HAYAT BAKSH KOTHI
Government House stands on the
site of the original Hayat Baksh Kothi, Built during the reign of
Nawab Saádat Ali Khan between 1793 and 1814,. and originally
used by General Claud Martin as a powder Magazine. About 1856,
the Hayat Baksh Kothi became the residence of the Commissioner of Lucknow,
and was known as Banks House. The first commissioner was a Major
Banks whose name is still persists in Major Banks Road.
HAZRATGANJ
“At last we suddenly entered a
very handsome street indeed, wider than the High Street at Oxford,
but having some distant resemblance to it in the colour of its buildings
and the general form and Gothic style of the greater part of them”. Such
was Lucknow´s main street in 1824. The term Hazrat is equivalent
to Saint. Fashion change in streets as in everything else,
and what was once termed a street of noble width had in 1856 become a narrow
road. A little further along the Ganj a small site is now occupied
by a branch of a well-known shoe manufacturer. Kothi Noor Baksh or
Light-Giving house, now the residence of Deputy Commissioners of
Lucknow. Some say that it was made by Nawab Saádat Ali Khan
as a Maktab for his grandson, Rafi-ush-shan. Other authorities
state that ít was built by Agha Mir, Prime Minister of King
Gaziud-din- Haider.
THE PALACE OF LIGHTS
The Husainabad Imambara : such as the name given
by King Muhammad Ali Shah to the only building be completed during
his short reign of five years. Muhammad Ali Shah was already old
and feeble at the time of his accession. A small bazaar, known
as the Gelo Khana or “Decorated Place”, lies inside the imposing
entrance of the Imambara and is the home of chikan and bidri workers and
of those who make the small clay figures peculier to Lucknow. Opposite
the entrance is a similar structure, the Naubat Khana, Where
seven musicians play three times a day in honour of the dead. Mohammad
Ali Shah , third Nawab of Oudh, originally endowed this Imambara
in 1839 with an income of twelve lakhs of rupees invested in the East India
Company´s four percent. loan. In 1878 the Government
of India passed an act to provide for the better management of the endowment.
JAMA MASJID
Leaving the great Imambara on the left and driving
a few yards through the Rumi Darwaza, the treveller may get
his first view of the Jama Masjid, standing in commanding isolation
overlooking the city. “Masjid” is an Arabic word meaning “House of
Prayer”. The Jama Masjid follows the usual form of a square building surmounted
by three domes, and having a tall slender minaret at either front corner,
from which the Muezzin calls to the faithful at the appointed hour: “God
is great:Come to Prayer : Come to salvation. The Jama Masjid has beauty
of proportion apparent from every angle. It has a lofty doorway ornamented
in stucco, painted an unusual cool green with touches of white and brick
red. The interior is plain so that nothing shall distract the attention
of the worshippers. Only in the wall facing the entrance is a niche showing
the direction of Mecca to which worshippers must turn their faces. This
mosque is used for the weekly Friday prayers of the Shias. To one side
lie the ruins of what must once have been a large brick building. It has
been immpossible to gather information about the origin. It may have been
a Muhammadan school but now makes a delightful frame for one side of the
mosque, its deep weathered red mingling with the peculiar their olive green
foliage of the trees which have pushed their way through the masonry. All
around are evidences of the departed Nawabi days, other mosques and palaces
crumbling to dust, still impressive by their very size and by the hint
of past glories suggested by great doorways and balustrades sithouetted
against the sky. On September 23, 1857 the force coming to the help of
the garrison from Cawnpore fought a fierce action to possess the Alam Bagh.
In the heat of success, Outram himself led a mounted pursuit of the enemy
which took them nearly as far as the Yellow House, a distance of four or
five miles. The British troops withfrew to the Alam Bagh. In the heat of
success, Outram himself led a mounted pursuit of the enemy which took them
nearly as far as the Yellow House, a distance of four or five miles. The
British troops withdrew to the Alambagh and spent the next day refitting
and repairing and at 8:00am on the 25th they started off again. Directly
they came within range of the men concealed in every house along the way,
they were subjected to a fierce musketry fire. The Yellow House concealed
two guns which wreaked have among the British troops, the more so because
the rear of the coloumn was not ready to start. The order was passed up
to halt. At least the “Advance” sounded, and the enemy was forced to fall
back upon Yellow House while the British force pushed past it, leaving
it one the right flank.
Laster in the day the guns, cunningly placed
in the Yellow House, were swung round to operate effectively upon the rear
of their enemy until, by order of General Havelock, the 90th stormed the
house in face of a heavy fire and captured the guns. They were actually
carried off by Major Olpherts who won the V.C. for this gallant action.
The Yellow House today presents a modest front - or rather side - to the
road. It is two - storyed with a flat roof. Deep yellow wash still persists,
while the balustrade around the roof is ornamented with tiny green pillars
half buried in the wall. Inside, a circular staircase at one corner leads
to little rooms washed in bright colours and with raised contrasting frieyes.
The design an the sham venetian blinds show the influence of Western Fashions.
