Editing Awadh (section)

=== Under the hereditary Nawabs of Awadh ===
{{See also|Nawabs of Awadh|History of Faizabad}}

[[File:Saadat Ali Khan I.jpg|thumb|left|150px|[[Saadat Ali Khan II|Saadat Ali Khan]], the first Nawab of Awadh, who laid the foundation of Faizabad.]]
[[File:Safdarjung, second Nawab of Awadh, Mughal dynasty. India. early 18th century.jpg|thumb|right|150px|[[Safdarjung]], the second [[Nawab]] of Awadh, who made Faizabad a military headquarters.]]
[[File:Nawab shuja ud daulah.jpg|thumb|left|150px|[[Shuja-ud-Daula]], the third [[Nawab]] in Faizabad, pictured with Four Sons, General Barker and other Military Officers.]]
[[Image:GulabBari.jpg|thumb|right|150px|[[Gulab Bari]] in Faizabad is the tomb of [[Shuja-ud-Daula]], The third Nawab of Awadh.]]
[[Image:Adnanwiki.badaimambada1.JPG|thumb|right|150px|[[Bara Imambara]] in Lucknow is the tomb of [[Asaf-ud-Daula]], the fourth Nawab of Awadh.]]

As the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] power declined and the emperors lost their paramountcy and they became first the puppets and then the prisoners of their feudatories, so Awadh grew stronger and more independent. Its capital city was Faizabad. [[Saadat Ali Khan I|Saadat Khan]], the first [[Nawab]] of Awadh, laid the foundation of Faizabad at the outskirt of ancient city of [[Ayodhya]]. Faizabad developed as a township during the reign of Safdar Jang, the second nawab of Avadh (1739–54), who made it his military headquarters while his successor [[Shuja-ud-daula]] made it a full-fledged capital city. Shuja-ud-Daula, the third Nawab of Awadh, built a fort known as "Chhota Calcutta", now in ruins. In 1765 he built the Chowk and Tir-paulia and subsequently laid out the Angoori Bagh and Motibagh to the south of it, Asafbagh and Bulandbagh to the west of the city. During the reign of Shuja-Ud-Daula, Faizabad attained such a prosperity which it never saw again. The Nawabs graced Faizabad with several notable buildings, including the [[Gulab Bari]], Moti Mahal and the [[Bahu Begum ka Maqbara|tomb of Bahu Begum]]. [[Gulab Bari]] stands in a garden surrounded by a wall, approachable through two large gateways. These buildings are particularly interesting{{citation needed|date=November 2019}} for their assimilative architectural styles. Shuja-ud-daula's wife was the well known Bahu Begum, who married the Nawab in 1743 and continued to reside in Faizabad, her residence being the Moti-Mahal. Close by at Jawaharbagh lies her Maqbara, where she was buried after her death in 1816. It is considered to be one of the finest buildings of its kind in Awadh, which was built at the cost of three lakh rupees by her chief advisor Darab Ali Khan. A fine view of the city is obtainable from top of the begum's tomb. Bahu Begum was a woman of great distinction and rank, bearing dignity. Most of the Muslim buildings of Faizabad are attributed to her. From the date of Bahu Begum's death in 1815 till the annexation of Avadh, the city of Faizabad gradually fell into decay. The glory of Faizabad finally eclipsed with the shifting of capital from Faizabad to Lucknow by Nawab [[Asaf-ud-daula]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://faizabad.nic.in/history.htm|title=Welcome to Faizabad History|publisher=official website of Faizabad district|access-date=23 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111228201603/http://faizabad.nic.in/history.htm|archive-date=28 December 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Nawabs of Awadh were a [[Persian people|Persian]] [[Shia]] Muslim dynasty from [[Nishapur]],<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ntarP5hrza0C&pg=PA8 Sacred space and holy war: the politics, culture and history of Shi'ite Islam] By Juan Ricardo Cole</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=7BaVwfpWZgUC&pg=RA2-PA17 Art and culture: endeavours in interpretation] By Ahsan Jan Qaisar, Som Prakash Verma, Mohammad Habib</ref> who not only encouraged the existing Persian-language belle-lettrist activity to shift from Delhi, but also invited, and received, a steady stream of scholars, poets, jurists, architects, and painters from [[Iran]].<ref name="Avadh"/> Thus Persian was used in government, in academic instruction, in high culture, and in court.<ref name="Avadh">''Encyclopædia Iranica'' [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/avadh-english-also-audh-or-oudh-an-ancient-cultural-and-administrative-region-lying-between-the-himalayas-and-the-ganges-i "Avadh"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517012521/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/avadh-english-also-audh-or-oudh-an-ancient-cultural-and-administrative-region-lying-between-the-himalayas-and-the-ganges-i |date=17 May 2017 }}, E. Yarshater</ref>

[[Saadat Ali Khan I|Saadat Khan]] Burhanul Mulk was appointed Nawab in 1722 and established his court in [[Faizabad]]<ref>[http://www.bartleby.com/65/fa/FaizabdInd.html "Faizabad, town, India"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050907162402/http://www.bartleby.com/65/fa/FaizabdInd.html |date=7 September 2005 }}. ''The Columbia Encyclopedia'', 6th Edition. 2001–07</ref> near Lucknow. He took advantage of a weakening [[Mughal Empire]] in [[Delhi]] to lay the foundation of the Awadh dynasty. His successor was [[Safdarjung]] the very influential noble at the Mughal court in Delhi. Until 1819, Awadh was a province of the Mughal Empire administered by a [[Nawab]].

