Quaid-e-Azams Daughter Dina Wadia Essay Example

Quaid-e-Azams Daughter: Dina Wadia Paper Dina Wadia (born Dina Jinnah August 15, 1919) is the daughter of Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Founder of Pakistan. Contents [hide] 1 Early life 2 Rift with her father 3 Jinnah mansion dispute 4 Present times 5 Bibliographic references 6 External links Early life[edit] See also: Jinnah family Dina was born in London shortly after midnight on the morning of August 15, 1919. Jinnah was raised as a Muslim, reading the Holy book Quran from her aunt Fatima Jinnah. [l] She is the daughter of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the step daughter of Emibai Jinnah and the niece of Fatima Jinnah and Shireen Jinnah. Stanley Wolperts Jinnah of Pakistan records: that Her premature arrival was unexpected†her parents were at the theatre, but were obliged to leave their box hurriedly. She was a dark-eyed beauty, lithe and winsome. She had her mothers smile and was pert or petulant as only an adored. According to Wolpert, referring to Jinnahs time in London in 1930-33, Dina was [Jinnahs] sole comfort, but Dina was away at school most of the time and home only for brief times, yet still the pampered daughter could be a Joy to her doting father. He had two dogs, one formidable black Doberman, the other a white West Highland Terrier. We will write a custom essay sample on Quaid-e-Azams Daughter: Dina Wadia specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Quaid-e-Azams Daughter: Dina Wadia specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Quaid-e-Azams Daughter: Dina Wadia specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In November 1932, Jinnah read H. C. Armstrongs biography of Kemal Atatrk, Grey Wolf, and seemed to have found his own reflection in the story of Turkeys great modernist leader. It was all he talked about for a while at home, even to Dina, who consequently nicknamed him Grey Wolf. Being only thirteen, her way of pestering him to take her to High Road to see Punch and Judy was, Come on, Grey Wolf, take me to a pantomime; after all, I am on my holidays. [Wolpert] Rift with her father[edit] Dinas relationship with her father became strained when Dina expressed her desire o marry a Parsi-born Indian Neville Wadia. Jinnah, a Muslim, tried to dissuade her, but failed. Mahommedali Currim Chagla, who was Jinnahs assistant at the time, recalls: Jinnah, in his usual imperious manner, told her that there were millions of Muslim boys in India, and she could have anyone she chose. Reminding her father that his wife (Dinas mother Rattanbai), had also been a non-Muslim, a Parsi also coincidently, the young lady replied: Father, there were millions of Muslim girls in India. Why did you not marry one of them? And he replied that, She became a Muslim'. It is said (by Jinnahs associate M C Chagla in Roses in December) that more. It has not been corroborated by any other source. Jinnah allegedly disowned her and the father-daughter relationship became extremely formal after she married. But the legal notice of disowning never came, which is essential for such purposes. They did correspond, but he addressed her formally as Mrs. Wadia. Dina and Neville lived in Mumbai and had two children, a boy and a girl. Dinas son Nusli Wadia became a Christian, but converted back to Zoroastrianism and settled in the ndustrially wealthy Parsi community of Mumbai. Dina did not travel to Pakistan until her fathers funeral in Karachi in September 1948. Their relationship is a matter of legal conjecture and hair splitting as Pakistani laws allow for a person to be disinherited for violating Islamic rules (in this case by a Muslim woman marrying a non-Muslim), hence no claim on the Pakistani properties of Jinnah, and Indian laws recognizing religions traditional succession rules to operate. Jinnah mansion dispute[edit] After Jinnah returned to Mumbai from England to take charge of the Muslim League, e built himself a palatial mansion South Court (Jinnah House) in Mumbai, which became his residence during the politically momentous decade preceding the creation of Pakistan. The house was designed by Claude Batley, a British architect, and was built in 1936 at a total cost of Rs. 200,000/-. The 2. 