Oudh State
Oudh Awadh | |||||||||||||
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1572–1858 | |||||||||||||
Status |
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Capital | |||||||||||||
Common languages | Urdu and Persian (official), Awadhi (regional), Hindi, English | ||||||||||||
Religion | Shia Islam (official), Hinduism (majority), Sunni Islam, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity | ||||||||||||
Government |
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Nawab | |||||||||||||
• 1722–1739 | Saadat Ali Khan I (first) | ||||||||||||
• 1847-1856 | Wajid Ali Shah (last) | ||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||
• Independence from Mughal Empire | 1722 | ||||||||||||
• Annexation of Oudh | 1856 | ||||||||||||
5 – 25 June 1857 | |||||||||||||
3 March 1858 | |||||||||||||
• Merger of Oudh to North-Western Provinces | 1859 | ||||||||||||
Area | |||||||||||||
62,072 km2 (23,966 sq mi) | |||||||||||||
Currency | Rupee | ||||||||||||
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The Oudh State (/ˈaʊd/,[1] also Kingdom of Awadh, Kingdom of Oudh, Awadh Subah, Oudh Subah or Awadh State) was a Mughal subah, then an independent kingdom, and lastly a princely state in the Awadh region of North India
As the
The capital of Oudh was in
Oudh joined other Indian states in an upheaval against British rule in 1858 during one of the last series of actions in the
After the British
History
Oudh Subah was one of the initial 12 subahs (later expanded to 15 subahs by the end of Akbar's reign) established by
Establishment
In 1740, his successor
As regional officials asserted their autonomy in
The next nawab, Shuja-ud-Daula, extended Oudh's control of the Mughal emperor. He was appointed vazir to Shah Alam II in 1762 and offered him asylum after his failed campaigns against the British in the Bengal War.[9]
British contact and control
Since Oudh was located in a prosperous region, the
Shuja-ud-Daula
British dominance was established at the
Shuja-ud-Daula bought the Mughal provinces of Kora and Allahabad in the Treaty of Benares (1773) with the British (who held de facto control over the area) for 50 lakh rupees, increased the cost of Company mercenaries, and military aid in the First Rohilla War to expand Oudh as a buffer state against Maratha interests.[10]: 65 [11]: 75 Done by Warren Hastings, this move was unpopular among the rest of Company leadership, but Hastings continued a harsh policy on Oudh, justifying the military aid as a bid to strengthen Oudh's status as a buffer state against the Marathas. To shape the policy of Oudh and direct its internal affairs Hastings appointed the resident Nathaniel Middleton in Lucknow that year as well. At the conclusion of the First Rohilla War in 1774, Oudh gained the entirety of Rohilkhand and the Middle Doab region, only leaving the independent Rampur State as a Rohilla enclave.
Asaf-ud-Daula
Asaf-ud-Daula acceded to the nawabship of Oudh with British aid in exchange for the Treaty of Benares (1775) which further increased the cost of mercenaries and ceded the sarkars of
The Treaty of Chunar (1781) sought to reduce the number of British troops in Oudh's service to cut costs, but failed in this measure due to the instability of Asaf-ud-Daula's rule and thus his reliance on British aid essentially as a puppet regime.[13]
Later rulers
Saadat Ali Khan II acceded to the throne of Oudh in 1798, owing his seat to British intervention including Governor-General of Bengal Sir John Shore's personal proclamation in Lucknow of his rule. A treaty signed on 21 February 1798 increased the subsidy paid to the British to 70 lakh rupees per year.[12]
In light of the
Farrukhabad and Rampur was not annexed by the British yet; instead, they served as separate princely states for the moment.[12]
The kingdom became a British
Throughout the early 1800s until annexation, several areas were gradually ceded to the British.