Awadh was known as the granary of India and was important strategically for the control of the [[Doab]], the fertile plain between the [[Ganges]] and the [[Yamuna]] rivers. It was a wealthy kingdom, able to maintain its independence against threats from the [[Maratha]]s, the British and the [[Demographics of Afghanistan|Afghans]].

The third Nawab, [[Shuja-ud-Daula]] fell out with the British after aiding [[Mir Qasim]] the fugitive [[Nawab of Bengal]]. He was comprehensively defeated in the [[Battle of Buxar]] by the [[British East India Company]], after which he was forced to pay heavy penalties and cede parts of his territory. The British appointed a resident at Lucknow in 1773, and over time gained control of more territory and authority in the state. They were disinclined to capture Awadh outright, because that would bring them face to face with the Marathas and the remnants of the Mughal Empire.

[[File:Asifportrait2 - Asuf ud Daula.jpg|thumb|left|150px|[[Asaf-Ud-Dowlah]], The fourth [[Nawab of Awadh]], who shifted the capital of Awadh from Faizabad to Lucknow.]]
[[File:Portrait of Hyder Beg Khan, the Minister to the Nawab of A Wadh, Asaf-Au-Daula crop.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Hyder Beg Khan, minister to Nawab of Awadh, [[Asaf-ud-Daula]]]]
[[Asaf-ud-Daula]], the fourth Nawab and son of Shuja-ud-Daula, moved the capital from Faizabad to Lucknow in 1775 and laid the foundation of a great city. His rule saw the building of the [[Asafi Imambara]] and [[Rumi Darwaza]], built by [[Raja Tikait Rai]] Nawab Wazir (Diwan) of Awadh, which till date are the biggest architectural marvels in the city. Asaf-ud-Daula made Lucknow one of the most prosperous and glittering cities in all India. It is said, he moved because he wanted to get away from the control of a dominant mother. On such a thread did the fate of the city of [[Lucknow]] depend.

In 1798, the fifth Nawab [[Wazir Ali Khan]] alienated both his people and the British, and was forced to abdicate. The British then helped [[Saadat Ali Khan II|Saadat Ali Khan]] to the throne. Saadat Ali Khan was a puppet king, who in the treaty of 1801 ceded half of Awadh to the British East India Company and also agreed to disband his troops in favour of a hugely expensive, British-run army. This treaty effectively made part of the state of Awadh a vassal to the [[British East India Company]], though they continued to be part of the Mughal Empire in name till 1819.

[[File:Silver rupee of Awadh.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Silver rupee of Awadh, struck in the name of the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] emperor [[Shah Alam II]] at Lucknow in AH 1229 (=1814–15 CE). The coin features a stylised fish on the reverse, the dynastic symbol of the Nawabs of Awadh, seen also on the [[Nawab of Awadh|Awadh flag]]. At this time, the fiction that Awadh was subject to the Mughal emperor was maintained.]]

[[File:Rupee of Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Silver rupee of [[Wajid Ali Shah]], struck at Lucknow in AH 1267 (1850–51 CE) and showing the Awadh coat of arms. Starting in 1819, coins no longer mentioned the Mughal emperor, but were struck in the nawab's own name.]]

Coins were struck under the nawab's control for the first time in 1737, at a new mint opened in [[Varanasi|Banaras]], although the coins named the Mughal emperor, not the Nawab.<ref>P.L. Gupta: ''Coins'', 4th ed., New Delhi: National Book Trust, p. 178.</ref> After the Battle of Buxar, the British seized Banaras, and so the mint was moved in 1776 to Lucknow. From there, coins in the name of the Mughal emperor continued to be struck, and they continued to name Muhammadabad Banaras as the mint. It was only in 1819 that [[Ghazi-ud-Din Haider|Nawab Ghaziuddin Haidar]] finally started to strike coins in his own name. Soon thereafter, Awadhi coins started to feature the kingdom's European style coat of arms.

The wars and transactions in which Shuja-ud-Daula was engaged, both with and against the [[British East India Company]], led to the addition of [[Kara-Manikpur|Karra]], [[Allahabad]], [[Fatehgarh]], [[Kanpur]], [[Etawah]], [[Mainpuri]], [[Farrukhabad]] and [[Rohilkhand]], to the Oudh dimensions, and thus they remained until the treaty of 1801 with Saadat Ali Khan, by which province was reduced considerably as half of Oudh was ceded to the [[British East India Company]]. Khairigarh, Kanchanpur, and what is now the Nepal Terai, were ceded in 1816, in liquidation of [[Ghazi ud din Haider]]'s loan of a million sterling towards the expense of [[Nepal War]]; and at the same time pargana of [[Nawabganj, Gonda|Nawabganj]] was added to [[Gonda district]] in exchange for Handia, or Kawai, which was transferred from [[Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh|Pratapgarh]] to Allahabad.<ref name="IHC 107"/>