Marguerite de Bure was born in 1872 in Orléans, France, a time when women were encouraged to hone their skills on domesticity. Even when women ventured out to work in the beginning of the Belle Epoque, it was as governesses, teachers or nurses, professions seen as extension of their domestic roles.[1] However, young Marguerite, having read her uncle Louis Rousselet’s elaborate tome, India and Its Native Princes, complete with etchings of Indian towns, rajahs, hunting expeditions and palaces; nurtured the dream of travelling to India someday. Apparently, as it was not considered reputable for single women to travel overseas at that time, she waited till the age of 30 to marry someone who would take her to the country.
In 1902, she found her match in Pierre de Bure an agent of the Messageries Maritimes, the French Merchant Navy, who had already lived in Bombay, Saigon, Colombo and Aden. Immediately after their marriage, they left for Bombay where Pierre was posted for the next two years. And thus, began the series of part epistolary and part chronicle, letters that continued till 1904, describing the way of life, landscape, culture and costumes of the people of India, to her friends and family in France. They were compiled and published as Chroniques Indiennes: Marguerite de Bure Feuilleton Epistolaire d’une Française à Bombay 1902-1904 by Marguerite’s descendents Marie-Anne and Laurence Merland in 2007.
Her astute sense of observation and wry humour is noticeable right from the beginning as she describes the ship she travelled to India in and the people on board. Upon landing in Bombay she almost paints a Parisien picture about it to her family. “On the streets, one spots veiled women and also the Arabs and the Persians going to the mosques. It is impossible to describe the crowd, which teems in the middle of these streets Everyone has a busy expression but they walk with busy steps just like in Paris, but with another kind of style and colour.” In Bombay she is was able to interact with diverse groups of Indians. But the group that catches her attention are the Parsis, with their unique style of dressing and mannerisms. Conspicuous by virtue of their economic dominance, in Bombay she gets an opportunity to socialise with them through none other than the Tatas, the well-known business family.
Encounters with dancing girls are described lucidly and candidly. One such occasion occurs when an ‘old rich French woman’ visits and insists on seeing a ‘nautch’ performance. An acquaintance lends her salon and the performance is arranged with Marguerite, Pierre, the Durans and the French woman as the audience. Her description of the event explains: “The dancer 18 to 20 years old was really lovely. Imagine a Spaniard and combine it with a bohemian type, little admirable shapely neck: dark eyes and shape with outline and with assurance. A low and narrow front; black hair hiding the temples; thin nose with a pretty arch; a medium sized mouth and always gracious even while singing.”
Even as Marguerite goes on to describe the movements of the dancer in detail, it is worthwhile to note that neither Marguerite nor Pierre nor any one of the audiences, consider the viewing as forbidden. In fact, on most occasions Marguerite accompanies her husband to gatherings where nautch is performed and she describes them candidly, as on the occasion when they were invited to the coming of age ceremony of a boy. “Three dancers rivalled themselves in ugliness. The boldest of them was round as a ball. She had narrow shoulders and was sitting on her back. She had a narrow squint that made her look even more despicable.”
Marriage ceremonies also provided opportunities for observation. Describing a Parsi wedding ceremony she wrote. “In short, these ceremonies were not interesting in themselves, they were simple formulas hollow and empty, the kind we conform to by routine, without giving them the least amount of religious sentiment. I was surprised and shocked at the absence of seriousness among all the attendees, the couple, their close relatives, parents, all laughed and seemed to turn everything into a joke.”
Having understood India through Louis Rousselet’s tome India and the Native Princes, a shadow of Rousselet’s intrepidity lingers in Marguerite’s writings. What makes these letters unique, however, are their sense of wonder, candidness and humour. Take for example the description of a mysterious celebration that she witnesses on Malabar coast.
Yesterday, while going for a walk along the bay of the Malabar coast, we saw a huge gathering of people at the seashore. As you imagined, we ran towards it. Millions of people came in procession from all directions carrying on their head a seat, footstool, a throne or a small palanquin, each one following his fortune, over which was enthroned a statue of Lord Ganesh, decorated with flowers, with laces, of candles and surrounded by members of each family who were escorting as they were chanting, playing instruments and dancing like David before the Arch. Coming to the seashore, the master of ceremonies, robbed of his garments brought his idols to the sea and went to drown it a specific place where it lost balance. What is the significance of this religious act?
Or alternatively, the alacrity with which she describes the chaos in Delhi during the proclamation of the crowning of the King Edward VII. All these descriptions bring forth a personality which is not only curious but also conscious of a world beyond the daily routines of domesticity and socialisation/ socialising.
Marguerite and Pierre lived in India till 1904 during which time Marguerite gave birth to a child (who died later). They later moved to Colombo where the birth of her further children did not allow her much spare time to write. However, they did return to India in 1911, this time to the South. Once again, Marguerite’s writing was enthralling with her description of the temples of Rameshwaram and Trichy in Tamil Nadu.
[1] Epstein, A. (2011). Gender and the rise of the female expert during the Belle Époque. Histoire@Politique, 14(2), 84-96. https://doi.org/10.3917/hp.014.007
Chroniques Indiennes: Marguerite de Bure: Feuilleton Epistolaire d’une Française à Bombay 1902-1904 has been compiled by Marie-Anne and Laurence Merland. It has been translated into English by Elsa S. Mathews as Indian Chronicles: Marguerite de Bure Letters from a French Woman in Bombay 1902-1904, published by Sanbun Publishers, India.