British annexation
On 7 February 1856, by order of
Indian Rebellion of 1857
Between 5 July 1857 and 3 March 1858, during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Begum Hazrat Mahal, the wife of Wajid Ali Shah proclaimed their son Birjis Qadr the Wali of Awadh and ruled as regent. At the time of the rebellion, the British lost control of the territory; they reestablished their rule over the next eighteen months, during which time there were massacres such as those that had occurred in the course of the Siege of Cawnpore.[16][17]
After the rebellion, Oudh's territory was merged with the
Government
Feudatory states
The following were feudatory estates —
— of Oudh:- Balrampur Estate[19]
- Benares State until 1740[20]
- Bhadri Estate[21]
- Itaunja Estate[22]
- Kohra Estate[23]
- Nanpara Taluqdari[24]
- Pratapgarh Estate
- Tulsipur State
Rulers
The first ruler of Oudh State belonged to the
All rulers used the title of 'Nawab'.[26]
Title | Reign Start | Reign End | Name |
---|---|---|---|
Subadar Nawab | 1722 | 19 Mar 1739 | Borhan al-Molk Mir Mohammad Amin Musawi Saʾadat ʾAli Khan I |
19 Mar 1739 | 28 Apr 1748 | Abu'l Mansur Mohammad Moqim Khan
| |
Nawab Wazir al-Mamalik | 28 Apr 1748 | 13 May 1753 | |
Subadar Nawab | 5 Nov 1753 | 5 Oct 1754 | |
5 Oct 1754 | 15 Feb 1762 | Jalal ad-Din Shojaʾ ad-Dowla Haydar | |
Nawab Wazir al-Mamalik | 15 Feb 1762 | 26 Jan 1775 | |
26 Jan 1775 | 21 Sep 1797 | Asaf ad-Dowla Amani | |
21 Sep 1797 | 21 Jan 1798 | Mirza Wazir ʾAli Khan | |
21 Jan 1798 | 11 Jul 1814 | Yamin ad-Dowla Nazem al-Molk Saʾadat ʾAli Khan II Bahadur | |
11 Jul 1814 | 19 Oct 1818 | Ghazi ad-Din Rafaʾat ad-Dowla Abul-Mozaffar Haydar Khan | |
King (Padshah-e Awadh, Shah-e Zaman) | 19 Oct 1818 | 19 Oct 1827 | |
19 Oct 1827 | 7 Jul 1837 | Naser ad-Din Haydar Solayman Jah Shah | |
7 Jul 1837 | 17 May 1842 | Moʾin ad-Din Abu'l-Fath Mohammad ʾAli Shah | |
17 May 1842 | 13 Feb 1847 | Naser ad-Dowla Amjad ʾAli Thorayya Jah Shah | |
13 Feb 1847 | 7 Feb 1856 | Naser ad-Din ʾAbd al-Mansur Mohammad Wajed ʾAli Shah | |
5 Jul 1857 | 3 Mar 1858 | Berjis Qadr (in rebellion) |
Residents
Name | Start | End |
---|---|---|
Nathaniel Middleton | 1773 | 1774 |
John Bristow | 1774 | 1776 |
Nathaniel Middleton | 1776 | 1779 (second time) |
C. Purling | 1779 | 1780 |
John Bristow | 1780 | 1781 (second time) |
Nathaniel Middleton | 1781 | 1782 (third time) |
John Bristow | 1782 | 1783 (third time) |
William Palmer | 1783 | 1784 |
Gabriel Harper | 1784 | 1785 |
Edward Otto Ives | 1785 | 1794 |
George Frederick Cherry | 1794 | 1796 |
James Lumsden | 1796 | 1799 |
William Scott | 1799 | 1804 |
John Ulrich Collins | 1804 | 1807 |
John Baillie | 1807 | 1815 |
Richard Charles Strachey | 1815 | 1817 |
John.R. Monckton | 1818 | 1820 |
Felix Vincent Raper | 1820 | 1823 |
Mordaunt Ricketts | 1823 | 1827 |
Thomas Herbert Maddock | 1829 | 1831 |
John Low | 1831 | 1842 |
James Caulfield (interí) | 1839 | 1841 |
William Nott | 1841 | 1843 |
George Pollock | 1843 | 1844 |
J. D. Shakespear | 1844 | 1845 |
T. Reid Davidson | 1845 | 1847 |
Archibald Richmond | 1847 | 1849 |
Sir William Henry Sleeman | 1849 | 1854 |
Sir James Outram |
1854 | 1856 |
Demographics
In the early eighteenth century, the population of Oudh was estimated to be 3 million. Oudh underwent a demographic shift in which Lucknow and Varanasi expanded to become metropolises of over 200,000 people over the course of the 18th century at the expense of Agra and Delhi. During this period the land on the banks of the Yamuna suffered frequent dry spells, while the Baiswara did not.[27]: 38
Although it was ruled by Muslims, a majority, roughly four fifths, of Oudh's population were Hindus.[8]: 155 [28]
Culture
