OUDE

OUDE, or more properly OUDH, a compact and important province of Hindustan, lies between N. Lat. 25. and 34. and 29. 6., and E. Long. 79. 45. and 83. 11., and is now about 270 miles in length from N.W. to S.E., and 160 in breadth. The area is computed at 23,738 square miles, by Thornton; but Butter makes it 23,923, and by some it is raised to 25,000. Exact statistics, however, of the province in this or other particulars are not yet procurable. It is bounded on the N. and N.E. by Nepal, on the N.W. by Rohilkhand (Rohilkund), on all other quarters by provinces which have at various times been wrested from it by the English,—viz., on the E. by Gorakhpur (Goruckpore), on the S.E. by Azimgarh (Azimgurh) and Jaunpur, on the S. by Allahabad, and on the S.W. by Fathpur (Futtehpoor), Kánhpur (Cawnpore), and Farrukhabad (Furrukhabad), districts of the Doab.

The general aspect of the country is that of a fertile plain, being, in fact, a continuation of that immense level aspect of valley which extends in a curved line from the sources of the Western Banás River, in E. Long. 73. 28., to the junction of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, in E. Long. 90., a distance of 1100 miles. Along the eastern frontier, from a few miles north of Bahraich, begins the great Tarai Forest—marshy, and in some places almost impassable, but nevertheless studded with the strongholds of the great baronial landholders, as the Raja of Tulsi-pur. The plain of Oudh slopes gently at the rate of about 7 inches in the mile to the E.S.E. The only irregularities on its surface are caused by the greater or less resistance of its soil to the rivers which traverse the province, and of which the five principal are the Ganges, Sai, Ghámti, Deohá, and Rapti. The courses of these streams are almost parallel, and the order in which they are here named is the order of their succession from W. to E. The Ganges then forms the

Oudh. western boundary of Oudh; the Sai, which comes next, unites with a western branch called the Lon, a little above Râe Bareli, and falls itself into the Ghûmti in about N. Lat. 25. 30. The Ghûmti is the river which washes Lucknow (Lakhnau), and passes through the centre of the province of Oudh. Faizâbâd, the ancient capital of Oudh, is situated on the Deohâ, which has two other names, the Sarjâ and the Ghâgrâ; and to the E. of this, and on the extreme E. of the province, is the Rapti, also called the Airavati. These rivers are the principal cause of the great fertility of Oudh; but it is remarkable that they are decreasing in volume in a way which may well lead to grave apprehensions. Everywhere the wave-worn marks on the banks, much above the highest level to which the waters now attain, attest the decrease which is going on. It is a historical fact, that in 1773 Sir Robert Barker's brigade sailed over the famous stone bridge at Jaunpûr; and within the last fifty years the Ghûmti has fallen 5 or 6 feet. Were the great tracts of jungle, which with provident care have been fostered by the Oudh government, to disappear, it cannot be doubted that the rivers would be still farther diminished by the cutting off of all the small streamlets, which are at present nourished by the moisture collected on the leaves of the forests, and which serve as feeders to the principal streams. The vast quantity, also, of sand and dust which during the hot season is brought by the westerly winds, would, but for the jungles, gradually overlay the country, and turn what are now expanses of verdure into dry deserts. Even now the old inhabitants of the country assert that the deposit brought by the lak or hot wind is greater, and the heat of the wind itself fiercer, than in former times; and this may well be the case, from the extensive clearance of jungle which has everywhere taken place in the adjacent British districts. European observers record the fact, that it is now requisite to dig wells deeper than in times within the memory of man; and that the annual fall of rain, though extremely irregular, is upon the whole gradually diminishing.

Soil. The soil of Oudh is the finest in India;¹ and from the numerous rivers which flow through the country, the water is everywhere near the surface. Sleeman conjectures² that the whole province once formed part of the bed of a lake which contained a vast fund of soluble salts (nitrates of ammonia), which, combining with magnesia, lime, soda, potash, alumina, and oxide of iron, form double salts, become soluble in water, and are fit food for plants, to the growth and perfection of which they are all more or less conducive. According to the distribution of these salts, the soil may be divided for agricultural purposes into matiyâr, domatiya, bhâr, and ûsar. Of these, matiyâr³ is a rich clay soil, mixed with a small proportion of sand, or one-tenth of silex; the rest alluvial mould. It differs from the domatiya in containing a greater proportion of those elements which constitute what are called good clay soils. It is more capable of absorbing and retaining moisture, and of fixing ammonia, than the domatiya, of a darker colour, and forms more into clods. The domatiya is of a light-brown colour, soon powders into fine dust, and requires much more outlay in manure and labour. It has a considerable admixture of sand, and in some places about $\backslash frac\{1\}\{5\}$th of lime. The bhâr consists of $\backslash frac\{2\}\{3\}$ths of sand and the rest clay; and being not retentive of moisture, is far less productive than the two classes of soil above mentioned. Lastly, the ûsar lands, having a superabundance of salts, are more or less unfit for cultivation; but in general, if flooded with rain-water for two or three seasons by means of artificial embankments, and then well watered, manured, and ploughed, will bear tolerable crops. From the worst ûsar soils common salt or saltpetre, or both, are made by washing the earth,

and removing the water by evaporation. The most important feature in the soil of Oudh is the abundance of kankar, nodules formed of the elements of chalk and oolite, which opposes such resistance to the rivers as to keep them in permanent banks, thereby insuring a perfect drainage of the country; and when an exit is once established from a hollow, the channel gradually deepens until the hollow is perfectly drained. In patches of ground where kankar largely predominates, are found the only irregularities of surface noticeable in Oudh. Ridges are thus formed 70 or 80 feet above the surrounding country, the less coherent materials of whose soil has, in the course of ages, been swept away by the agency of wind and water. Hence, too, the channels of the rivers have gradually deepened, so that the surface of the water is never less than 20 feet below the level of the bank, and in many places as much as 80. The Ghûmti is intersected at every 4 or 6 miles by kankar ridges of 2 or 3 yards in width, which, in the dry season, sometimes diminish the depth of water to 2 feet. The right bank of this stream from Pâli to Sultânpur, a direct distance of 40 miles, but nearly double as much if the windings of the river are followed, consists of solid kankar, and resembles in miniature the mountain ranges on the right bank of the Jumna and Ganges. The left bank is low and sandy, and these remarks apply also to the Deohâ; but in both cases the stream sets against the high bank, and has therefore no tendency to spread.

The principal rivers have been already named in describing the configuration of the country, and the effect of the marshes. tenacious kankar upon their streams has been noticed. The next remarkable point regarding them is the singular multiplicity of their windings, from which feature, indeed, the Ghûmti derives its name. The water of this latter stream becomes unfit for drinking during the rainy season, owing to the immense quantity of yellow clay with which it is loaded. When epidemics prevail at Lucknow, or generally along its banks, a putrid scum forms on the surface of this river, owing to the multitudes of dead bodies which are thrown into it. Yet it abounds in fish; and thus supplies one-fifth of the population with a considerable portion of their diet,⁴ especially during the rains. The Ghûmti has a total course of 482 miles, rising in the district of Shahjehanpore, in N. Lat. 28. 35., and falling into the Ganges in N. Lat. 25. 29. It enters the territory of Oudh about 96 miles from its source, and after a course of 250 miles, crosses the frontier into the British district of Jaunpûr. During the rainy season boats of 4 or 5 tons weight can go up to Lucknow, but all supply-boats return from that city empty. The Ganges and Derhâ are usually open at all seasons for the largest class of boats. Their annual rise is about 30 feet, their courses are comparatively straight, and their currents proportionally rapid during the freshes. The Ganges has a low bed, 4 miles in average width, within the limits of which it changes its course annually. The Deohâ or Ghâgrâ has its latter name from a Sanscrit root which signifies "to gurgle," and is a considerable river, equal, indeed, in volume and rapidity to that part of the Ganges which runs parallel to it. Its total course is 606 miles from its source in Kumaon, in N. Lat. 30. 28., to N. Lat. 25. 46., where it falls into the Ganges. At 181 miles from the point where it rises it first touches the Oudh territory, which it continues to bound for a distance of 316 miles. The Sai is, in the rains, navigable for boats of a ton or a ton and a half as far as Râe Bareli, above which point there is no trade carried on. This river winds exceedingly, and the route by the Ganges or Ghûmti is therefore preferable. At Râe Bareli the Sai is as broad as the Ghûmti, but only half the depth. It abounds in fish,

of which all classes partake, even the Brahmins, except those that are pundits. The Tons, Teons, Marhā, or Bisohi, is a branch of the Deohā, which it leaves 5 miles above Faizābād; and after uniting with the Little Tarjū, runs into the Ganges 10 miles below Buxar. A cross branch, the Khajubā Tāl, 15 miles below Faizābād, again unites the Tons with the Deohā; and during the dry season is embanked at different points for irrigatory purposes. This has a most prejudicial effect on the climate, however beneficial it may be in another point of view. The Tons is not navigated above 'Azimgarh. The Son rises near Shāhābād, and running midway between the Ganges and the Sāi, falls into the latter about 3 miles above Rāe Bareli. During the rains it is a considerable torrent, but at no time navigable.