Each end of the house is built to form a deep bay window. An entrance porch
supported by wooden pillars sagging badly gives on to a tiny wilderness
of garden. Below a wing built at right angles to the house are immense
underground rooms. The present owner bought it some years ago meaning to
repair it and to live in it, but he found that the ravages of war and time
and had sunk too deep, so he built himself a little white villa with a
charming garden alongside.
JOHN COLLINS
Not ten Minutes drive from the Chutter Manjil Palaces,
in a mohulla called Lat Kalan-Ki-Lat stands a high-walled enclosure surrounded
by narrow bazaar streets. The gate is high and riveted and made of iron
bars. Inside, in a discussed European Cemetery, are some forty or fifty
pretentious monuments, the sepulchral leaden inscriptions on them long
since gone. Records tell us that among others Colonel Wilcox, one time
Astronomer Royal, lies there. The most ambitious memorial of all bears
an inscription which remains because it happens to be carved in the stone
itself :-
In Memory of Colonel John Collins
Resident at the Court of Lucknow 1806 - 7Died 18th June , 1807
The monuments stands almost in front of the gate
not ten yards away. From it is derived the name of the mohulla, Lat Kalanki
- Lat “the tomb of Lord Collins.” John Collins joined the East India Company´s
Bengal Infantry in 1770, rising to the rank of Major after twenty - four
years service. A year later he became Resident at the Court of Daulat Rao
Sindhia who tought well og him but newverless persisted in intriguing against
the British Raj. After Twenty of Bassein, Major Collins discovered and
reported that Daulat Rao was involved in various plots. Declaration of
war against Sindhia followed.
In 1799, Wazir Ali who had been deposed from
the throne of Oudh after a reign of three months, resided in the garden
of one Madho Das in Benares. The British knew that Wazir Ali was ploutting
against them. They ordered him to go to Calcutta. This infuriated him.
On January 14, he visited Mr. Cherry, Agent to the Governor - General in
Benares, and basely stabbed him.
At the same time Mr. Evans, a secretary, was
killed near by, according to plan, and Captain Canway was cut down by Wazir
Ali´s retinue as he rode up thr drive of Mr. Cherry´s House.
The insurgents then made for the house of Mr. Davis, Judge and Magistrate,
killing Mr. Graham on the way. Mr. Davis lived at what is now Nandesar
House, the guest house of the Maharajah, Sensing their intent, Mr. Davis
snatched up a hog-spear and defended himself at the head of a narrow winding
staircase which led to the roof. This same staircase now leads to a sleeping
apartment. He kept his enemies at bay until General Erkshine arrived with
a small body of troops. But Wazir Ali made goo his escape, A reward of
Rs. 20,000 was offered for his head and he took refuge with the Raja of
Jaipur. The Raja Proved a false friend betraying him to the British. Colonel
Collins was sent to Jaipur to receive his surrender. A few years later
“Killing Collins”, so named for a “cold, imperious and over - bearing manner”,became
Resident at the Court of Oudh and died a few months after he had taken
office.
KAISERBAGH PALACES
Wajid Ali Shah, the last King of Oudh, who came to
the throne in 1847, started to build the Kaiserbagh Palaces the year later
after his accession, intending to make them the eight wonder of the world.
The buildings were completed in 1850. Rumor had it that their cost exceeded
eighty lakhs and that the area they covered was greater than that of the
Tulleries and the Louvre put together. So eager´ was the King for
quality that, as with most of his inspiration, quality was forgotten. All
that now remains of his enormous conception are building on three sides
of a quadrangle. Somewhere near the tennis courts of the Oudh Gymkhana
Club stood the Jilankhana, a triumphal gateway whence royal processions
wounds their way through dense crowds of applauding citizens. Another
gateway led to China Bahg. Wajid Ali Shah was fond of dancing and
singing. He even dressed in female garments himself and danced before
the ladies of harem. The yellow building round the quadrangle are
now the property of the Taluqdars of Oudh as town houses. In the fighting
at the Moti Mahal during the first relief the British troopls were much
harassed by fire from the Kaiser Bagh. During the second relief musketry
fire from the Kaiser Bagh again swept the ranks of the relerving troops.
From November 20 to 22 the full force of British guns was turned on it.
Early in March 1858 the enemy again fortified the Kaiser Bagh with three
lines of entranchments including the canal. On March 13, the
Sikhs attached to the British force penetrated into an outlying court of
the Kaiser Bagh.
KHURSHAED MUNZIL
Khurshaed Munzil means “House of the Sun” .
It was named by Nawab Saádat Ali Khan after one of his favourite
wives, Khurshaed Zaidi, for whom he designed it. It was
built between 1800 and 1810, and is a two stroyed building having
six towers at at irregular intervals round it and four entrances which
were originally drawn bridges over the deep reverted moat. This is
now empty of water but is believed to be some way connected to the Gumti.
