Wajid Ali Shah after 1857: how he resurrected his court in Calcutta

Wajid Ali Shah after 1857: how he resurrected his court in Calcutta

Subject :History

Section: Modern India

Wajid Ali shah was a man of many contradictions- A king who never had much power but who managed to maintain a ‘court’ to his dying day; a ruler whose deposition contributed to the revolt of 1857 but who never showed any inclination of fighting the British; an aesthete who wrote much about love and passion, but treated his numerous wives and children rather callously.

Wajid Ali Shah’s Lucknow rule(1847-56)

First part of Wajid Ali Shah’s story, that of his almost nine year reign as Lucknow’s ‘king’ and of his deposition on charges of misgovernance and debauchery but in reality he was reforming his administration but was hamstrung by the British. A year later, the First War of Independence broke out, and Shah’s divorced wife, Begum Hazrat Mahal, came charging into the pages of history, completing the Nawab’s exile

30 years of life in Calcutta

After he was deposed as the king of Lucknow, he wanted to plead his case directly with Queen Victoria and landed in Calcutta for this purpose, but he fell ill and the Revolt of 1857 broke out, was promptly imprisoned in Fort William, despite offering his support to British. After he was finally freed from Fort William and allowed a residence and two mile stretch along Hooghly river

In the Garden Reach area (or Metiaburz). Wajid Ali Shah had been followed from Lucknow 300 wives, children, ministers, bodyguards, tradesmen, cooks, tailors, attenders, entertainers, performers and so on even when Nawab was imprisoned. Soon Nawab got British to buy three bungalow for him and he embarked on a remodelling and redecorating project on a royal scale indeed.

The elaborate dance, music and poetry events of Lucknow were brought back to life, and the nawab is credited with popularising Bengal Kathak and the biryani with potato.

The opulence resulted in Nawab under debt but the British bailed him out.

Why did the British bailed him out?

First, that Nawab still carried emotive appeal and personal popularity. Till his death, the British feared that public humiliation or physical assault of the nawab could incite a rebellion.

The second was the hope that Wajid Ali Shah would die soon, thanks to his hedonistic lifestyle and his own hypochondria. But third, and very important, was the personality of Wajid Ali Shah, who refused to acknowledge that his reduced circumstances required a change in his behaviour. His spending was not his only pretension to royalty. He carried on with his court, paying salaries to thousands of people.