5 acre (10,000 m2) property, South Court, overlooking the sea and located at 2, Bhausaheb Hirey Marg (then Mount Pleasant Road), Malabar Hill, is in Mumbais most expensive real estate. In 1948, it was leased to the British Deputy High Commission which occupied it till 1982. Successive Pakistans Government have often expressed deep interest in acquiring the property free of charge for sentimental reasons. During his visit to India, President Pervez Musharraf had renewed Pakistans claim to the house which the president had suggested to Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee should be given to Pakistan so that it could be turned into a consulate. However, this came to naught: Dina Wadia who lived in New York, wrote to the Indian prime minister demanding that the house on the Malabar Hill, now worth $60 million, be handed over to her. itation needed] Through her counsel, she has argued that Muslim Law for inheritance did not apply to her father Jinnah, a Khoja Shia but instead Hindu customary law applied, as ruled by the Supreme Court of India in previous cases. [2] Present times[edit] See also: Wadia family In March 2004, Dina came to Lahore, Pakistan to watch a cricket match between Pakistan and India. She considered cricket diplomacy to be an enthralling dimension that illustrated an entirely new phase in relations between India and Pakistan. But she and her son Nusli Wadia chose not to share their thoughts with the ublic on what was certainly a highly emotional encounter. Dina had not traveled to Pakistan since her fathers funeral in September 1948. A great sense of drama was embedded in an old womans visit, as a foreigner, to a country that was founded by her father. Dina, her son Nusli Wadia and grandsons Ness Wadia and Jehangir Wadia visited the mausoleum of her father to pay homage. She also visited the museum father. In the visitors book, Dina wrote: This has been very sad and wonderful for me. May his dream for Pakistan come true. This would appear to be a very ppropriate summation of a life-experience that is essentially inexplicable. Reports said that she asked for copies of three pictures she saw in the mausoleums antiquities room. In one picture, she is standing with her father and aunt, Fatima Jinnah. The other is a painting of her mother, Maryam Jinnah. In the third, her father is dictating a letter, showing Mohammad Ali Jinnahs political persona. She also went to the tomb of Madar-e-Millat Fatima Jinnah to pay respects to her aunt and Flagstaff House Pakistan to host the flag of Pakistan and her fathers house Wazir Mansion. [3]

Introduction to Post-Roman Britain

Introduction to Post-Roman Britain In response to a request for military assistance in 410, Emperor Honorius told the British people they would have to defend themselves. The occupation of Britain by Roman forces had come to an end. The next 200 years are the least well-documented in the recorded history of Britain. Historians must turn to archaeological finds to glean an understanding of life in this time period; but unfortunately, without documentary evidence to provide names, dates, and the details of political events, the discoveries can only offer a general, and theoretical, picture. Still, by piecing together archaeological evidence, documents from the continent, monument inscriptions, and the few contemporary chronicles such as the works of Saint Patrick and Gildas, scholars have gained a general understanding of the time period as set forth here. The Map of Roman Britain in 410 shown here is available in a larger version. The People of Post-Roman Britain The inhabitants of Britain were at this time somewhat Romanized, especially in urban centers; but by blood and by tradition they were primarily Celtic. Under the Romans, local chieftains had played an active role in the government of the territory, and some of these leaders took up the reigns now that the Roman officials were gone. Nevertheless, cities began to deteriorate, and the population of the entire island may have declined, in spite of the fact that immigrants from the continent were settling along the east coast. Most of these new inhabitants were from Germanic tribes; the one most often mentioned is Saxon. Religion in Post-Roman Britain The Germanic newcomers worshipped pagan gods, but because Christianity had become the favored religion in the empire in the preceding century, most Britons were Christian. However, many British Christians followed the teachings of their fellow Briton Pelagius, whose views on original sin were condemned by the Church in 416, and whose brand of Christianity was therefore considered heretical. In 429, Saint Germanus of Auxerre visited Britain to preach the accepted version of Christianity to the followers of Pelagius. (This is one of the few events for which scholars have corroborating documentary evidence from records on the continent.) His arguments were well-received, and he is even believed to have helped fend off an attack by Saxons and Picts. Life in Post-Roman Britain The official withdrawal of Roman protection did not mean that Britain immediately succumbed to invaders. Somehow, the threat in 410 was kept at bay. Whether this was because some Roman soldiers stayed behind or the Britons themselves took up arms is undetermined. Nor did the British economy collapse. Although no new coinage was issued in Britain, coins stayed