In the 18th-century trans-cultural hub of Bengal, the hookah transitioned from a local Mughal indulgence to a cornerstone of British social and political life. Originally the domain of the Muslim nobility and the Nawabs of Awadh, hookah smoking was adopted by the East India Company (EIC) officers as a matter of diplomatic necessity. To negotiate trade treaties and navigate the intricate protocols of the Mughal and Nawabi courts, British officials found that "sharing a pipe" was the essential currency of mediation.
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| English man Ochterlony smoking hookah. Alamy |
Above: British Resident David Ochterlony (1758-1825), in Indian dress, smoking a hookah and watching a nautch(dancing girl) in his house at Delhi, painting, c. 1820 - Image ID: T6DF56
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| English officer in Bengal smoking hookah. bonhams.com |
Above image English officer in Bengal smoking hookah. bonhams.com. Cap.Lyons of the Bengal Infantry seated smoking hookah, watching Nautch girls (dancing girls) with a retinue of Indian musicians and servants,Calcutta --Original painting of 1801 by an Indian artist after an original painting by Cap. Crockatt the Bengal Engineers CIRCA 1810-12....
As the EIC consolidated its power following the Battle of Plassey (1757) and the Battle of Buxar (1764), the hookah evolved from a diplomatic tool into a symbol of "White Nabob" opulence. For the British parvenus—men of humble origins who became extraordinarily wealthy through the exploitation of Bengal’s vast revenues—the silver hookah was a status symbol. It marked their integration into Indian elite circles while simultaneously asserting their newfound administrative superiority.
The practice became deeply ritualistic. Stately dinners at the Governor’s residence in Calcutta often saw hookah sessions extending past midnight. High-ranking officials like Sir Thomas Metcalfe were known for their fastidious habits, yet Metcalfe’s daily ritual included thirty minutes of smoking a silver hookah after breakfast. This "hookah culture" necessitated a specialized retinue; the Hookah-burdar (pipe-bearer) became a permanent fixture in British households. Even junior clerks or "writers" earning a modest £200 a year insisted on employing a bearer to maintain their social standing and project an image of racial and administrative "civilization."
However, the aesthetics of the hookah shifted with the political tides. While artists like Charles D’Oyly and Francesco Renaldi captured the elegance of the silver pipe in their engravings and paintings, the Great Rebellion of 1857 fundamentally altered the British psyche. The revolt transformed the hookah from an emblem of "Oriental grandeur" into an object of abomination. In the aftermath of the rebellion, as the British sought to distance themselves from native customs and establish a more rigid, Victorian racial segregation, the hookah was discarded in favor of cigars and cigarettes. By the late 19th century, the once-essential silver pipe had been relegated to the back chapters of history, a relic of an era when the British "Nabobs" had been seduced by the very culture they sought to subdue.
http://www.transformationsjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Prateek_Transformations27.pdf
Dalrymple, William. The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty: Delhi, 1857. London: Bloomsbury, 2007. Print.
http://www.transformationsjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Prateek_Transformations27.pdf
