Lucknow

“ We reached Lucknow at night. The moon was not yet shining, but the stars shed their peaceful halo around this spot, to which the eyes of the civilized world were so long directed during the dark days of the mutiny. At the hotel upon arrival a lady's voice was heard singing the universal refrain which nearest touches all English hearts in India and expresses the ever dominant longing, "Home, Sweet, Sweet Home." ”

“ These extracts from a history of Lucknow before the Mutiny will enable my readers to form some idea of the splendour of the Mohurrum of 1857, and the value of the tâzia and paraphernalia found, as I said, by a company of the Ninety-Third. I learned from native troopers that the golden tâzia belonging to the crown jewels of Lucknow having accompanied the king to Calcutta, a new one was made, for which the Mahommedan population of Lucknow subscribed lakhs of rupees. ”

“ On the way the flattened dome of the Shah Najaf, another great tomb, appeared against pale rosy clouds, a red flag clinging to its mast above walls of such tremendous thickness that they withstood both naval guns and Captain Middleton's battery. But it is another flag that keeps in my mind whenever I think of Lucknow—that one from the old staff on the Residency tower. A new one flies from it every year, but its pattern does not change. ”

“ The traffic itself pouring into Lucknow is very considerable. Goods for the year 1869-70 were taxed to the amount of seventy-three and three quarter lakhs of rupees. The chief interest of the pargana centres in the city Lucknow, the seat of Government and capital of the province. It covers an area of thirty-six square miles. Its population has been given, and by it, it stands fourth amongst Indian capitals. Its greatness as a city dates only from the time of Asif-ud-daula, 4th Nawab of Oudh, who commenced his rule in A.D. 1798. ”

“ Indifferent to the feelings and opinions of the landed aristocracy and people of the country, with whom they have no sympathy, they spend all that they can spare for the public in gratifying the vitiated tastes of the overgrown metropolis. Hardly any work calculated to benefit or gratify the people of the country is formed or thought of by the members of the royal family or aristocracy of Lucknow; and the only one formed by the Sovereign for many years is, I believe, the metalled road leading from Lucknow to Cawnpoor, on the Ganges. ”

“ Lucknow is a large and populous city, but wholly inelegant and irre- gular. The streets are narrow, uneven, and almost choked up with every species of filth. The Gumty, running on the north side of the town, is navigable for boats of a common size at all seasons of the year, and falls into the Ganges between Benares and Ghazepour. ”

“ Prior to the annexation of the kingdom of Oudh, Lucknow consisted mostly of strong masonry built houses in the usual fantastic mixture of Italian and Mahomedan architecture, two or three stories high, forming narrow, but picturesque, streets: the bazars were abundantly stocked, the population was literally "teeming," so that it was impossible to ride, or drive, in the streets, save at a walk; the people generally were cleanly dressed, betokening that they were living under a regime, which placed the common necessaries of life reasonably within the reach of all classes ”

“ Countless people have congregated. Hindus, Mohammedans, Christians, Jews — all sorts of people — men, women, and children of all races and creeds have crowded today to witness the Mohurrum. Lucknow is the capital of the Shias, and wailings in the name of the illustrious Hassan and Hossain rend the skies today. ”

“ Lucknow, however, is one of the most prosperous and busy towns in India. The people are wealthy and enterprising. It has probably more rich natives than any other city of India except Bombay, and their houses are costly and extravagant, but in very bad architectural taste. Millions of dollars have been spent in tawdry decorations and ugly walls, but they are partially redeemed by beautiful parks and gardens. ”

“ Lucknow, so rich in historical associations, is poverty itself in genuine architectural attractions, magnificent as it appears at a distance. It is a modern capital. About a century ago a king of Oude, in a moment of caprice, I suppose, determined to remove his capital from Fyzabad to Lucknow. Palaces on a great scale were hastily erected of common bricks and covered with white plaster. These look very fine at a distance, but closer inspection reveals the sham, and one is provoked because his admiration has been unworthily excited. ”

“ Lucknow is the fifth city in size in the Indian Empire. It is reached by a six hours' ride from Benares which is interesting, as the railroad runs through a good farming country, in which many of the original trees have been left. Lucknow at the outbreak of the mutiny was fortunate in the possession of one of the ablest army commanders in the Indian service. Sir Henry Lawrence, when he saw that mutiny was imminent, gathered a large supply of stores and ammunition in the Residency at Lucknow. ”

“ On these occasions, the vast population of Lucknow may be imagined by the almost countless multitude, of every rank, who visit this Durgah: there is no tax levied on the people, but the sums collected must be immense, since every one conscientiously offers something, according to his inclination or his means, out of pure respect to the memory of Hosein. ”

