Wajid Ali Shah

Also called: Jan-i-Alam · Topic: The Revolt of 1857 · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 2 "Rebels and the Raj"

Meaning

Wajid Ali Shah (also called Jan-i-Alam) was the last Nawab of Awadh. The British removed him from the throne in 1856, saying he ruled badly ("misgovernment"), and sent him away to Calcutta. [2][3] His removal matters because it started the anger that made Awadh one of the strongest centres of the Revolt of 1857. The British wrongly believed he was unpopular. In fact, the people of Lucknow grieved for him openly.

Explanation

Background: how Awadh lost its power step by step

• Subsidiary Alliance, 1801. Awadh was forced into Wellesley's system of 1798. Subsidiary Alliance means an agreement under which the British "protected" a ruler, and the ruler paid for British troops and gave up his freedom in foreign affairs.
• The Nawab had to pay for a British contingent (a body of British-led troops) kept in his land.
• He could not deal with other states, or go to war, without British permission.
• A Resident (a permanent British officer at his court) watched everything.

• Result: the Nawab kept his throne but lost his real power.

• Dalhousie's greed, 1851. Lord Dalhousie called Awadh "a cherry that will drop into our mouth one day." The British wanted it for two reasons:

• Its soil was good for indigo and cotton.
• It was the principal market of Upper India, the biggest trading centre of the north.

The deposition of 1856: why "misgovernment"?

• Dalhousie was Governor-General from 1847 to 1856. Awadh was annexed in the last year of his term. [2]
• The Doctrine of Lapse could not be used. Under this rule, if a ruler had no natural heir and was not allowed to adopt one, the British took his land. It could not be applied to Awadh's Nawab. [2]
• So the British used another excuse. They said Wajid Ali Shah ruled badly. On this plea of misgovernment he was deposed (removed from the throne) in 1856.
• He was exiled to Calcutta. [2][3]
• The annexation completed a long British march that began in Bengal about a hundred years earlier, with Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764).

How Lucknow reacted: "the life was gone out of the body"

• The British misread the people. They thought the Nawab was unpopular. He was not.
• Crowds followed him for miles, singing laments (sad songs) as he left Lucknow.

• People said "the life was gone out of the body". The city of Lucknow was the body, and the Nawab was its life.

• When the court closed, a whole economy died with it. The Nawab's court supported many people, and they all lost their work:

• musicians and dancers
• poets
• artisans (skilled craft workers)
• cooks

• court officials and retainers (servants of the court)

• So the anger was not only the Nawab's own. Thousands of townspeople had lost their daily bread.

Results: from his exile to the revolt in Awadh

• One chain of grievance. Annexation hurt four groups at once, and each loss fed the next:
• Prince lost his throne and court.
• Taluqdar (a big landholder who collected revenue from many villages) lost his forts, soldiers and villages under the Summary Settlement of 1856. Taluqdars' share of Awadh villages fell from 67% to 38%.
• Peasant lost the taluqdar's help in bad years and had to pay 30–70% more revenue.

• Sepoy (Indian soldier) was often the peasant's son, because Awadh was the "nursery of the Bengal Army". The annexation hit the army directly. [2]

• His family led the revolt. Begum Hazrat Mahal, wife of Wajid Ali Shah, became one of the most important leaders of the revolt in north India. [3]

• She led the army and took Lucknow after the battle of Chinhat. [3]

• She declared their 11-year-old son, Birjis Qadr, ruler of Awadh. [3] In this way the rebels brought back the royal house that the British had removed in 1856.

• The British crushed it.

