Nawab of Awadh

The Nawab of Awadh or Nawab of Oudh /ˈaʊd/ was the title of the rulers of Kingdom of Awadh (anglicised as Oudh) in northern India during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Nawabs of Awadh belonged to an Iranian dynasty^[1][2][3] of Sayyid origin^[4][5] from Nishapur, Iran. In 1724, Nawab Sa'adat Khan established the Kingdom of Awadh with their capital in Faizabad and Lucknow.

Nawab of Awadh (Oudh)
Seal of the Kingdom of Awadh
First to reign Saadat Ali Khan I 26 January 1722 – 19 March 1739
Details
First monarch	Saadat Ali Khan I
Last monarch	Birjis Qadr
Formation	26 January 1722
Abolition	3 March 1858
Residence	Chattar Manzil

History

See also: Oudh State

The Nawabs of Awadh were semi-autonomous rulers within the fragmented polities of Mughal India after the death of Aurangzeb in 1707. They fought wars with the Peshwa, the Battle of Bhopal (1737) against the Maratha Confederacy (which was opposed to the Mughal Empire), and the Battle of Karnal (1739) as courtiers of the Moghul.^[6]

The Nawabs of Awadh, along with many other Nawabs, were regarded as members of the nobility of the Mughal Empire. They joined Ahmad Shah Durrani during the Third Battle of Panipat (1761) and restored Shah Alam II (r. 1760–1788 and 1788–1806) to the imperial throne. The Nawab of Awadh also fought the Battle of Buxar (1764) preserving the interests of the Moghul. Oudh State eventually declared itself independent from the rule of the Moghul in 1818.^[7]

List of rulers

All of these rulers of the Royal House of Awadh used the title of Nawab from 1722 onward:

Portrait	Titular Name	Personal Name	Birth	Reign	Death
	Burhan ul Mulk Sa'adat Khan برہان الملک سعادت خان	Saadat Ali Khan I	1680 Nishapur, Khurasan, Safavid dynasty, Persia	1722 – 19 March 1739	1739
	Abul-Mansur Khan Safdar Jung ابو المنصور خان صفدرجنگ	Muhammad Muqim	1708	1739 – 5 October 1754	1754
	Shuja-ud-Daula شجاع الدولہ	Jalal-ud-din Haider Abul-Mansur Khan	1732	1754 – 26 January 1775	1775
	Asaf-ud-Daula آصف الدولہ	Muhammad Yahya Mirza Amani	1748	26 January 1775 – 20 April 1797	1798
	Asif Jah Mirza	Wazir Ali Khan وزیر علی خان	1780	21 September 1797 – 21 January 1798	1817
	Yamin-ud-Daula	Saadat Ali Khan II سعادت علی خان	1752	21 January 1798 – 11 July 1814	1814
	Ghazi-ud-Din Haidar Shah	Ghazi-ud-Din Haidar Shah غازی الدیں حیدر شاہ	1769	11 July 1814 – 19 October 1827	1827
	Abul- Mansur Qutub-ud-din Sulaiman jah	Nasir-ud-Din Haidar Shah ناصر الدیں حیدر شاہ	1803	19 October 1827 – 7 July 1837	1837
	Abul Fateh Moin-ud-din	Muhammad Ali Shah محمّد علی شاہ	1777	7 July 1837 – 7 May 1842	1842
	Najm-ud-Daula Abul-Muzaffar Musleh-ud-din	Amjad Ali Shah امجد علی شاہ	1801	7 May 1842 – 13 February 1847	1847
	Abul-Mansur Mirza	Wajid Ali Shah واجد علی شاہ	1822	13 February 1847 – 11 February 1856	1 September 1887
	Mohammadi Khanum	Begum Hazrat Mahal بیگم حضرت محل	1820	11 February 1856 – 5 July 1857 Wife of Wajid Ali Shah and mother of Birjis Qadra (in rebellion)	7 April 1879
	Ramzan Ali رمضان علی	Birjis Qadr بر جیس قدر	1845	5 July 1857 – 3 March 1858 (in rebellion)	14 August 1893