There are no large permanent lakes in Oudh, but in the rains large jhils or collections of water, shallow but extensive, are formed, and, in the hot weather, dry up or are drained off by the water-courses. The largest of these is situated 8 miles N.W. of Mānikpūr, in the deserted bed of the Ganges, and is 16 miles long and 8 broad. The town of Betāgānw, at its N.W. extremity, is the most unhealthy spot in Oudh, owing to this vast marsh, and the neighbourhood is infested with mosquitoes to an intolerable degree. It always contains water, and much rice is planted along it towards the end of March.

The climate of Oudh, more especially of the southern portion, is chiefly characterized by its dryness. Being beyond the equalizing influences of the sea-breeze, it is marked by extremes of heat and cold, the temperature at one time rising to 112°, and at another sinking to 28°. The mean daily range is 30°, and the mean temperature 74°. The annual fall of rain is very irregular, varying from 70 to 30 inches, and extending over a period of from four to two months. The gradual diminution in the quantity of rain is remarked by all the inhabitants of Oudh, and in places where grass formerly grew tall enough for thatch, it now scarce supplies pasturage for animals. Hoar-frost used to happen once in every ten or fifteen years; but within the last half century the recurrence of it has become much more frequent, and is now almost annual. West winds blow about 200 days in the year, and east winds during the remainder. The former winds are dry, and cold, or intensely hot, according to the season of the year, and loaded with fine sand. The easterly winds are damp, and bring with them the malaria of Bengal and Assam. During the hot weather the air is so loaded with particles of dust or sand as to curtail the view, and give a grayish aspect to the sky. But towards the end of the rains the atmosphere becomes highly transparent, and the Himalaya Mountains are seen at a distance of 200 miles. The sky is then of the brightest blue, and the phenomenon of converging rays in the quarter opposite to the rising or setting sun is not unfrequently seen in great perfection. The cold season extends over November, December, January, and February, and few climates then equal that of Oudh. Throughout these four months the nights are cold; and in January the cold is sometimes so great that thin ice is formed on shallow pools of water. By filling shallow vessels with water, and protecting them from the heat of the earth, and the warmer strata of air, ice is easily obtained during this and the following month. Fires are required during part of December, and in January and February, and during this period the fruits and vegetables of Europe are produced in great perfection. The hot weather begins with March, but the mornings are pleasantly cool till the middle of May. The hot winds usually commence in April, but in general abate towards sunset, so as to admit of riding or driving without discomfort. Sometimes sudden storms occur at

this season from the north-west, which are attended with phenomena terrifically grand. An immense gloomy arch of clouds is formed, which assumes the appearance of a gigantic wave about to break over the earth. The sun gives to the summit of this wave a reddish-brown colour, and a rolling motion is observed in it like the smoke of artillery. When the storm is about a mile distant, a dead stillness prevails. As it approaches, eddies of wind toss leaves and branches on high, and the temperature falls twenty or thirty degrees. A continued roll of thunder has been heard from the commencement of the storm. This is now suddenly mixed with the rushing sound of the tempest, and so thick is the dust that all nature is shrouded in pitchy darkness. The fury of the wind is so great that trees are torn up, buildings demolished, and in spring-harvest the produce of whole fields is swept away. Occasionally hail falls in globules an inch in diameter, destroying tiled roofs, and stripping the trees of their leaves and branches. Sometimes neither rain nor hail falls, but in all cases the air is cooled and purified. The lightning is terrific, and but too often fatal to life. At the height of the hot season, and during the hot winds, which are called by the natives lāk, travellers fall dead from the heat.

The rainy season commences generally about the 15th of June, and lasts till the middle of October. The first fall is very violent, often from 8 to 10 inches in forty-eight hours, and is accompanied by strong winds which bring down the frail tenements of the natives in every direction. As the rains become sparse and uncertain in September, there is considerable insalubrity owing to the rapid exsiccation of the water-courses and marshes. October is hot and unhealthy, and the sun is not to be encountered with impunity till the beginning of November, when, as has been said, the temperature cools, and the climate becomes one of the most delightful known to man.

In the great forests of the Tarai, elephants, tigers, and rhinoceroses are very numerous, and very destructive to human life. The tiger is also found in different jungles throughout Oudh; and the kings of Oudh have in general taken great interest in hunting that animal. Wolves are beyond measure numerous and daring, and destroy scores of children every year. A full-grown wolf stands ten hands in height, and will singly attack and kill a strong man. The natives have a superstition against spilling the blood of these animals, and say that the family of the wolf-slayer is certain to become childless; "a village community within the boundary of whose lands a drop of wolf's blood has fallen believes itself doomed to destruction." The lowest class of natives, who correspond to the gipsies of the West, seldom catch wolves, though they know their dens, and could easily dig them out, as they do other animals. It is supposed that they abstain from destroying wolves on account of the profit they make from the gold and silver bracelets, and other ornaments, worn by children who are devoured by these animals. The ornaments are frequently found at the entrance of the dens, and the people referred to are in the habit of searching for them. Sir W. Sleeman¹ records some surprising but well-authenticated stories of infants carried off and nurtured by the wolves. In particular, he mentions the case of a boy who was captured in the den of a wolf near Chandūr, and whose habits were entirely those of a wild beast. He lived three years after his capture, and was in the charge of Captain Nicholletts, the European officer commanding the 1st regiment of Oudh local infantry at Latampūr. He died in August 1850; was never known to laugh or smile; and only spoke once, when he asked for water a few minutes before his death.

Other wild animals are—the hyena, jackal, wild hog,

Oude. nilgāe, antelope, wild cat, porcupine, fox, hare, otter, mon-
goose, squirrel, rat, musk-rat, mouse, and flying-fox. The
wild buffalo is found in the high jau jungle which clothes the
banks of the Ganges in Bainswārā, and in a few of the large
forests in the interior. The birds are—the adjutant, crane,
partridge, quail, vulture, hawk, kite, crow, raven, jay, parrot
(excessively numerous and destructive to crops), paddy-bird,
maina, swallow, sparrow, dove, cuckoo, lark, kingfisher
(many splendid species), wild goose, wild duck, woodpecker,
and a species of Cinnyris, similar to the humming-bird of
America. There is a great variety of fish. Porpoises
are seen in the Ghūmtī only during the rains. Two species
of crocodiles are found in the Ganges and Deohā at all
seasons, but venture into the smaller rivers only in the rains.
Snakes and lizards abound; the most venomous are the
cobra and karait. Scorpions, centipedes, locusts, the sand-
fly, eye-fly, and white ants, are among the most troublesome
of the crustaceous and insect classes. The cochineal insect
is sometimes seen on the prickly pear bush.

Domestic animals are numerous. Large flocks of sheep
and goats are bred for the supply of the surrounding pro-
vinces. The price of a sheep is from 9d. to 1s. A milch
goat sells for 2s., and one out of milk at from 10d. to 1s.
Bullocks are exported at from L.1 to L.2 the pair, which
is the common price in Oudh. A she-buffalo or two, or a
cow or two, are kept by almost every person of substance,
whether villager or townsman.

The chief crops are,—the Sinapis dichotoma, Cicer ariet-
inum, wheat, barley, beans, linseed, safflower, Paspalum
frumentaceum, Cynosurus corocanus, millet, cotton, maize,
Holcus solum, Holcus spicatus, Phaseolus maximus,
Cytisus cajan, sesamum, and rice; which are reaped in the
order in which they are now mentioned, beginning with the
end of February. Sugar-cane is grown in small patches here
and there, particularly between the Sai and Ganges, but there
is but little sugar made. The same is the case with indigo;
and though many districts, particularly about Faizābād,
are most favourable to the poppy, the production of opium
is comparatively small. Dr Butter, however, expresses an
opinion, that the time is not far distant when the growth of
opium will constitute one of the principal sources of the
revenues of Oudh. The cotton produced in Oudh is nearly
the same in quality as that of Bandalkhand, but is not so
long in the staple, nor so soft. The rice of Oudh is de-
scribed in the Institutes of Akbar as incomparable for whiteness,
delicacy, perfume, and digestiveness.