• On 11 March 1858, British forces under Colin Campbell and James Outram attacked the Begum Kothi, her palace in Lucknow. [3]
• In May 1858, Birjis Qadr wrote to Jung Bahadur Rana of Nepal asking for help. [3]
• In 1858 the British pulled down the taluqdars' forts and disarmed Awadh, so that there could be no second rising. [3]

Time, place and evidence

• Period: He was deposed in 1856, on the eve of the Revolt of 1857–58.
• Place: Awadh, with its capital Lucknow. He was exiled to Calcutta. [2][3]
• Key people:
• Wajid Ali Shah, the Nawab
• Lord Dalhousie, Governor-General 1847–1856 [2]
• Begum Hazrat Mahal, his wife, and Birjis Qadr, his son [3]
• Hanwant Singh, Raja of Kalakankar, a taluqdar of southern Awadh
• Forsyth, a British officer

• Colin Campbell and James Outram, British commanders [3]

• How we know:

• NCERT Class 12, Ch 2 "Rebels and the Raj" records the laments that followed him, the saying "the life was gone out of the body", and Hanwant Singh's speech ("At one blow you took from me lands…").
• Forsyth's estimate, a British official account, says that three-fourths of Awadh's adult males were in rebellion.
• Official British policy survives in the "misgovernment" plea and the Summary Settlement of 1856.
• Records of the rebel court, such as Birjis Qadr's letter to Jung Bahadur (May 1858), show that the rebels were still looking for allies. [3]

Don't confuse with

• Doctrine of Lapse annexations (such as those of Dalhousie's other annexed states): these were taken because the ruler had no natural heir. Awadh was not taken this way. It was annexed on the plea of misgovernment. [2]
• Begum Hazrat Mahal: it was she, not Wajid Ali Shah, who led the revolt in Lucknow. He was already in exile in Calcutta and took no part in the fighting. [2][3]
• Birjis Qadr: his son. The rebels crowned him ruler of Awadh in 1857. Wajid Ali Shah is the last Nawab recognised before annexation. [3]
• Bahadur Shah Zafar: the Mughal emperor at Delhi, whom the rebels made their leader in 1857. Wajid Ali Shah was the Nawab of Awadh, deposed a year before the revolt began.

Prelims Hooks

• Wajid Ali Shah was the last Nawab of Awadh. He was deposed in 1856 and exiled to Calcutta. [2][3]
• Trap: Awadh was annexed on the plea of misgovernment, not under the Doctrine of Lapse. [2]
• Correct order: Subsidiary Alliance on Awadh (1801) → Dalhousie's "cherry" remark (1851) → annexation and exile of Wajid Ali Shah (1856) → Begum Kothi attacked (11 March 1858). [3]
• Annexation happened under Lord Dalhousie, Governor-General 1847–1856. [2]
• Begum Hazrat Mahal, wife of Wajid Ali Shah, crowned her son Birjis Qadr after the battle of Chinhat. [3]
• Awadh was the "nursery of the Bengal Army". Forsyth estimated that three-fourths of adult males there were in revolt.

Mains Points

• The British misjudged popular feeling. They deposed Wajid Ali Shah believing he was unpopular. Instead, his exile caused public grief in Lucknow and cost thousands of court-dependent people their livelihood: musicians, poets, artisans, cooks and officials. This shows that colonial "reform" by annexation often destroyed local economies and broke the bond between ruler and people.
• His deposition was the first link in a chain of grievance. Prince, taluqdar, peasant and sepoy all lost something in 1856. This is why NCERT reads the Awadh revolt as "an expression of popular resistance to an alien order", not a mere soldiers' mutiny. Forsyth's three-fourths figure supports this view.
• Rebels looked back to the old order. The rebels did not create a new kind of rule. They brought back Wajid Ali Shah's house, crowning Birjis Qadr under Begum Hazrat Mahal. [3] This compares with Bahadur Shah Zafar at Delhi and Nana Saheb at Kanpur. In 1857, leaders drew their right to rule from pre-colonial rulers. This helps explain both how fast the revolt spread and where it fell short.

Related concepts

• Annexation of Awadh
• Summary Settlement of 1856
• Taluqdar
• Hanwant Singh
• Nursery of the Bengal Army
• Bengal Army
• Sepoy grievances

Read more

• Awadh in revolt: anatomy of a rebellion