vantages, it very soon became a flourishing mart. It appears, however, that in the last years of his reign, when Rohilkhand had been subjugated and most of it annexed to Oudh, he fixed his residence at Lucknow as being more central. He was a ruler of great ability and energy, and was, for a great part of his reign, engaged in wars. Shuja-ud-daula died suddenly on 26th January 1775, at Fyzabad, of which city his tomb, the Gulab Bari (rose garden), is one of the chief ornaments. He is described as being extremely handsome and endowed with great strength.
“Bahu Begam was the wife of Shuja-ud-danla. She was a native of Persia and the grand-daughter of Mirza Husain, the chief of Emperor Alamgir’s kitchen. The Begam died in 1816, and the building of her tomb at Fyzabad was not completed until 1858. It cost between three and four lacs; and it has an annual income of Rs. 6,000 derived from an endowment which is spent in repairs, religious ceremonies and periodical illuminations.”
4.—ASUF-UD-DAULA, 1775-1797.
Shuja-ud-daula was succeeded by his son Asuf-ud-daula, who transferred the seat of Government to Lucknow, which dates, from this period, its existence as a City and its rank as the Capital of Oudh. Up to this time it was merely a large town of some few hundred houses, extending no further than the area round the Machhi Bawan. It is pretty clear that the site of the Chauk was occupied by a distinct village, while jungle covered the ground Where the Husainabad and Kaiser Bagh now stand.
Under Asuf-ud-daula, the Lucknow Court reached its highest splendour. All the wealth of the state was devoted to the personal aggrandisement of its ruler and the accumulation of those materials which minister to oriental pomp. No Court in India could rival the magnificence of the Nawab-Vazier.
At his accession a new treaty was concluded confirming him in possession of Korah and Allahabad. This Nawab-Vazier, ceded the districts of Benares and Jaunpur, worth 75 lacs,with a net profit of 25 lacs annually,to the British, for the better defence of his dominion, stipulating also a yearly payment of £312,000[1] in maintenance of the auxiliary force. He brought-about reforms in his army,
- ↑ This subsidy was subsequently committed for a territorial grant; and the Southern Doab, together with the Districts of Allahabad, Azimgarh, Western Gorakhpur, &c., were ceded to the Hon’ble East India Company, by Sadat Ali, in 1801.