Oudh has long been renowned for its groves of fruit
trees, in the vicinity of which is excellent pasturage. The
principal trees are—the mango, tamarind, banyan, pipal or
Ficus religiosa, and the mahā or Bassia latifolia, the
flowers of which are sweet, and yield by distillation a
spirituous liquor. The nuts also of this tree are valuable,
as producing an oil which is used instead of butter. In the
district of Bainswārā, and near Faizābād, forming a marked
exception to the rest of Oudh with respect to the decay of
arboriculture, extensive plantations have been lately made,
chiefly of the mahā, but in less proportion of the mango,
the Ficus glomerata, the Eugenia jambolana, the Melia
Azadirachta, the jack-tree, the Artocarpus lacucha, and
Phyllanthus emblica. The mahā, the Eugenia jambo-
lana, mango, and Melia Azadirachta are the only trees fit
for building. The Cedrela Toona, which furnishes a yellow
dye, the Ficus venosa, and the bamboo, are also common
in many parts of Oudh. The bamboo, however, will not
grow in high kankar soils.

Territorial divisions. The territory of Oudh, which in 1775 was among the
largest and wealthiest provinces in India, extending from
Mirzapūr, in 25. N. Lat., on the S., to Haridwār, in 30. N.
Lat., on the N., and from Kānhpūr (Cawnpore) on the W. to

Nepal on the E., now comprises but twelve chakls or
counties, and is shrunk to one-third of its former size. The
chakls are, beginning from the S.W. and S., and pro-
ceeding to the N.E. and N.,—1. Ahlādganj; 2. Pratāp-
garh; 3. Sultānpūr; 4. Aldemau; 5. Salon; 6. Bains-
wārā; 7. Pachhamrāt; 8. Lakhnau; 9. Rasūlābād; 10.
Khairābād; 11. Gondā-Bahrāich; 12. Sāndī. The chak-
ls are again subdivided into parganahs or districts, some-
times compared to our baronies.

The principal cities in the twelve chakls are the follow—Chief
ing:—Mānikpūr, in Ahlādganj, is a decayed city, once the town.
capital of a principality, which extended over a large por-
tion of Southern Oudh. It is situated on the left bank of
the Ganges, along which it extends for upwards of a mile.
The population is now about 10,000, of whom one-half are
Muslims. The fort on the bank of the river, now in ruins,
but once strong, extensive, and built of brick hardened by
fire, resembles that of Ahlābād. Pratāpgarh, or Belhāghāt,
2 miles W. of the Sai River, is the chief city in the chakl
of Pratāpgarh. The population is about the same as that
of Mānikpūr. It is surrounded with a decayed wall of sun-
dried bricks, and on its western side is a ruinous citadel of
the same material. Until 1834 there was a cantonment
for a Company's regiment, with two guns, 3 miles to the
N.E. of the town, in an extremely healthy spot. Sultānpūr,
the capital of the chakl so called, in N. Lat. 26. 16., E.
Long. 82. 8., is a ruined city, about a mile from the eastern
bank of the Ghūmtī River, 92 miles S.E. of Lakhnau. The
inhabitants do not number 2000, and are nearly all Muslims.
The town is built on the site of the capital of an aboriginal
people called Bhars, now extinct, but whose possessions
once extended to Ahlābād, Banāras, Faizābād, and almost
to Lakhnau. Their capital, called Kasbhāwanpūr, was 8
miles in circumference; and having been taken through a
stratagem by Sultān Bādshāh Kaikubād, of the dynasty of
Ghaur, between the years 1286 and 1289 A.D., he razed it
to the ground, and built a new city,¹ which he named after
himself. Some remains of the Bhar city are said to exist
in the mound called Majhārgānw, in the middle of the city,
and two wells at its southern verge. On the summit of the
mound, which is formed of the debris of the palace of the
Bhars, is a fort built by Kaikubād. Tāndā is the most
thriving town in the chakl of Aldemau, being the seat of
the chief cloth manufactories in Oudh. The population is
about 6000, of whom the greater portion are weavers. The
town stands about a mile from the western bank of the
Ghāgrā River. Ranjitpūrā is the capital of Bainswārā,
and has a population of nearly 60,000, of whom one-third
are Muslims. There is a fort of unburnt bricks, and two
or three of the King of Oudh's regiments were always
quartered in this city. Cutlery is the chief manufacture.
Rāe Bareli, in Bainswārā, one of the most healthy spots in
Oudh, was once a city of upwards of 50,000 inhabitants,
but this population has now dwindled to 8000. Extensive
manufactories of cloth once existed here. The fort is of
solid masonry, a mile in circumference, with a dry ditch
50 feet wide and 25 feet deep. The walls are 8 feet thick,
50 feet high on the outside, and 25 feet inside, and have
24 bastions. The description just given applies also to the
fort of Dalamau, which is an ancient city of Bainswārā,
having a population of 10,000, on the eastern bank of the
Ganges, about 40 miles to the N.W. of Mānikpūr. Salon,
which gives its name to the chakl so called, is a town with
2000 inhabitants, 3 miles to the W. of the Sai River. It ori-
ginally belonged to Kānhpūriya (or, according to Sleeman,
Kumpareya) rājput; but they were dislodged for rebellion,
by the nūwāb Asifud-daulah, who granted the town and its
attached lands to a fakir named Miyān Pir 'Atā, for the per-
petual support of a religious eleemosynary establishment.

The revenue is about 42,000 rupees a year, of which 30,000 are expended by Sháh-panáh 'Atá, the descendant of Pír 'Atá, in alms to Hindú and Muslim itinerant mendicants. Tilói, in the same chaklá, is a town 55 miles S.E. of Lakhnau, with a population of 10,000. It is remarkable as the residence of a chief who is the lineal representative of the ancient kings of Oudh, a family which dates perhaps thirty centuries back. In the chaklá of Lakhnau (Lucknow), besides the capital of Oudh, which, before the late troubles, contained a population of perhaps half a million (stated by Heber¹ at 300,000), there are no towns of great note. In Pachhamráat is the city of Faizábád; and adjoining it, on the east side, the remains of the renowned and world-old city of Awadh, or Ayodhya (from a, "not," and yedh, "to make war,"—"the inexpugnable" in Sanskrit), the capital of the divine Rámah. There are still 8000 inhabitants in this most ancient city; and houses extending along the River Ghágrá or Sarjú, connect it with Faizábád. Sa'adat 'Ali, the first núwáb of Oudh, made Faizábád his residence, and built a palace there in the year A.D. 1730. His successors, Saifdar Jang and Shujá'u'd-Daulah, further embellished the city; but when the latter acquired Rohilkhand, he removed the seat of his government to Lakhnau. This was in 1775, and the population of Faizábád from that time began to decrease, but is still 100,000, of whom about one-tenth are Muslims. The chief manufactures are cloth, metal vessels, and arms. The Hindús call the city Banglá, which signifies "residence," and Ayodhya, which latter appellation properly belongs to the ruined city adjoining Faizábád on the E., as above mentioned. Rasulábád and Miyánganj, the two chief towns of the chaklá called after them, are situated 3 miles from each other, and about 30 miles to the W. of Lakhnau. Miyánganj was built by the famous eunuch Miyán Almás 'Ali Khán, minister of Sa'adat 'Ali II., and, according to Sleeman, "the greatest and best man of any note that Oudh has produced."² On being visited by Sa'adat Ali at this place, he built up a throne of a million of rupees, and after the núwáb had taken his seat upon it presented it to his highness. Almás built here a large fort with eight circular bastions, surrounded at 500 feet distance by a mud fortification with great Gothic gateways. The whole intervening space was planted with mango trees, of which there were magnificent avenues in Heber's time. The chaklá of Khairábád contains several large and populous towns. Of these, Khairábád, from which the chaklá has its name, is distant from Lakhnau 62 miles N.W., and lies in N. Lat. 27. 32., E. Long. 80. 49. Tieffenthaler speaks of it eighty years ago as populous, and situated in a plain abounding in fruit trees, the cultivation of which yielded L. 120,000 annually. Six miles to the N.W. of this stands Sitápúr, where the 41st Bengal Native Infantry mutinied and murdered all Christian and other Europeans. Sandilá is a large and populous town,³ 30 miles N.W. of Lakhnau, with many good houses of burnt brick and cement. Thirteen miles N.W. of this is Hatyá Haran, which is held sacred as the spot where Rámah purified himself from the sin of having killed a Bráhman in the person of Rávan, King of Ceylon. Misrik, a few miles from Hatyá Haran, is another very holy place, and celebrated as the residence of the sage Dadhich, with the bone of whose leg the gods defeated the Titans. Bilgirám is a place once considerable, and remarkable as the spot first fixed upon as the British advanced post, which was subsequently withdrawn to Kánipúr (Cawnpore). Heber saw here the ruins of officers' houses, and what were once bells of arms.⁴