in circulation for at least a century (though they were ultimately debased); at the same time, barter became more common, and a mixture of the two characterized 5th-century trade. Tin mining appears to have continued through the post-Roman era, possibly with little or no interruption. Salt production also continued for some time, as did metal-working, leather-working, weaving, and the production of jewelry. Luxury goods were even imported from the continent an activity that actually increased in the late fifth century. The hill-forts that had originated centuries before showing archaeological evidence of occupancy in the fifth and sixth centuries, suggesting they were used to evade and hold off invading tribes. Post-Roman Britons are believed to have built timber halls, which would not have withstood the centuries as well as the stone structures of the Roman period, but which would have been habitable and even comfortable when they were first constructed. Villas remained inhabited, at least for a while, and were run by wealthier or more powerful individuals and their servants, be they slave or free. Tenant farmers also worked the land to survive. Life in Post-Roman Britain couldnt have been easy and carefree, but the Romano-British way of life survived, and the Britons flourished with it. Continued on page two: British Leadership. British Leadership If there had been any remnants of centralized government in the wake of the Roman withdrawal, it rapidly dissolved into rival factions. Then, in about 425, one leader achieved enough control to declare himself High King of Britain: Vortigern. Although Vortigern did not govern the entire territory, he did defend against invasion, particularly against attacks by Scots and Picts from the north. According to the sixth-century chronicler Gildas, Vortigern invited Saxon warriors to help him fight the northern invaders, in return for which he granted them land in what is today Sussex. Later sources would identify the leaders of these warriors as the brothers Hengist and Horsa. Hiring Barbarian mercenaries was a common Roman imperial practice, as was paying them with the land; but Vortigern was remembered bitterly for making a significant Saxon presence in England possible. The Saxons rebelled in the early 440s, eventually killing Vortigerns son and exacting more land from the British leader. Instability and Conflict Archaeological evidence indicates that fairly frequent military actions occurred across England over the rest of the fifth century. Gildas, who was born at the end of this period, reports that a series of battles took place between the native Britons and the Saxons, whom he calls a race hateful both to God and men. The successes of the invaders pushed some of the Britons west to the mountains, precipices, thickly wooded forests, and to the rocks of the seas (in present-day Wales and Cornwall); others passed beyond the seas with loud lamentations (to present-day Brittany in western France). It is Gildas who named Ambrosius Aurelianus, a military commander of Roman extraction, as leading a resistance against the Germanic warriors and seeing some success. He does not provide a date, but he does give the reader some sense that at least a few years of strife against the Saxons had passed since the defeat of Vortigern before Aurelianus began his fight. Most historians place his activity from about 455 to the 480s. A Legendary Battle Both the Britons and the Saxons had their share of triumphs and tragedies until the British victory at the Battle of Mount Badon (Mons Badonicus), a.k.a. Badon Hill (sometimes translated as Bath-hill), which Gildas states took place in the year of his birth. Unfortunately, there is no record of the writers birth date, so estimates of this battle have ranged from as early as the 480s to as late as 516 (as recorded centuries later in the Annales Cambriae). Most scholars agree it occurred close to the year 500. There is also no scholarly consensus for where the battle took place since there was no Badon Hill in Britain in the following centuries. And, while many theories have been put forward as to the identity of the commanders, there is no information in contemporary or even near-contemporary sources to corroborate these theories. Some scholars have speculated that Ambrosius Aurelianus led the Britons, and this is indeed possible; but if it were true, it would require a reconfiguration of the dates of his activity, or an acceptance of an exceptionally long military career. And Gildas, whose work is the sole written source for Aurelianus as commander of the Britons, does not name him explicitly, or even refer to him vaguely, as the victor at Mount Badon. A Short Peace The Battle of Mount Badon is important because it marked the end of the conflict of the late fifth century, and ushered