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Write about Awadh Rebel |
| Answer» \tThe Kingdom of Awadh (Oudh) was a princely state in the Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh. It was under the Mughal Empire and in 1732, the Subahdar Nawab of Awadh, Saadat Khan asserted his sovereignty and started a hereditary polity in Awadh.\tHe was succeeded by his nephew and son-in-law Safdar Jang. Awadh was a prosperous state and the East India Company was interested in this region.\tAfter the Battle of Buxar, in which the combined armies of the Nawab of Awadh (Shuja-ud-daulah), the Nawab of Bengal and the Mughal Emperor was defeated by the British, the British established themselves as the chief power throughout the region.\tIn 1765, the Treaty of Allahabad was signed in lieu of which the company was to receive Rs.50 lakh from Awadh, get possession of Allahabad district, and be allowed to trade freely in Awadh. In return, both the parties were to help each other in case of war with any other power.\tIn May 1816 the Kingdom of Awadh became a British protectorate.\tWajid Ali Shah was the Nawab of Awadh from 1822. He was the tenth Nawab and was to be the final one.\tHe was an accomplished poet and playwright and a patron of the fine arts. He was not a bad administrator but the British resident at Awadh gave a damning report of his administration. The British were hoping to annex the kingdom on some pretext or the other. As per Dalhousie’s Doctrine of Lapse, the British would annex a kingdom if there was misrule also.\tAccordingly, the Kingdom of Awadh was annexed without bloodshed in February 1856. Wajid Ali Shah was exiled to Calcutta where he lived the remainder of his life.\tAwadh played an important part in the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Wajid Ali Shah’s son joined hands with the rebels. The British lost control of the kingdom for a brief while but regained in 18 months.\tAfter that, the region was merged with the North Western Frontier Province and called the North Western Frontier Province and Oudh.\tIt was renamed United Provinces of Agra and Oudh in 1902. In 1904, it was renamed the Agra Province in the United Provinces. | |