Lucknow City Online

Lucknow is the capital of Uttar Pradesh and also one of the heritage cities of our country.

It has been an amalgam of different cultures which makes it very interesting for the connoisseur of history. Quite a few epithets have been conferred upon it such as the City of Nawabs, the Golden City of the East etc.

Going back into history the original name of the city of Lucknow was Lakshmanpur or Lakhanpur. This is because it was supposed to be gifted by Ramchandra of Ayodhya to his brother Lakshman after the latter conquered Sri Lanka and completed his exile.

Historical evidences show that after 1350 AD the city of Lucknow, then known as Awadh, came under the hegemony of the Delhi Sultanate, the Nawabs of that region and the Mughals. Lastly it went into the hands of the East India Company which had set its eyes on the region because of its wealth.

Lucknow was the chief centre during the 1857 Revolt. It actively took part in the freedom movement of India.

Since independence, it has assumed the status of a key city of the northern India.

Under the Mughals, the city of Lucknow was a province.

It was managed by the Governor selected by the Mughul emperor.

A Persian adventurer named Saadat Khan, also known as Burhan-ul-Mulk, was selected as a Nazim of the province in 1722. He ruled from Faizabad, a place near Lucknow.

Awadh was also once famous as the granary of India. It also helped its rulers in controlling the rich Doab or the vast fertile plains between the river Ganges and the Yamuna.

The kingdom of Awadh was a prosperous one which managed to retain its independence in spite of the threats to its position by the Marathas, Afghans and the British.

Nawab Shuja- ud- daula was quelled by the East India Company in the Battle of Buxar. He was fined with a heavy penalty and had to surrender some of the region under his control. Thereby, the British got a foothold in the region. Gradually they gained more territory and power in Awadh. They cleverly avoided annexing Awadh as that would bring them in clash with the other powers like the Marathas and the remaining Mughal descendants.

The credit of imparting a great heritage to Lucknow goes to Nawab Asaf-Ud-Dawlah. During his reign, the city of Lucknow rose to the status of a capital of Awadh.

The Roomi Darwaza, the Bara imambara etc are a few examples of the marvelous architecture built by the rulers.

Another fascinating contribution made by the Awadhi Nawabs is an amalgamated culture known as the Ganga-Jamuna tehzeeb.

In 1798, the Nawab Wazir Ali Khan was compelled to surrender before the British. Saadat Ali Khan was enthroned by the British subsequently. He was no more than a puppet in the British hands. He ceded half of his territory to the British and also agreed to disband his army. In this treaty of 1801, the Nawab had to hire an expensive British army.

Awadh continued to be a part of the Mughal Empire, for name sake, up to 1819. But the treaty of 1801 had made Awadh a vassal to the British.

The treaty of 1801 proved to be quite crucial and lucrative for the East India Company. The Nawabs were just nominal heads who were too busy with their extravagances to look into the administrative matters.

The East India Company exploited the weakness of the Nawab. They took advantage of the spilling coffers by taking loans at low interests.

Gradually the British became interested in ruling the province of Awadh directly without any intermediary.

In 1856, the East India Company finally annexed Awadh which was eventually placed under the chief commissioner, Sir Henry Lawrence.

On May 10^th of the year 1857 the troops had started a rebellion in Meerut. Within a matter of a few days, the rebellion had spread to Lucknow. Sir Henry Lawrence’s troops were besieged by the rebelling sepoys.

The engineers wanted to pull down the palaces, mosques etc which surrounded the Residency for protection. However Lawrence did not allow this to happen to avoid more local outrage.

The saved buildings protected the rebels by giving them shelter but got Lawrence killed by a shell fragment.

Lawrence was succeeded by Colonel John Inglis who managed to control the rebels due to their lack of a unified approach.

Major General Havelock and Major General Sir James Outram made a combined effort to relieve Lucknow which was reeling under a siege. After incurring a heavy loss, the British finally managed to reach the Residency.

The rebels remain undeterred in spite of the British success and very soon both Oatram and Havelock were besieged. During the second siege, the British troops tried to establish their control over Cawnpur and Delhi once again. Although the rebels had large forces but they could not fulfill their objective due to lack of co-ordination amongst them. The British took advantage of this weakness of the rebels. In spite of the resistance that they offered, the rebels finally got ousted.

These sieges and reliefs caused the British a great loss in terms of life. Nearly 2500 British troops were killed. After a lot of bloodshed Lucknow was finally re-captured by the British.

Thus, the history of Lucknow holds a special position in both the wars of independence, namely the sepoys’ mutiny of 1857 and the struggle of independence.

Lucknow has played an important role in creating a united platform for the Indians in the Khilafat Movement as well as in the Lucknow pact of 1916.

The people of Lucknow actively participated in the freedom movement along with Mahatma Gandhi and Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar.

The modern history of Lucknow began in1901.

It was in this year that Lucknow, with its population of around 264,049, got merged with the newly set up united provinces of Agra and Awadh. Before this, the province had been the capital of Awadh since 1775.

Lucknow was declared as the provincial capital once again when the seat of the government moved from Allahabad

Since independence, the city of Lucknow has been the capital of the state of Uttar Pradesh which was the earlier United Province.

The city offers a rich culture with beautiful gardens, courteous manners and fine cuisine.

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