Bahráich, the chief town in Gondá-Bahráich, situated about 2 miles to the E. of the Sahti, an eastern branch of the

Sarjú River, is celebrated as containing the shrine of Saiyid Sálár, who was killed in the beginning of the eleventh century, when fighting against the Hindús in the army of his maternal uncle, Mahmúd of Ghazn. It is remarkable that Hindús as well as Muslims make offerings at his shrine. The river here is a beautiful clear stream, winding as through a park. In many of the villages around the people are afflicted with the goitre. The Tarái Forest begins a few miles to the N. Bahráich has been a very populous town, but has greatly declined, and no part of Oudh has suffered so much from lawless violence as the districts surrounding it. Sándi, which gives its name to the chaklá so called, is stated by Heber to be a poor little village.⁵ It is, however, remarkable for the noble mango groves that surround it, and for a fine lake on the south side, abounding in fish and covered with wild-fowl. The River Ghárá flows under the town to the north.⁶ Near it is a very holy place called Brahmávast, situated on the lake to the south. The principal town in the chaklá is Sháhábád, which is a very large and ancient city, though Tennant in 1799 spoke of it as an expanse of ruins. But both Heber and Sleeman speak of it as populous; and the latter says it is inhabited by Patháns, who are a very turbulent race. The approach to the town is beautiful, from the rich crops which cover the ground up to the houses, and the fine groves and majestic single trees which surround it.

Though the extreme antiquity of the city of Awadh or Oudh, Isahabí called in Sanskrit, Ayodhya, and the legend of the Rájput princes, tants. such as Rámah, who reigned there, appear to be incontrovertible evidence that the Aryan race bore sway in Oudh from a very remote period, there is proof as irrefragable that still earlier aboriginal tribes preceded the Aryan race in the possession of the country, and attained many centuries back to some degree of civilization. The following passage from Sleeman's Journal,⁷ refers to one of the most important of these aboriginal tribes, called Bhars, and into it is compressed almost all that is known regarding them:—"Passed over some more sites of Bhar towns. The Oudh territory abounds with these sites, but nothing seems to be known of the history of the people to whom they belonged. They seem to have been systematically extirpated by the Mohammedan conquerors in the early part of the fourteenth century. All their towns seem to have been built of burnt brick, while none of the towns of the present day are so. There are numerous wells still in use, which were formed by them of the finest burnt brick and cement; and the people tell me that others of the same kind are frequently discovered in ploughing over fields. I have heard of no arms, coins, or utensils peculiar to them having been discovered, though copper sanads, or deeds of grant from the rajahs of Kanoj, to other people in Oudh, 600 years ago, have been found. The Bhars must have formed town and village communities in this country at a very remote period, and have been a civilized people, though they have not left a name, date, or legend, inscribed upon any monument. Brick ruins of forts, houses, and wells, are the only relics to be found of these people. Some few of the caste are still found in the humblest grade of society, as cultivators, police-officers, &c., in Oudh and other districts north of the Ganges. Up to the end of the thirteenth century their sovereignty certainly extended over what are now called the Bainswárá and Banda districts; and Sultánpúr, under some other name, appears to have been their capital. It was taken and destroyed early in the fourteenth century by Alákhu'd-Dín, Sultán of Delhi, or by one of his generals, and named Sultánpúr. Chándúr was another great town of these Bhars. I am not aware of any temples having been found to indicate their creed."

Another aboriginal tribe are the Pásis (Pauses) of whom there are supposed to be about 100,000 families in Oudh. They are employed as village watchmen, but, with few exceptions, are thieves and robbers by hereditary profession, and many of them adopt poisoning as a trade. They form the worst part of the gangs of refractory chiefs, using the bow and arrow so expertly that they can send an arrow through a man at the distance of 100 yards. There is no species of theft or robbery in which they are not skilful, and they prosper as the disorders of the country increase. In the forces of any enterprising chief or bandit they serve without

Oude. wages, for the sake of the booty to be acquired. But low as the caste of these miscreants is, they assume the name of rājput, when by murder and robbery they have acquired wealth and landed property. Then, by giving their daughters to rājput, they often get their pretensions to that proud name admitted. Thus Sleeman mentions that Gangā Baksh of Kāsimganj is a Pāsi, and his family, after acquiring landed possessions by the murder of the old proprietors, called themselves rāwats, and had their claims allowed.

Brahmans and rājput are exceedingly numerous in Oudh; and, according to Butter, the former out-number the latter throughout the province, though their arrival in it was of later date. Thus, it is said, that about the Christian era Trilok Chand, a chief of the Bains rājput, came into Oudh from Ujjain, and that it was after his tribe had become settled that some Brahmins immigrated from Kanauj. The Oudh Brahmins have 22 sub-castes, of which the Mier, the Shukl, the Tiwari, the Dube, the Phāthak, the Upāhyā, and the Chaube are the principal. The Mier has 28 sub-divisions,¹ the Shukl 14, the Tiwari 23, the Dube 14, the Phāthak 15, the Upāhyā 5, and the Chaube 3. Sleeman² informs us that the Kanauj Brahmins consist to hold and drive their own ploughs, a thing which cannot be affirmed of any other family of Brahmins in Oudh.

Of rājput, 29 tribes are enumerated, of which the most renowned are the Bains, Rāthur, Hārā, Kachwā, Sombansi, Bisen, Solankhi, Bachgoti, Dichit, Rāj Kumār, Chaubhan, Janwār, and Sengar, or Sanger. Butter affirms that these tribes differ in name only, and all intermarry without restriction of family. There is no doubt, however, that this is a mistake, and that it is owing in part to the excessive restrictions upon contracting marriages with inferior tribes that the dreadful and almost universal practice of female infanticide is perpetuated. Sleeman was informed by the rājput themselves that this unnatural custom arose from the Muhammadan princes of Delhi, and other Muslim chiefs, demanding the daughters of rājput in marriage, and they, being too proud to comply and too weak to resist,³ determined upon putting all their female infants to death. The same authority states that the Dhānkari⁴ and Sengars are the only exceptions to the rule which stigmatizes all rājput as murderers of their daughters; and that no rājput can give his daughter to a rājput whose tribe is a shade lower, though he can take a daughter from him. Thus the Sombansi cannot betroth their daughters to any but Rāthurs and Chaubhans, and must give their whole property with them. The custom of destroying female infants has prevailed everywhere from the time of the first founders of their race, according to their own account, but this is extremely improbable. It is remarkable that the greater portion of the Aryan rājput have become Muslims. They still eat together with those who have not changed their creed, but from different dishes; and no member of the tribe ever forfeited his inheritance by changing his religion. They are very numerous in the northern part of Oudh, where, in Bihārāwā alone they once possessed 939 villages, of which about one-tenth are now occupied. Loni Singh of Mithauli, who sent in the English fugitives from Sitāpūr to Lakhnau, is of this tribe.

Of the cultivating classes, the principal are the Kurmis, Lodhis, and Kachis. Muhammadans probably do not exceed one-eighth of the whole population of Oudh.

History and government. As has been already stated, Oudh was one of the first provinces of India colonized from the West, and, according to Buchanan, this settlement took place 1366 years B.C. The same authority places the reign of Rāmschandra, the son of Dasharath, about 775 B.C. The Hindū legends, however, assign as the epoch of this prince, the conquer of Ceylon, the conclusion of the Treta Yug, or Second Age. The kingdom of Oudh was then called Koshalah, and its capital Ayodhyah; and it is remarkable that Kausham, a word of kindred etymology to Kushalah, was the name of the great and ancient city of Kanyakubja, or Kanauj, situated close to the junction of the Kālī Nadi with the Ganges, and the rājput of which, there is little doubt, at times bore sway over Oudh. This is the conjecture of Mr Elphinstone,⁵ and it is confirmed partly by the etymological coincidence of the names, partly by the actual immigration of a numerous tribe of Brahmins from Kanauj, who are still called by the name of their original country. After Rāmah, the legendary conqueror of Ceylon, sixty princes reigned in Ayodhyah, but nothing is recorded of them. The Rāmayanah, or epic poem which relates the exploits of Rāmah, is now assigned by Professor Wilson to 300 B.C. Ayodhyah is not mentioned in the Mahābhāratah, the next epic poem of the Hindū, which dates 240 B.C.⁶ With the exception of the immigration of Trilok Chand, the Rājput prince, from Malwah into Oudh, about the commencement

of the Christian era, there is little to be collected regarding Oudh, until the Muhammadan invasion. It must be remembered, however, that hundreds of works exist in Hindū, Persian, and Urdu, on the history and antiquities of India, which have not only not been translated by Europeans, but have never even been read by them; and in these much that will throw light on the ancient annals of Oudh may yet be discovered.