Pretenders to the throne of Awadh

• Meerza family. ...
  • Nawab Meher Quder Zahid Ali Meerza (son of Nawab Birjis Qadr)
  • Nawab Kaukab Quder Meerza (grandson of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and son of Nawab Meher Quder Zahid Ali Meerza)^[8]
  • Nawab Kamran Meerza (son of Kaukab Meerza)^[8]
• Nawab Ibrahim Ali Khan Sheesh Mahal^[9]

Gallery

• 
  Saadat Ali Khan I, the first Nawab of Awadh, who laid the foundation of that state.
• 
  Safdarjung is accused of making peace with the Maratha Confederacy.
• 
  Shuja-ud-Daula fought the Maratha Confederacy during the Third Battle of Panipat on behalf of the Great Moghul, he's also known to have fought during the Battle of Buxar.
• 
  Shuja ud-Daula and his ten sons
• 
  Shuja-ud-Daulah on a hunt
• 
  Shuja's army in Oudh
• 
  Oudh Cavalry
• 
  Mumtaz-ud-Daulah of the Budh Royal Family attributed to Felice Beato
• 
  Moksim-ud-Daulah
• 
  Gates of the Palace at Lucknow by W. Daniell, 1801.
• 
  Gate of the Lal-Bagh fort at Faizabad in 1801.

See also

• Begum Hazrat Mahal
• List of Shia dynasties
• The Chess Players (film)

References

1. Sacred space and holy war: the politics, culture and history of Shi'ite Islam Archived 29 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine By Juan Ricardo Cole
2. Encyclopædia Iranica, Archived 22 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine, R. B. Barnett
3. Art and culture: endeavours in interpretation by Ahsan Jan Qaisar, Som Prakash Verma, Mohammad Habib
4. Davies, C. Collin (1960–2005). "Awadh". The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition (12 vols.). Leiden: E. J. Brill.
5. Srivastava 1954, p. 1. sfn error: no target: CITEREFSrivastava1954 (help)
6. Azhar, Mirza Ali (1982). King Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
7. "As children, we wanted revenge on the British". The Times of India. 30 September 2016. Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
8. "In memoriam: Tribute to tragic Nawab Wajid Ali Shah on his bicentenary". Get Bengal. 22 July 2023. Archived from the original on 24 September 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
9. Sullivan, Tim (11 December 2010). "A noble feud reflects India's royal ambivalence". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on 29 June 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2024.

Further reading

• Ashirbadi Lal Srivastava (1899–1973): The First Two Nawabs of Awadh. A critical study based on original sources. With a foreword by Sir Jadunath Sarkar. Lucknow : The Upper India Publishing House 1933. xi, 301 S. Originally Phil. Diss. Lucknow 1932. 2. rev. and corr. ed. Agra : Shiv Lal Agarwal 1954. About Burhan ul Mulk Sa'adat Khan (1680–1739) and Safdar Jang (1708–1754), Nawabs of Awadh
• Ashirbadi Lal Srivastava (1899–1973): Shuja-ud-Daulah. Vol. I (1754–1765). Calcutta : Sarkar Midland Press 1939 A thesis approved for the degree of doctor of letters by the Agra University in 1938. 2., rev. and corr. ed. Agra : Shiva Lal Agarwala 1961. Vol. II (1765–1775) Lahore : Minerva 1945. 2. ed. Agra : Agarwal 1974. About Shuja-ud-Daula (1732–1775), Nawab of Awadh

External links

• Nawabs of Awadh
• THE COURT LIFE UNDER THE NAWABS OF AWADH (1754–1797)
• Roots of North Indian Shi‘ism in Iran and Iraq:Religion and State in Awadh, 1722–1859, by J. R. I. Cole. University of California Press, 1989.
• HISTORICAL SERIES No. LVI
• Advanced study in the history of modern India, Volume 2, by G. S. Chhabra, Lotus Press, 1 January 2005