Lucknow as you never knew it

CHITRA SUDARSHAN is fascinated by an 18th century French settler who made his home in a northern Indian city

Seeds of Empire by Gwayne Naug is a book that will warm the hearts of those who hold Lucknow dear: it is the first book of the Ferenghi Quartet and it recreates the exploits and achievements of Claude Martin (1735-1800), a Frenchman who ended up in the East India Company, made Lucknow his home, and lived and died there. His legacy is writ large everywhere in Lucknow, and several impressive buildings that he designed and built in that city still stand today as a testament to the abilities of this very impressive man.

Martin’s real-life adventures inspired this story. He was born in Lyons, France, into a humble background, and at the age of sixteen, signed up with the French Compagnie des Indes and arrived in India in 1752 to begin his military career. When the French lost the colony of Pondicherry in 1761, he could foresee the end of French hopes in India, so he crossed ranks and accepted service in the Bengal army of the British East India Company. Despite the overtones of treason implicit in that act, it was to prove a sound decision in hindsight: for Martin rose to the rank of Major-General in the British Indian army within 2 years – which led to better and more lucrative posts, and amassed a vast fortune during his lifetime. On his death in September 1800, he left the majority of his estate to charity with a large portion dedicated to the founding of schools at Calcutta, Lucknow and Lyons. There are seven schools named after him: two in Lucknow, two in Calcutta, and three in Lyons; the La Martiniere Colleges in these cities continue to educate and mould thousands of young people of all races and denominations even today – thanks to Claude Martin’s generosity and foresight. The small village of Martin Purwa in India was also named after him.

Inspired by the real life exploits of Claude Martin, Seeds of Empire is a fictionalised history that covers one of the most exciting periods of European and Indian history. When author Gwayne Naug first gazed upon Claude Martin’s portrait in a school in Lucknow, she knew she wanted to write about him. In the following years she visited Lyons, interviewed several people in Lucknow who told her stories about Martin, and she was able to access documents about him in the Indian government’s archives. The author has used the facts about his life to weave it into a work of fiction and the result is a historical novel filled with intrigues, wars, romance and adventure, too true, strange and marvellous to be fiction alone!

What we have here are several fascinating narratives: the making of the British Empire in the subcontinent, eighteenth century India and the exploits of an unsung hero.

In Europe, a war was raging between the French and the British, and it forms the backdrop for their struggle to control India. The Carnatic wars between the brilliant English strategist Robert Clive and the Frenchman Dupleix are retold here from the perspective of the young Martin as a French Dragoon: the author describes with some authenticity the battle for Pondicherry that ended in the terrible defeat of the French at the hands of the British in India; Martin’s perilous voyage in a crowded ship with other French prisoners of war to Calcutta from Madras; the friendship he strikes with a British officer on the way, his service in the Bengal army. He later became the Surveyor of Bengal, and demonstrated a great gift for cartography.

In 1776, Martin was allowed to accept the position of Superintendent of Arsenal in the employ of the Nawab of Awadh, Asaf Ud Daula in Lucknow – the city in which he lived until his death. It was mainly during that time

When author Gwayne Naug first gazed upon Claude Martin’s portrait in a school in Lucknow, she knew she wanted to write about him that Martin amassed his enormous wealth of 40 lakhs. There the two basically became the architects of Lucknow, and Martin’s hand can be seen in the city’s architecture even today. The Kothi Hayath Baksh that Martin designed is the Raj Bhavan (Governor’s residence) today; the imposing Constantia and Farud Baksh He was a collector, with an impressive collection of books [some 40,000 volumes] and more than 650 paintings [mostly Mogul painters] of birds.

A clever businessman –he started a bank in Lucknow, and became a successful indigo farmer. He remained a strategist and a soldier all his life, but he loved architecture and building and cartography. But these tales must await the next volumes in the quartet.

The author, in this volume, brings the story up unto his initial years in the Bengal Army, his besotted obsession with a Spanish dancer, the purchase of his first property in Chandernagore and his investment in indigo plantations with the gems that a fellow soldier bequeaths him – this is a veritable tour of eighteenth century India. From bloody battles to romantic liaisons, the author’s descriptions evoke India of the era pretty well, and the characters are vividly brought to life. The author is obviously fascinated with her subject and it shows. Anyone interested in British India of that time will find this book fascinating.