In his eighth invasion of India, Mahmūd of Ghazni, in 1018 A.D., marched through North India, and captured the city of Kanauj. There is good reason to think that a division of his army then invaded Oudh, for the shrine of Saiyid Sāfār, his reputed nephew, who is said to have been killed fighting against the Hindū, is still the object of pilgrimage at Bahráich. However this may be, it is certain that in 1195 A.D., Muhammad Bakhtiyār Khilji, the general of Kutb-ud-Din Albak, Emperor of Delhi, conquered Oudh.⁷ In 1279, Tiggi, who was governor of Oudh for Ghiyāsu'd-Din Bulbun, was defeated by the rebellious governor of Bengal, and hanged by the enraged emperor over the gates of Awadh, as Ayodhyah began to be called. About 1204 A.D., Allāhu'd-Din, Emperor of Delhi, took the capital of the Bhars in Southern Oudh, and having razed it, built on its site the present city of Sultānpūr. From 1400 to 1478, there was an independent kingdom of Jānpūr or Jānpūr, the ruler of which had possession of Kanauj, and in 1452 even laid siege to Delhi, but was finally overthrown by the Emperor Bībāl. In 1528, Bībār's army, which he had sent to reduce Oudh, was there defeated by an Afghan chief named Bābān, whereupon Bībār threw a bridge over the Gauges, under the fire of his artillery, crossed into Oudh, and drove his opponents out of the province. He was compelled, however, to make a second campaign against Bābān who, when Bībār was retiring to Agra, made a fresh incursion into Oudh, and captured Lakhnau (Lucknow). After the death of Bībār, Bābān raised a fresh insurrection in Oudh against Humāyūn, but was finally crushed by that prince. At the accession of Akbar in 1556, Jānpūr, with its adjoining districts of Oudh and the Doāb, had again been erected into an independent kingdom, but in 1559 Akbar re-conquered it. From this time till the reign of Muhammad Shāh, and the commencement of the government of Sa'adat 'Ali Khān, and the dynasty of which he was the founder, the princes of this dynasty, and the dates of their accession, are as follows:—

The origin of the Oudh family, and the character of the first three princes, have been grossly misrepresented by the historian Alexander Dow, who, having been refused the salt-petre farm of the Allāhābād districts by Shujā'u'd-Daulah, took this base method of gratifying his resentment.⁸ His slanders, however, are completely refuted by the unanimous voice of all the contemporary native authors, by the evidence of Mr George Forster of the Bengal civil service, a contemporary of Dow, and by the plain statement of facts to be found in Mill, Grant Duff, and other English writers. Dow imputes to Sa'adat 'Ali, throughout his account of that chief's career, the vilest treachery to his emperor and his country; asserts that Nādir Shāh was invited to invade India by him and the Nizām; and introduces the conqueror upbraiding these two nobles as "ungrateful villains to their king and country," and spitting upon their beards.⁹ He also speaks of Shujā'u'd-Daulah as "the infamous son of a still more infamous Persian pedlar enjoying the extensive province of Oudh as a reward for a series of uncommon villanies."¹⁰

These assertions have been largely credited and copied by writers of repute, but they are entirely without foundation. According to native authors of eminence, the royal family of Oudh are Saiyids, or descendants of the Prophet through the Imām Musa Kazim, and therefore of the noblest Arabian descent. Forster mentions¹¹ that, during his journey through Persia, he had an opportunity of conversing with some of the inhabitants of Nāishāpūr, "who bore indisputable testimony to the ancient rank of the family of Shujā'u'd-Daulah." Nāishāpūr is one of the oldest cities in Khurasān,

and was for a long period during the ninth and tenth centuries after Christ the capital of that province. Here the ancestors of the Oudh family have, for a very long space of time, held landed possessions and ranked among the princes of the place. Mirza Nasir, one of this family, and the father of Sa'adat Khan, the first nuwáb of Oudh, came to Hindustán in the beginning of the reign of Bahádur Sháh, the second son of Aurangzeb. The emperor appointed him to a high office at 'Azimabad, where his tomb yet remains. His second son Muhammad Amin was in Persia when Nasir died, and on being apprised of his father's decease, immediately set out for Hindustán, and was made by the Emperor Farrukhsiyar colonel of his body-guard.¹ Being a man of extraordinary personal courage and prowess, he soon rose to still higher distinctions, and was made governor of the fort of Agra. It was he who was the main instrument in delivering the Emperor Muhammad Sháh from the tyranny of the two Saiyids, who had already murdered his predecessor Farrukhsiyar. During a terrible émeute at Delhi, when the pusillanimous emperor hid himself in the seraglio, he rushed in, forced him from his retreat, made him mount an elephant, and cut a way for him, sword-in-hand, through a multitude of rebels. At the battle of Shāhpúr, in 1720, when Saiyid 'Abdulláh was defeated and made prisoner, he greatly distinguished himself, and received the title of Sa'adat Khan Burhánul Mulk, "the felicitous lord, establisher of the realm," by which name he was ever afterwards known. He was then appointed governor of Oudh, and reduced it from a state of anarchy to complete order, for which he was promoted to the rank of dāroghah khás, with the titular command of 7000 horse. In 1736, Bájí Ráo, advancing to the Jamná, 40 miles south of Agra, ravaged the country far and near. Three of his generals—Mulhár Ráo Holkár, Pillaji Jádav, and Wittoji Bole—committed great depredations in the Doáb, when Sa'adat Khan, advancing from Oudh, overthrew their forces with great slaughter, and chased them for miles. He then moved on to Agra,² and took a prominent part in the subsequent operations against the Maráthas. In the meantime, Muhammad Mukim, nephew of Sa'adat, came to India, and married his cousin, the daughter of Sa'adat. He soon distinguished himself, and was ennobled by the title of Abú'l Mansúr Sa'adat Jang, by which name he is afterwards known in history. In 1737, he, with the rája of Kotah, commanded the rear-guard of the Mughal army in that year's campaign against the Maráthas. Some years after, Nádír Sháh invaded India; and the calamities of Dow respecting the treachery of Sa'adat Khan, and his aid of the invader, are refuted by the unanimous testimony of the Siyara'l Mutaakkáhirín, the Nádír Námah, the Yádávar i Baládúr, the Zafar Námah, and all the histories of the time. Sa'adat Khan advanced with an army of 30,000 men to the assistance of his own emperor Muhammad Sháh, fought a severe action with Nádír Sháh, was made prisoner, and shortly after died of cancer in the back. That his action with Nádír "was no concerted plan," as Dow pretends, was proved by the fact, that seven principal Persian leaders, and 2500 inferior officers and men, were killed, and upwards of 5000 wounded.³ Sa'adat received no token of favour from the conqueror; and when Nádír retired, Muhammad Sháh promoted Sa'adat Jang to the government of his deceased uncle. The character of Sa'adat is thus given in the Siyara'l Mutaakkáhirín:—"He was excessively brave, chivalrous, and valiant; a man of great parts, thirsting after glory and renown, and of singular firmness and wisdom."

Sa'adat Jang, together with the government of Oudh, had the appointment of mír ázíz, or commander of the artillery. In 1746 he was one of the chief leaders of the imperial army of Delhi that defeated Ahmad Sháh Durrání, and caused him to retire to Kábul. Next year Muhammad Sháh was succeeded on the throne of Delhi by Ahmad Sháh, his eldest son, who raised Sa'adat Jang to the dignity of vazīr of the empire. In 1753 a powerful conspiracy was formed against him, at the head of which was the vice-roy of the Dakhan, Najib-u'd-Daulah, the chief of the Rohillas, and the favourite eunuch. Sa'adat Jang was compelled to resort to arms; laid siege to Delhi; and after an investment of the capital for six months, compelled the emperor to grant to him in perpetuity the provinces of Oudh and Alláhábád. The same year he died,⁴ and was succeeded by his son Tilmáhu'd-Dín Ildár, known to the English by his title of Shujá'u'd-Daulah, who is thus described by his enemy Dow:—"Shujá'u'd-Daulah is extremely handsome in his person; about 5 feet 11 inches in height; and so nervous and strong, that with one stroke of the sabre he can cut off the head of a buf-

falo. He is active, passionate, and ambitious, but his genius is too volatile for depth of thought; and he is consequently more fit for the manly exercises of the field than for deliberation in the closet. Till of late he gave little attention to business. He was up before the sun, mounted his horse, rushed into the forest, and hunted down tigers or deer till the noon of day. He then returned, plunged into the cold bath, and spent his afternoons among his women. He now spends more time at the comptoir of his finances than in dallying with the ladies of his seraglio. His authority, therefore, is established, his revenues increased, and his army on a respectable footing. But with all his splendid qualities, he is cruel, treacherous, unprincipled, and deceitful. If we except personal courage, he possesses not one virtue more than Sa'adat Jang."⁵ Such was the prince who was ere long to measure swords with the English. His first achievement was in 1756, when Dattaji Sindhiyá,⁶ advancing with a great Marátha army to conquer Rohilkhand, was encountered by him, and effectually checked. On this occasion, a division of the Maráthas, commanded by Govind Pant, was routed with great slaughter, and driven across the Jamná, in whose waters a great part of it perished.⁷ After this the Maráthas made peace with the nuwáb of Oudh, and marched off to attack Ahmad Sháh Durrání, a movement which resulted in their terrible overthrow at Pánipat.

