In status, the equal to Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Empress of India
Ever
wondered how the King of Awadh came to live in Calcutta at Garden Reach, now
popularly called a ‘Muslim area’? On being deposed in 1853, on grounds of
misgovernance, he set out from his capital city Lucknow to London, to appeal
directly to his equal, the monarch of Great Britain to reverse the annexation
of his kingdom. His entourage and he arrived at Calcutta to board the next
available steamer to England. There was a problem though. The King of Awadh had
never in the past travelled any great distance out of Lucknow. The farthest he
had ever gone was to Cawnpore (now Kanpur) then British territory, and only to
meet the Governor General when the latter passed by. This journey was all of 60
miles. It was no surprise that by the time he reached Calcutta, he ran out of
steam and decided to send his mother, and brother together with his young son,
the heir apparent ahead to England, while he himself decided to wait in
Calcutta for their triumphant return. He rented out a couple of large bungalows
in Garden Reach, then an upper class mostly whites- area where each bungalow
was surrounded by a large garden overlooking the river.
The
delegation went with great hopes of success, as an earlier delegation sent by
the Nawab of Surat had successfully appealed to the Parliament for the
restoration of his kingdom (see my Review of Surat by Moin Mir). But in the
five decades since that success, much had changed: (i) the success of a series
of annexations engineered by the ‘doctrine of lapse’, an invention of Dalhousie, had given the Company tremendous confidence, (ii) Victoria had gone into
confinement to deliver one of her numerous children and was not in position to
receive visitors, and more seriously (iii) news had begun to filter in that the
Sepoy army had mutinied.
In the time
it took Victoria to meet with the Dowager Queen of Awadh, ample information had
been received about the serious nature of the mutiny, its anti-Christian tilt,
and finally the devastation being wrecked on the Lucknow Residency by the
former soldiers of the Awadh army that had been arrogantly disbanded in the
aftermath of the annexation. The Governor General had taken the King into
custody, fearing that he could become the focus of the revolt. When finally the
two Queens met, the appeal for the restoration of the Kingdom was forgotten,
and an appeal was made for the release of the King from his detention. Despite
the toning down of the appeal, there was no toning down of the gifts handed
over to Victoria.
Tragedy
struck the visiting delegation in multiple ways. The appeal failed. The Dowager
Queen Mother died. A month later, the King’s brother also died. The young heir
apparent thoroughly enjoying his European sojourn delayed his return. All this
caused untold misery to the King, who was finally released after Lucknow had
been reclaimed. On realizing that his kingdom was lost for good, the King
bought out the property he had rented, and neighbouring ones as well, and
amalgamated them into what the author calls a ‘mimic kingdom’- a mini-Awadh
Court. This included nearly 350 wives- as a devout Shia, he never had sex with
any woman unless he had married her first. It also included a vast menagerie of
wild animals.
This book
is a riveting story of the event and how it all ended.
As an
exercise in alternative history, it would be well worth speculating what if the
King of Awadh had not left his home. After all he was not expelled from his
palaces. He left by choice. He expected to return after the annexation of his
kingdom had been reversed. In case he had remained behind, like the King of
Delhi, he would have without doubt got caught up with the revolt of 1857. He
would have become the focal point of the revolt just as the King of Delhi had.
The initial success of the revolt would certainly have shaken his faith in the
invincibility of the Company army. After all, did not Begum Hazrat Mahal, the
wife he disavowed not lead the rebellion with unusual fury. And when it all
failed, what of the King of Awadh? What would have been his fate? Exile in
Burma, like the King of Delhi faced? Or would he have succeeded in fleeing to
Nepal, like his wife and made a life there? Since he lived almost 30 years
after the event, when the passage of time had healed all the wounds, would he
have been allowed to return and reclaim whatever was left, like the Rani of
Ranjit Singh was? In hindsight, his choice saved him much trouble- he was able
to continue his lazy life without interruption, except for the small matter of
the loss of his kingdom.
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