurs were thrown to the people by the handfuls. What will these good-as-dead farangis give? Dust and stones."

Even accidents during preparations were read as divine signs. When the pavilion caught fire and a petrol depot burned, Mir Nihal and his son Habibuddin felt secret joy. Begum Nihal cursed openly: "It is God's vengeance falling on these good-as-dead farangis. May they be destroyed for what they have done to Hindustan."

Generational Debate: Explaining the Fall

As preparations peaked, men gathered to discuss why the Mughals fell. Mir Nihal, representing the older generation, blamed treachery. He said it was Zeenat Mahal, Bahadur Shah's second wife, who betrayed the king to the British to secure the throne for her son Jawan Bakht.

Habibuddin, representing the younger generation, gave a more political explanation. He said the British held strategic positions like the Ridge, while Mughal soldiers fought from lower ground. Unlike the cunning East India Company, Bahadur Shah had no military sense. He only wanted to be seen as a martyr. Traitors like Mirza Ilahi Bakhsh sold him out. The result was imprisonment, murder, and banishment.

After this discussion, the listeners sighed. What was done could not be undone. This conversation shows how the community was trying to make sense of its defeat — through blame, analysis, and resignation.

For more context, read: The Political Conditions in Ahmed Ali's Twilight in Delhi.

The Procession: Symbols of Conquest

On the day of the Durbar, people from all castes and communities went to Jama Masjid to watch the procession, "just for the fun of it." The older generation stayed home. For them, watching a Firangi king ride through the gate once used by Mughal emperors was too painful.

Mir Nihal was persuaded by his sons Habibuddin and Asghar to come. As he sat near Jama Masjid, memories flooded him. This was the place where "Indian Kings, his kings" once rode. But the Farangis came "from across the seven seas as merchants" and slowly established rule by dividing natives and then ruling them.

The procession itself was described as "a superfluous show of pomp and might to generate awe among the simple natives." It was "one long unending line of generals and governors, marshals, soldiers and native chiefs... and in the background were the guns... threatening the subdued people of Hindustan."

To Mir Nihal, every monument around him spoke of loss. To his right was the Red Fort built by Shah Jahan, now trampled by aliens. Beyond was the Khuni Darwaza, and further, Humayun's Tomb and Qutub Minar — remnants of a "ravished splendor." He thought of the Iron Pillar of Ashoka and the early Delhi of Hastinapur. "This very Delhi," he thought, "was being despoiled by a western race who had no sympathy for India or for her sons."

Also read: Twilight in Delhi: Muslim Society in Pre-Independence India.

The most insulting sight was Jama Masjid itself. Its façade had been "slavishly decorated with a garland of golden writing containing sheepish greetings from the Indians to the English King." For Mir Nihal, this showed the treachery of the leaders to their own community and faith.

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Memory of 1857: The Breaking Point

Watching the Durbar forced Mir Nihal to recall 14th September 1857, the day Delhi fell to the British. It was a Friday, and thousands of Muslims had gathered in Jama Masjid for prayers. Sir Thomas Metcalf's army was planning to demolish the mosque or convert it into a church.

When Muslims heard this, they wanted to attack, but had only swords. One man stood on the pulpit and urged them to "die like men, fighting for their country and Islam." They unsheathed their swords and rushed. Metcalf's men opened fire. Hundreds fell on the steps of the mosque. But with fierce resolve, the Muslims made a sudden rally and forced the soldiers to flee.

As Mir Nihal remembered this, his rage burst out. "There were those men of 1857 — war-like, valiant, brave and patriotic, and here were the men of 1911, chicken-hearted and happy in their disgrace." The comparison filled him with shame and helplessness. Tears came to his eyes.

To his grandson Nasim, he said: "See there go the horses and the Farangis... Those are the people who have been our undoing and will be yours too. But you will be brave my child, and will fight them one day, won't you?" In the distance, guns still boomed, reminding him of the slaughter of 1857.

For children, the Durbar was a fair. But Mir Nihal knew: "soon... time will show them a new and quite a different sight, and they will understand the sorrows of subjection."

Cultural and Economic Impact of British Rule

Ali shows that British arrival meant more than political defeat. It meant cultural annihilation. The Muslims, once the ruling class, were now economically ruined. Traditional industries like Moradabad metalwork and Dhaka textiles, once in Muslim hands, were destroyed by the East India Company's fiscal policies.

Educationally, the shift from Persian to English left Muslims unqualified for government jobs. Religiously, missionary activity supported by the state felt like an attack on Islam itself.

This created two responses within the Muslim community, which Ali hints at:

For further reference: Indian Rebellion of 1857 — Wikipedia.

1. The Deoband School: Rejected everything British. It stood for confrontation and preservation of Islamic tradition.
2. The Aligarh School: Led by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, it advocated compromise — learning English and cooperating with the British to secure benefits.

In Twilight in Delhi, Mir Nihal represents neither. He represents withdrawal. He is not a nationalist, nor a collaborator. He simply retreats into his home, his pigeons, and his memories. This apathy is itself a political response — the response of a defeated class.

Conclusion: Twilight as Political Metaphor

Through the Durbar scene, Ahmed Ali shows the arrival of the British not as a single event, but as a process of humiliation. From Macaulay's 1835 Minute to the 1911 Coronation, each step pushed Muslims further to the margins.

The procession of George V through the gates of the Red Fort was symbolic. The same gates that once saw Mughal kings now saw a foreign monarch. The same Jama Masjid that witnessed resistance in 1857 was now decorated to greet the conqueror.

For Mir Nihal and his generation, this was the "twilight" — the fading of political power, cultural pride, and historical continuity. The guns that boomed for the king were the same guns that had silenced Delhi in 1857.

Ali does not offer solutions. He offers memory. By recording the thoughts, anger, and grief of one old man, he records the experience of an entire community at the moment of its political eclipse.

That is why Twilight in Delhi remains important. It shows that the arrival of the British was not just the transfer of power. It was the end of a world.

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