In 1759, 'Ali Gauhar, eldest son of the Emperor 'Alamgir II, formed a league with Muhammad Kuli Khan, the sábadhár of Alláhábád, to invade Bengal, which was then governed by Mir J'afar, the ally of the British. They invited Shujá'u'd-Daulah to aid them in this enterprise, which he agreed to do; but no sooner had they marched than he, by stratagem, got possession of the fortress of Alláhábád, and soon after put to death Muhammad Kuli, who strangely enough returned and gave himself up. The English historians have not understood the true cause of this cruel action, but a perusal of the native writers will explain it. Muhammad Kuli was brother's son to Sa'adat Jang, and of course heir-presumptive to Shujá'a. He had been appointed by Sa'adat Jang to the command of Alláhábád, and had entirely withdrawn himself from the authority of the court of Oudh. A strong faction, at the head of which was Ism'áil Khan of Kábul, had intrigued to put him in the place of Shujá'u'd-Daulah, who several times escaped with difficulty from their designs. The policy of an eastern prince in such cases is well known; and Shujá'a preferred to sacrifice his cousin rather than himself.

In 1760, 'Alamgir, having been murdered by his vazīr, 'Ali Gauhar, was proclaimed emperor by the title of Sháh 'Alam, and his first step was to make Shujá'u'd-Daulah vazīr on the 6th of January 1761. Shujá'u'd-Daulah commanded a division in the battle of Pánipat, and from that time became the most powerful prince in Hindustán. The Maráthas were crushed by their tremendous defeat, Muhammad Kuli was dead, Alláhábád re-incorporated with Oudh, and everything combined to encourage the vazīr to encounter the British, an opportunity for which was not long wanting. On the 24th of May 1763 the city of Patna had been seized by Mr Ellis, a violent, unprincipled man, who was determined to force Mir Kásim, the nuwáb of Bengal, into a war. A struggle accordingly commenced, and after severe fighting, Mir Kásim, defeated at all points, crossed into Oudh, and threw himself on the protection of Shujá'u'd-Daulah; who, with the Emperor Sháh 'Alam, was encamped at Alláhábád. Shujá'a espoused the cause of the fugitive nuwáb; and, crossing the Ganges in the beginning of April 1764, laid siege to Patna, but was beaten off with loss. The mutinous conduct of the English troops delayed their operations for some time; but on the 23d of October 1764 Major Hector Munro came up with the Oudh army at Baksar, and after a severe action of five hours, put it to flight. The English loss was 101 Europeans and 773 Sípáhís killed and wounded, or more than one in nine of their whole army. Shujá'a had 2000 men killed, and lost 133 guns of all sizes. In its results, this battle was a second Plassy, as it left the English without a rival to their power, and compelled the Emperor Sháh 'Alam to throw himself on their protection; thus giving to their subsequent proceedings the colour of legitimate authority. Shujá'a now entered into negotiations with the English, but as he refused to surrender Mir Kásim, Sumroo, and the European deserters, operations in the field still continued; and a treaty was concluded with Sháh 'Alam, by which he ceded to the English Gházipúr and part of the territory of Balwant Singh, rája of Banáras, while they agreed to put him in possession of all the dominions of Shujá'u'd-Daulah; but

Oude. the Court of Directors utterly disapproved and disallowed these terms, on the ground that extension of territory was impolitic and disadvantageous. Colonel Munro's army advanced from Banáras to the attack of Chunár, and after two unsuccessful assaults, returned to its quarters, but two battalions of natives occupied Lakhnau. Munro resigned in January 1765, and was succeeded by Major Fletcher, who, dividing his force, with one part of it reduced the Alláhábád districts; and with the other, commanded by Major Stibbert, captured the fort of Chunár.

Shujá's now called in the Maráthas, who entered Oudh by Karha, and on the 3d of May 1765 were defeated near that place by General Carnac, and a second time near Akbarpúr, where, however, they plundered a great part of the English baggage. At the ford of Kalpi (Calpee) they again attempted to make a stand, but after a short action, were finally broken and dispersed. Shujá's, with an appreciation of the English character which did him credit, now determined to throw himself on their generosity; and in August 1765 they concluded a peace with him, the principal conditions of which were, that he should pay L.500,000 towards the expenses of the war, surrender the fort of Chunár, not receive Kásim 'Ali or any deserters into his service, cede Karha and Alláhábád to Sháh 'Álam, levy no duties on any of the Company's merchandise throughout his dominions, pardon those of his subjects who had aided the English in the late war, and not molest Balwant Singh, their ally. He also covenanted to aid the English with his troops if their territories were invaded; and they, in return for all these advantages, agreed to furnish him assistance in case of a like necessity. It has been said that, from the battle of Baksar (Buxar), Oudh was a conquered country; and that the English having then given it to Shujá's 'Álam, might be justified in resuming their gift if badly administered. But Oudh was never entirely subjugated, or even overrun; and the utmost that was ever proposed by the Bengal government was to make it over, when conquered, to Sháh 'Álam; a design that was bitterly censured by the Court of Directors. The words of Lord Clive are conclusive as to the motives of the treaty. He says:—"Our restoring to Shujá's 'Álam the whole of his dominions proceeds more from the desire of not extending the Company's territorial possessions, than the generous policy of attaching him for ever to our interests by gratitude, though this has been the apparent, and is by many thought to be the real, motive. Had we ambitiously attempted to retain the conquered country, experience would soon have proved the impracticability of such a plan." Shujá's, taught by his misfortunes, set to work to remedy his reverses with an energy and success which were proofs of a superior mind. In return for the districts ceded to him, the emperor granted to Shujá's the hereditary possession of his dominions; and so well did the núwáb arrange his financial system, that in 1768 he had not only paid off all his debts, but possessed a full treasury and a flourishing revenue. He disbanded his irregulars and reduced the cavalry—which at the battle of Baksar amounted to 30,000, and had deserted him there without striking a blow—to 6000. With the help of some Frenchmen, he remodelled his army, raised ten disciplined battalions, and founded an arsenal at Faizábád. This progress aroused the jealousy of the English, who, in November 1768, imposed a new treaty on him which limited the number of his troops to 35,000 men, including irregulars. This restraint was exceedingly galling to the núwáb; and he henceforth viewed the English with distrust. However, in 1772 the Doáb and Rohilkhand were overrun by a powerful Marátha army under Sindhya, Holkar, and Hari Pant, who possessed themselves of all the territory belonging to Ahmad Khan Bangash, except the town and environs of Farrukhábád. Alarmed at this formidable invasion, the Rohillas besought Shujá's 'Álam to procure the aid of an English brigade, and engaged to pay L.400,000 for its support. Shujá's obtained the troops required, and the Maráthas were compelled to retire from their conquests; but the Rohillas then could not, or would not, make good their promise. And here occurs one of the blackest pages in the history of the núwábs of Oudh. Shujá's was under obligations to the Rohillas, though there had been many passages of arms between them. They had sheltered his family in his misfortunes after the battle of Baksar, and had forbore to strike when he was unable to resist. It was therefore infamous to design their ruin,—a design which he now framed and accomplished with the aid of the English, who sold the liberties of this brave people to him for L.400,000. At the same time, Mr Hastings made over to Shujá's, for L.500,000, the districts of Alláhábád and Karha, which belonged to the emperor, and had been solemnly assigned to him by the British themselves in return for an important service. The treaty was concluded in the end of 1773; and on the 17th of April 1774, Colonel Champion, with an English

brigade accompanying the Oudh army, entered Rohilkhand. On the morning of the 23d a decisive battle was fought, in which the Rohillas were utterly broken, and their general, Háfiz Rahmat was slain.