in an era of relative peace. It is during this time the mid-6th century that Gildas wrote the work that gives scholars most of the details they have about the late fifth century: the De Excidio Britanniae (On the Ruin of Britain). In the De Excidio Britanniae, Gildas told of the past troubles of the Britons and acknowledged the current peace they enjoyed. He also took his fellow Britons to task for cowardice, foolishness, corruption, and civil unrest. There is no hint in his writings of the fresh Saxon invasions that awaited Britain in the last half of the sixth century, other than, perhaps, a general sense of doom brought on by his bewailing of the latest generation of know-nothings and do-nothings. Continued on page three: The Age of Arthur? In response to a request for military assistance in 410, Emperor Honorius told the British people they would have to defend themselves. The occupation of Britain by Roman forces had come to an end. The next 200 years are the least well-documented in the recorded history of Britain. Historians must turn to archaeological finds to glean an understanding of life in this time period; but unfortunately, without documentary evidence to provide names, dates, and the details of political events, the discoveries can only offer a general, and theoretical, picture. Still, by piecing together archaeological evidence, documents from the continent, monument inscriptions, and the few contemporary chronicles such as the works of Saint Patrick and Gildas, scholars have gained a general understanding of the time period as set forth here. The Map of Roman Britain in 410 shown here is available in a larger version. The People of Post-Roman Britain The inhabitants of Britain were at this time somewhat Romanized, especially in urban centers; but by blood and by tradition they were primarily Celtic. Under the Romans, local chieftains had played an active role in the government of the territory, and some of these leaders took up the reigns now that the Roman officials were gone. Nevertheless, cities began to deteriorate, and the population of the entire island may have declined, in spite of the fact that immigrants from the continent were settling along the east coast. Most of these new inhabitants were from Germanic tribes; the one most often mentioned is Saxon. Religion in Post-Roman Britain The Germanic newcomers worshipped pagan gods, but because Christianity had become the favored religion in the empire in the preceding century, most Britons were Christian. However, many British Christians followed the teachings of their fellow Briton Pelagius, whose views on original sin were condemned by the Church in 416, and whose brand of Christianity was therefore considered heretical. In 429, Saint Germanus of Auxerre visited Britain to preach the accepted version of Christianity to the followers of Pelagius. (This is one of the few events for which scholars have corroborating documentary evidence from records on the continent.) His arguments were well-received, and he is even believed to have helped fend off an attack by Saxons and Picts. Life in Post-Roman Britain The official withdrawal of Roman protection did not mean that Britain immediately succumbed to invaders. Somehow, the threat in 410 was kept at bay. Whether this was because some Roman soldiers stayed behind or the Britons themselves took up arms is undetermined. Nor did the British economy collapse. Although no new coinage was issued in Britain, coins stayed in circulation for at least a century (though they were ultimately debased); at the same time, barter became more common, and a mixture of the two characterized 5th-century trade. Tin mining appears to have continued through the post-Roman era, possibly with little or no interruption. Salt production also continued for some time, as did metal-working, leather-working, weaving, and the production of jewelry. Luxury goods were even imported from the continent an activity that actually increased in the late fifth century. The hill-forts that had originated centuries before showing archaeological evidence of occupancy in the fifth and sixth centuries, suggesting they were used to evade and hold off invading tribes. Post-Roman Britons are believed to have built timber halls, which would not have withstood the centuries as well as the stone structures of the Roman period, but which would have been habitable and even comfortable when they were first constructed. Villas remained inhabited, at least for a while, and were run by wealthier or more powerful individuals and their servants, be they slave or free. Tenant farmers also worked the land to survive. Life in Post-Roman Britain couldnt have been easy and carefree, but the Romano-British way of life survived, and the Britons flourished with it. Continued on page two: British Leadership.