The Nawabs of Oudh were descended from a Sayyid line from Nishapur in Persia. They were Shia Muslims, and promoted Shia as the state religion.[13] Ghazi-ud-Din Haidar Shah instituted the Oudh Bequest, a system of fixed payments by the British paid to the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. These payments, along with lifelong stipends to the wives and mother of Ghazi-ud-Din served as interest on the Third Oudh Loan taken in 1825.[29]
The cities of
See also
References
- ^ "Oudh – definition of Oudh in English from the Oxford dictionary". Archived from the original on 9 September 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
- ^ Davies, Philip, Splendours of the Raj: British Architecture in India, 1660–1947. New York: Penguin Books, 1987
- ISBN 0-330-02524-4
- ISBN 978-8189422820. Archivedfrom the original on 3 March 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
- ^ Whitworth, George Clifford (1885). "Subah". An Anglo-Indian Dictionary: A Glossary of Indian Terms Used in English, and of Such English Or Other Non-Indian Terms as Have Obtained Special Meanings in India. K. Paul, Trench. pp. 301–. Archived from the original on 9 February 2024. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
- ^ Srivastava, Ashirbadi Lal (1933). The First Two Nawabs Of Oudh (a Critical Study Based On Original Sources). Lucknow: The Upper India Publishing House, Ltd.
- ISBN 978-1-85649-050-4. Archivedfrom the original on 9 February 2024. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
- ^ ISBN 9781932705546.
- ^ ISBN 1-84331-152-6.
- ^ a b Ramusack, Barbara N. (2004). The Indian Princes and their States. Cambridge University Press.
- ^ ISBN 9789352534340.
- ^ a b c Habib, Irfan; Habib, Faiz (2014). "Mapping the Dismemberment of Awadh 1775-1801". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 75 (455–460).
- ^ The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition(12 vols.). Leiden: E. J. Brill.
- ^ Treaty with the Nawab of Oudh for the cession of Territory in commutation of Subsidy, concluded by Henry Wellesley and Lieut.-Col. William Scott 10th Nov. 1801
- ^ a b Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. V 1908, p. 72
- ^ Ben Cahoon. "Princely States of India – Oudh". Worldstatesmen.org. Archived from the original on 13 January 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
- ^ William Barton, The princes of India. Delhi 1983
- ^ The Feudatory and zemindari India, Volume 17, Issue 2. 1937. Archived from the original on 9 February 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
- ^ "Balrampur (Taluqdari)". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
- ISBN 978-0-521-31054-3.
- ^ "Bhadri (Taluq)". Archived from the original on 29 November 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
- ^ "Itaunja – Raipur Ekdaria (Taluq)". Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
- ^ Rathore, Abhinay (2 April 1970). "Kohra (Taluk)". Rajput Provinces of India. Archived from the original on 20 March 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
- ^ The Indian Year Book, Volume 29. Bennett, Coleman & Company. 1942. p. 1286. Archived from the original on 9 February 2024. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
- ^ B. S. Saxena (1974). "Repertoire On Wajid Ali Shah & Monuments of Avadh – Nawabs of Oudh & their Secularism". Avadh Cultural Club (Lucknow). Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
- ^ Ben Cahoon. "List of rulers of Oudh". Worldstatesmen.org. Archived from the original on 13 January 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
- ISBN 9780520056411.
- ^ Defence Journal, Volume 5, Issues 2-4. p. 88.
On the contrary the annexation of Oudh in 1856 was viewed by the Muslim elite and the Hindu majority population of Oudh
- S2CID 155865344.
- ^ Surya Narain Singh (2003). The Kingdom of Awadh. Mittal Publications.
External links
- Media related to Oudh State at Wikimedia Commons
- Heraldry of Oudh State