Oude. After this dishonourable success, Shujá's gave still stronger proofs of his callousness to generous sentiments in the cruel severity with which he treated the conquered Rohillas. It must be remembered, however, that, as a SÁFÁÁ dealing with SÁFÁÁ, he had a religious incentive to rigour, similar to that which steeled the heart of the English Mary against her Protestant subjects, and made Philip II. deluge the Netherlands with blood. This fact has been wholly lost sight of by the English historians. It must be added that Sháh 'Álam had given him his sanction to the conquest; that the English supported Shujá's in all his proceedings; and that, as a mere question of policy, it was certainly for his interest to crush, and if possible extirpate, such warlike and dangerous neighbours as the Afgháns, who have given their name to Rohilkhand. He was yet busy with the arrangement of the conquered province, when a disease with which he was afflicted broke out so virulently that he was compelled to retire to Faizábád, where he died in January 1775, aged forty-six. He had received from his father a considerable principality, surrounded by implacable and powerful enemies; he left to his son an extensive and flourishing kingdom, secure from all aggression. Whatever his private character, he must be regarded as one of the ablest and most successful princes that have ruled in Hindústán. He was succeeded by Mirzá Arnání, his eldest legitimate son, who assumed the title of Asaf'ú'd-Daulah, and who removed the royal residence to Lakhnau, then a mere village.² The Bengal Council, in opposition to the opinion of Mr Hastings, shamelessly seized this opportunity to extort immense sums from the young núwáb; and, to use the words of Mr Mill, "while they exacted all, and far more than had been covenanted by Shujá's, from his son, declared their own engagements to be void by Shujá's death." They compelled Asaf to raise the pay of the brigade which they had lent to his father, and which was no longer required in Oudh, to L.330,000 a year, and annexed territory bringing annually L.230,000. The first object of the new núwáb was to obtain from the emperor the office of vazīr, which had been held by his father. This he secured in 1776, by sending at an opportune time 5000 men and some guns to the emperor's assistance. But this was the only gleam of sunshine during his reign, the history of which is that of a continual struggle with the exorbitant demands of the English. They drew from Oudh enormous sums, to supply which the wretched kingdom was parcelled out to farmers of revenue, who, as they grew powerful by draining the country of its wealth, gradually shook off their allegiance to the núwáb, and defied his authority. In addition to the brigade which, by the treaty of Faizábád, had been quartered on Shujá's, a second, called the temporary brigade, was added in 1777, and several detached corps were from time to time imposed on the unfortunate Asaf, at an expense of L.120,000 a year more. Besides the Resident, who, by an agreement between Shujá's and Mr Hastings, had been located in Oudh, another Company's agent was now added; and the expense of their establishments, and of the pensions, allowances, and gifts to various Company's officers, grew to that height, that no revenue, however elastic, could bear.³ In 1779 the unfortunate núwáb petitioned for the removal of the troops quartered upon him, stating that they were "not only quite useless to his government, but, moreover, the cause of much loss, both in the revenues and customs, and that the detached bodies of troops, under their European officers, brought nothing but confusion into the affairs of his government, being entirely their own masters." But the exigencies of the government of general were such that he was determined to force a supply of money from Oudh, in defiance of all reason and justice. The alleged debt to the English now amounted to L.1,400,000, and the salaries of the núwáb's own servants, and even of the members of the royal family, were deeply in arrears. Of the way in which this ruin had been caused a single specimen will suffice. Colonel Hannay,⁴ a Company's officer greatly in debt, was foisted into the núwáb's service in 1778, as farmer of Bahráich and Gorakhpúr, and in 1781 had realized a fortune of L.300,000! On the 19th September 1781 Mr Hastings signed a new treaty with the núwáb at Chunár, by which he was relieved of the burdens which had been so unjustly imposed upon him, on condition of his plundering his grandmother, the Bahu Bigam, and his mother, of all their wealth, and sending it over to the English. This resulted in the famous spoliation of the Bigams, which formed the subject of the eloquent denunciations of Sheridan and Burke. A brief résumé of the question will be found in the pages of Mill and Wilson, the former of whom censures the conduct of Hastings in the strongest terms, while the latter inclines to defend him, but indirectly admits that the spolia-

tion of the royal ladies was a thing wholly at variance with the "easy temper" of the nūwāb, and that he was driven to it by the insatiable demands of the English. For his part in the transaction, Mr Hastings accepted—that is, extorted—a doucner of L.100,000. The next step was to despoil Faiz'ullāh Khān, a Rohilla chief who had been suffered to remain in Rohilkhand by Shujā'u'd-Daulah, and who had brought his territory into the most flourishing state. It would, however, be impossible to condense into a short space the financial transactions of the English government with 'Asafu'd-Daulah. Suffice it to say, that from 1777 to 1785 the nūwāb was compelled to pay the Company L.840,000 per annum, instead of L.350,000, which had been forced from him by the iniquitous treaty of 1775, and L.360,000 extorted by the still more iniquitous treaty of 1781. In addition to this, his country had been plundered by the gigantic frauds, bribes, and extortions of the Company's officers, as a sample of which may be taken the expenses of Major Palmer, the agent of Hastings, which alone were L.112,950.—L.22,800 being that gentleman's moderate annual salary.¹ Sir J. Macpherson and Lord Cornwallis alleviated this frightful oppression to some extent, but they only pruned and did not extirpate the evil; and in March 1797 Sir John Shore commenced new exactions, and imposed on the wretched nūwāb the expense of two additional regiments of cavalry—one European, the other native. A few months after, 'Asafu'd-Daulah expired, leaving an impoverished country, a bankrupt treasury, and a dissatisfied people. He was a mild, easy, and somewhat indolent and sensual prince; but no abilities or virtues could have protected him against the relentless tyranny of the English government. He himself admitted that he had been rendered reckless and desperate by its insatiable demands. Mirzā 'Ali, the reputed son of 'Asaf, known to English writers as Vazir 'Ali, was now raised to the throne, and was publicly acknowledged by the English government. There was, however, a powerful faction against him; and Sir J. Shore hearing that he was a youth of impracticable temper, visited Lakhnau, and received proffers of vast sums if he would set him aside. "A large pecuniary sacrifice," says the governor-general, "was promised as a compensation for my acquiescence." Accordingly, on the 21st of January 1798, the nūwāb was deposed, and Sa'adat 'Ali II., brother of 'Asafu'd-Daulah was raised to the throne on payment of L.120,000 in ready money, and on condition of raising the annual subsidy to the English to L.760,000, and paying all the expenses of the English armies in Oudh when exceeding 13,000 men. He further ceded the fortress of Allāhābād; and agreed to employ no Europeans, except Company's officers, in his service, nor permit them to settle in his dominions; to hold no communication with any foreign state; and to settle L.15,000 a year on the deposed Vazir 'Ali. The latter having been deprived of a kingdom on evidence upon which, to use the words of the historian Mill, "a court of English law would not have decided against him a question of a few pounds,"² was removed to Banāras. In 1799 it was resolved, in order to prevent any intrigues in his favour, to convey him to Calcutta; an intention which he bitterly resented. On the 14th of January in that year, he called on the Resident at Banāras, Mr Cherry, to complain; and on being chidden, rose from his chair and struck at him with his sword. His attendants immediately despatched the Resident and two other gentlemen; but on the arrival of a party of horses, took to flight. Having thus made his escape, Vazir 'Ali was soon joined by several thousand men, and maintained himself in rebellion for some time. He was at last traitorously given up to the English by a Rājput chief, and carried to Calcutta, where he died a prisoner in Fort-William in 1817.

Sa'adat 'Ali II. is represented by Sleeman at his first accession as a careless, jovial prince, fond of the chase and the glass. He was, nevertheless, so deeply impressed with the miserable condition of Oudh, and the impossibility of satisfying the demands of the English, that at one time contemplated the abdication of his throne. Lord Wellesley, the then governor-general, eagerly grasped at this proposal, and used every stratagem and menace to secure the whole kingdom for the Company, but finding that Sa'adat had no intention of trafficking away the birthright of his sons, and would not resign except in their favour, he compelled him to cede the

richer half of his territories, including Etāwah, Karha, Farrukhābād, and the whole of Rohilkhand, 'Azimgarh, Gorakhpur, Allāhābād, and many other districts, producing in all L.1,334,730 annually. The nūwāb was further bound to dismiss all his regular troops, save five battalions of infantry, 2000 cavalry, and 300 artillerymen; the English government undertaking to defend the kingdom against all foreign aggression, and to coerce all rebellious subjects. Of foreign aggression there never was the least probability; but when called upon to reduce rebellious chiefs, the English refused, or yielded a grudging compliance,³ and in the succeeding reigns altogether refused to observe this condition of the treaty. The treaty was signed on the 14th of November 1801, and from that hour Sa'adat 'Ali became a changed man. He gave up all the moderate pleasures to which he had been accustomed, and devoted himself heart and soul to the management of his kingdom. For the remaining fourteen years of his life few princes in ancient or modern times have displayed such self-denial and such attention to the business of their government as Sa'adat. During his "salutary rule"⁴ a great part of Oudh is described as "a magnificent garden."⁵ By his prudence and economy he so reduced his expenditure within his income, that on his death, on the 12th of July 1824, he left fourteen millions sterling in a treasury which he found empty when he entered upon the government in 1797. He was a man of great general ability; had mixed much in the society of British officers in different parts of India; had been well trained to habits of business; understood thoroughly the character, institutions, and requirements of his people; and, above all, was a sound judge of the relative merits and capacities of the men from whom he had selected his officers, and a vigilant supervisor of their actions. He had a thorough knowledge of the rights and duties of his officers and subjects, and a strong will to secure the one and enforce the other.⁶ Yet this was the man that Lord Wellesley would have put aside as worthless and incapable.