In 1856, Khurshaed Munzil was occupied by the officers of the regiment
quartered in LawrenceTeresa, and become known to fame as the 32nd
Mess House. On November 17, Peel´s guns concentrated
on Khurshaed Munzil and at about three in the afternoon, when the
muskerty fire from its defenders had diminished. Just inside the
main entrance to the Khurshaed Munzil stands a small pillar which bears
the inscription : “ It was here that Havelock , Outram and Sir Colin
Campbell met on the 17th November, 1857.” The possession of the Khurshaed
Munzil was the keystone to the whole position, and when it was once
in the hands of the relieving force the relief of the Residency was assured.
On March 11, 1858, a British battery situated where the Colvin
Institute now stands began to bombard the Khurshaed Munzil. In 1876
the Lucknow Girls School, founded by Mrs. Abbott, moved
from the Moti Mahal to the Khurshaed Munzil.
LAL BARADARI
The Lall or Red Baradari is so called because of
the colour with which its exterior is still ornamented. It stands
on the opposite side of the road to the Great Chuttar Munzil and was built
by Saádat Ali Khan between 1789 and 1814. It is sometime known
as the Qasr-us-Sultan.Baradari literally means a building with twelve doors,
and William Knighton describe this one as it was in the reign of Nasir-ud-Din
Haider who ruled fourteen years after the death of Saádat Ali Khan.
A few full length portraits of the royal family hung upon the walls while
the throne occupied the upper end of the hall. It was of value
and consisted of a platform approached by six steps. Three sides
were protected by a golden railing It was in the Lal Baradari that the
Queen Begum tried to install on the throne her adopted grandson,
Moona Jan, when Nasir-ud-Din Haider died of poison in the Farhat
Baksh, a stone´s throw away. The building is now used as a
museum and contains many things of interest.
LA MARTINIERE
“ Here lies Claude Martin, Born at Lyons,
the 5th day of January, 1735. Arrived in india as a common
soldier and died at Lucknow, 13th September, 1800, a
Major-General.” These words should be inscribed on the tombstone which
covers his remains in La Martiniere College, Lucknow. Claude Martin
was the son of a French silk manufacturer of Lyons and first came to India
in 1758 in the bodyguard of the Governor of Pondicherry. La Martiniere
was originally called “ Constantia” from General Martins motto,
labore et constantia. The ceiling are domed and italian style
and in the whole building there is no a single wooden beam. The pillar
standing in the lake was also built under the terms of his will as memorial.
The lake originally covered a much smaller area and was enlarged in 1880
as a famine relief measure. Huge stones lions adorn the upper terrace
of the building; in their heads are spaces interded for lanterns
whose beams would gleam out between the teeth of the monsterns. Below the
ground level in the tykhana Gereral Martin lies buried. Captain Spence
who for 64 years was connected with La Martiniere. He came as
a foundationer and He left a substantial sum of money to the College when
he died, which contributed largely to the Spence Hall.
THE MACHHI BHAWAN
Although all trace has long since vanished of any
part of the actual Machhi Bhawan fort, the name lingers and applies
to the mound upon which the Medical College now stand.In 1470 A. D. a Muhammadan
saint named Sheikh Mina was born at Lucknow. He was by an eminent
dervish, Quiran-ud-Din. At his death a tomb was erected over
his remains. A Hindu architect name Likhna designed a fort for them as
Likhna Kila which gradually shortened into Lucknow. Within its sheltering
walls stood the Panch Mahal, so called because it was five storey
high. When Saádat Ali Khan first moved his court from Fyzabad to
Lucknow in 1732 he hired Panch Mahal and another building known as the
Mubarak Mahal. Then Nawab Safadar Jang came to the throne in 1739.
He strengthened the fortifications of the old fort and renamed it Machhi
Bhawan or “Fish House”. Asaf-ud-Daulah, the fourth Nawab, who
succeeded to the throne in 1775 and is generally acknowledged to have been
the greatest of the rulers of Oudh, strengthened the fort still more
with round earthen bastion. In 1905 when King George V visited India
as Prince of Wales , he came to Lucknow in December and laid the
foundation-stone of the Medical College. In January 1912, Sir
John Prescott performed the opening ceremony of the building now known
as King George´s and Queen Mary´s Medical College.
THE MAQBARA OF AMJAD ALI SHAH
King Amjad Ali Shah came to the throne of Oudh in
1842. He reighed until he died on February13, 1847 “ of an
ulcer, or some such sore on his shoulder, and ........
the sore mst have been poisoned by some one, most probably by one
of the physicians bribed by some one wbo benefitted most by his death ....
when the King, Amjad Ali Shah felt his end approaching, Amjad
Ali Shah died early in the morning. The coronation ceremony,
when the court lords took the oath of allegiance lasted until past midnight.
When the poor widowed queen was at last permitted to return to the palace,
she found her lord and master already buried. He lies in the Imambara
which faces Hazrat Ganj, near Mission Road and Lal Bagh, Shielded
from view by a large gateway. When Oudh became quiet this Imambara was
used as the English Church until 1860 when Christ Church was completed.