Sa'adat 'Ali II. was succeeded by his second son, styled Ghāzi'u'd-Din Haidar. Shamsu'd-Daulah, the eldest son of Sa'adat, died before his father, and left a son; but he, according to the Muhammadan law, was excluded from the succession by his father's death in his grandfather's lifetime. Ghāzi'u'd-Din was young and in possession of vast wealth; he gave himself up to pleasure, and neglected the government. He was, besides, unfortunate in his selection of a minister—Aghā Mir, who was utterly dishonest, though a man of abilities. The young nūwāb, immediately on his accession, gave to the minister L.500,000 to be expended in public works and charity. This Aghā Mir retained for himself, and forged letters to show that he had expended it as desired. Another million was borrowed by Lord Moira for the expenses of the Nepāl war. The Resident, Major Baillie, was instructed to apply for the money, and "to make it appear as a voluntary offer on the part of the nūwāb."⁷ In March 1815 the Resident was instructed to apply for a second million, which he did in so disrespectful a manner that the nūwāb, although he surrendered the money, insisted on his removal, and to this the governor-general assented; and on the 1st of May 1816 granted to the nūwāb, in discharge for the millions just lent, an unproductive marshy forest called the Tarai, just taken from Nepāl. This region became the sanctuary for all the rebels and banditti in Eastern Oudh, and there they built their strongholds. But money was not the only thing supplied by the nūwāb to the English. In addition to the vast sums just mentioned, he mounted a whole regiment of English cavalry at his own expense, and supplied various necessaries towards the wars the Company were carrying on. In return for these services, and to sow jealousy between the courts of Delhi and Lakhnau, Lord Moira encouraged the nūwāb to assume the title of King. Accordingly, in 1817, Ghāzi'u'd-Din for the first time coined money in his own name, and assumed the title of King in the year following. At the end of 1825, another "perpetual loan" of a million was borrowed from the king by the Company, the interest of which was to be paid to the minister, Aghā Mir, who, by a gross fraud, had obtained the king's consent. Next year another loan of half a million was obtained for, as it was said, two years. On the 20th of October 1827 Ghāzi'u'd-Din died, having expended, or rather given to the English, four millions of the fourteen bequeathed to him by his father. "He

was an encourager of letters and the arts; was of a kind and conciliatory disposition, and afforded a not unfavourable specimen of an Asiatic prince;¹ but his ministers defrauded him of enormous sums,² and as he was prevented by treaty from keeping up sufficient troops of his own, and the British troops refused to act against refractory zamindars, that system of baronial agrandisement commenced under his reign which has now made Oudh what England was during the worst period of the wars of the Roses. He was succeeded by his eldest son Sulaiman Jâb, who assumed the title of Nasirud-Din Halder. The treasury was full, and the young king "was anxious to spend his money in the manner best calculated to do good and please our government;" and Sir W. Sleeman has left it on record³ that had the English Resident given good advice, or even been willing to meet the king's advances, "Oudh might have been covered with useful public works." But the Residents for a long period of years made it their business to do nothing, or only interfered to extort vast sums of money, or to prefer the complaints of the Company's sipahis, who were allowed privileges contrary to all justice and order. The object of the political officers employed in Oudh was, in plain words, to bring on such a state of affairs as should justify the annexation of the province. Nasirud-Din, repelled by the Resident, gave himself over to sensual and intemperate habits, in which he had been encouraged from his early youth by his adopted mother, the Pâdshâh Bigam, a woman of an ungovernable temper, but over-indulgent to her son. Among his first measures, the king attempted to make the fraudulent Agâ Mir disgorge the enormous sums of which he had robbed the state, but the British government threw their regis over the traitor, and permitted him a safe retreat to Cawnpore, where he died in 1832. Some years before his death he set up a printing-press at Cawnpore, whence he disseminated attacks upon the Oudh government. His son took a leading part against the English in the mutiny at the above station, and held a high office under the infamous Nââ Sâhib. Hakim Mahdi, who had been pîrâddâr, or farmer, of Muhammadî (Mahomdee) and Khairâbâd from 1804 to 1819, and had made those districts a blooming garden, succeeded Agâ Mir⁴ (after a brief interval, till February 1829, during which period Fazl 'Ali was minister), endeavoured to introduce reforms which would have restored Oudh to the condition in which it was under Sa'âdat 'Ali, but the king was immersed in sensual pleasures, and surrounded by vile courtiers and still viler Europeans, whose interest it was to prevent reform.⁵ Hakim Mahdi was silenced, and even dismissed after two years' tenure of office,⁶ and was succeeded by an imbecile old man, Roshanud-Daulah,⁷ who was thwarted in everything by the king's unworthy favourites. Nasirud-Din died, it is said by poison, on the night of the 7th of July 1837, and was succeeded by his uncle, Nasirud-Daulah, who assumed the title of Muhammad 'Ali Shâh. He was the third son of Sa'âdat 'Ali II., and, according to Muslim law, became heir to the throne, owing to the death, during his father's lifetime, of his elder brother Shamaud-Daulah, whose four sons were thereby excluded from the succession. Nasirud-Din had left a son, Muna Jân, by a lady named Afzal Mahal, but had disowned him in order to gratify his resentment against the Pâdshâh Bigam, whom, in later years, he de-

tested, and who doted on the boy. The Bigam was not a person to Oughtred. suffer the rights of her favourite to be set aside without a struggle; and when Nasirud-Din died, she marched to the palace with an armed multitude, and caused Muna Jân to be proclaimed king. The Resident, Colonel Low, however, suppressed the fecus, killing and wounding 120 of the Bigam's followers; and Muna, who was pronounced by the English government illegitimate,⁸ was sent to Chunnâr. Muhammad 'Ali Shâh was a parsimonious and prudent old man, but in his short reign, till the 16th of May 1842, he could not restore the treasures wasted by his predecessor, who had inherited L.10,000,000, and left but L.700,000. He bequeathed, however, L.788,000 to his second son Amjad 'Ali, who succeeded to the throne, to the exclusion of Muntâzu-d-Daulah, the son of his elder brother Asghar 'Ali,—Asghar having died during his father's lifetime. Amjad 'Ali⁹ died on the 13th of February 1847, and left L.1,358,400, and this, as far as can be ascertained, was expended by Wajid 'Ali, the ex-king of Oudh, before his deposition, which took place on the 1st of January 1856. Wajid 'Ali is a good poet and an accomplished man of letters, but not a man of business, and before his accession the great barons had become altogether too powerful to be controlled. The royal revenue declined daily during his reign; but on the whole, the condition of Oudh was not deteriorating, and the barons drew ample and increasing revenues from their estates. They maintain to this day 100,000 armed followers, and have 400 forts of such strength, that one of them (that of Rudhman) has lately successfully defied a whole division of British troops, and repulsed their attack, with the loss of a general and 120 men. It was for the English government to have reduced and destroyed these forts, and to have restored the king's power, or to have retired from the country and left him to fight his own battles. The latter course was the one recommended by Lord Dalhousie, who felt that by the treaty of 1837, made by the governor-general, Lord Auckland, who had full powers to conclude it, and acknowledged by succeeding governors-general, though not by the Court of Directors, the kings of Oudh could not be deposed for misgovernment. That treaty provided, that in case of serious internal disorders, the English should assume the administration in trust for the king, and restore it to him, or his successors, when matters were adjusted. In an evil hour, however, in spite of the remonstrances of the ablest Residents, Sir W. Sleeman and Colonel Low, and the protests of two of the most enlightened directors, the home government resolved on the unjust and impolitic step of annexing Oudh to the dominions of the Company. The announcement was received with indignation and astonishment throughout India, and more than one Indian prince declared publicly in open court, that no native potentate could now feel himself safe. Fanatical emissaries went abroad in all directions, calling on the population to rise against the Farangis; and in little more than a year from the annexation the terrible revolt of the Bengal army broke out. In Oudh the whole population rose against the English as one man, and although Lakhnau was stormed and taken for the third time on the 19th of March 1858, the whole country remained in arms against the English up to the time at which this article concludes, in July of the same year. (See NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCE.) (E. B. E.)