“ The capital was at Lucknow, in the centre or heart of Oudh, about fifty-five miles to the north-east of Cawnpore. Sir Henry Lawrence, the chief commissioner, lived in a large mansion at Lucknow, which was known as the Residency. The city of Lucknow extends four miles along the right bank of the river Goomti, and all the principal buildings, including the royal palaces and gardens, and the Residency, are situated between the city and the river. On the opposite bank were the British cantonments ”

“ Here two of the King’s eunuchs jogged along in great style on camels with gaudy trappings; after them came prancing steeds bearing some gorgeously-dressed young princes, and then innumerable elephants bearing all sorts of disreputable-looking characters, the gents and blacklegs of the Lucknow community. In fact, I recognised specimens of nearly all the various classes of society which are to be met with at races in England, except that none of the fair sex were to be seen on this occasion.
There can be no doubt that Lucknow is a fast place, and contains a very sporting population ”

“ The country is an almost dead level, the average slope, which is from N.W. to S.E., being less than a foot per mile. The principal rivers are the Gumti and the Sai with their tributaries. The population in 1901 was 793,241, showing an increase of 2.5% in the preceding decade.
The Division of Lucknow contains the western half of the old province of Oudh. It comprises the six districts of Lucknow, Unao, Sitapur, Rae Bareli, Hardoi and Kheri. ”

“ The women of Lucknow are fairer and handsomer, and the men bolder and more stalwart, than those in Bengal, and it takes no great penetration to discern that Lucknow is still ruled by fear and not by love.
It remained for me still to investigate the scenes of the route by which Lord Clyde came in on both his advances; but to do justice to these would demand separate articles. Let me begin the hasty sketch at the Dilkoosha Palace, two miles and more away to the east of the Residency; for on both occasions the Dilkoosha was Clyde's base. ”

“ Up to this time it was merely a large town of some few hundred houses, extending no further than the area round the Machhi Bawan. It is pretty clear that the site of the Chauk was occupied by a distinct village, while jungle covered the ground Where the Husainabad and Kaiser Bagh now stand.
Under Asuf-ud-daula, the Lucknow Court reached its highest splendour. All the wealth of the state was devoted to the personal aggrandisement of its ruler and the accumulation of those materials which minister to oriental pomp. No Court in India could rival the magnificence of the Nawab-Vazier. ”

“ Every spot in and about Lucknow is marked by reminiscences of the Mutiny, some position of the enemy snatched from them by our troops, some palace or garden more hotly disputed; but you need to be an enthusiastic tactician to thoroughly appreciate the interest which attaches to Lucknow, the city and centre of the scenes of the Mutiny.
Saturday, January 24th.—Getting up this morning at 6 a.m., and dressing by the modest light of one candle, was a miserable struggle. The extreme changes of temperature which one is subjected to during one day's travelling in India is very trying. ”

“ Lucknow is chiefly notable in the history of British India as the capital of the nawabs who had dealings with Warren Hastings, and their successors the kings of Oudh, whose deposition by Lord Dalhousie was one of the chief causes of the Mutiny. Amongst the events of the Mutiny the defence of the residency of Lucknow comes only second in historic interest to the massacre at Cawnpore itself. ”

“ Lucknow is still a LUC 395 wealthy and voluptuous city; there are plenty of citizens who formerly daily witnessed such performances who have now abandoned them. One reason seems to be that these persons, like the petairac of early Greece, are supposed to be servants of the community or the State ; they attend at public festivals, civil and religious ; they receive a share of the national land; they are not so much attendants upon private wealth as attached to power and to official station; they regard themselves as belonging to the community and to its head, the ruler. ”

“ Lucknow was the splendid capital of the kingdom of Oude, whose sovereign, Wajid Ali Shah, had just been removed to Calcutta, and his dominions annexed by the British Government, on account of the long-continued misrule and oppression that had made Oude a neighborhood of misery and rapine to all the country around it. ”

“ I am not trying to get out of repeating the details of the Siege of Lucknow in fear of the reviewer; I am not leaving them out in fear that they would not interest the reader; I am leaving them out partly to save work; mainly for lack of room. It is a pity, too; for there is not a dull place anywhere in the great story.
Ten days before the outbreak (May 10th) of the Mutiny, all was serene at Lucknow, the huge capital of Oudh, the kingdom which had recently been seized by the India Company. There was a great garrison, composed of about 7,000 native troops and between 700 and 800 whites. ”

“ Fortunately, some places found a man able and willing to take the lead. At Benares, two hundred Europeans faced and overpowered two thousand sepoys, chiefly owing to the personal vitality of Colonel Neill, and at Lucknow Sir Henry Lawrence, after crushing one rebellion, was calmly making his preparations for the next, which he knew must come ere long. Whether in his sagacious head lay the thought that by holding Lucknow at all costs he might lessen the pressure of Delhi, and so divert the attention of some mutineers from that central point, who can say? ”

“ Daylight showed us still more of its extent and its magnificence. It spreads out many miles over the plain, and has a population of three hundred thousand, while in splendor it is the first of the 224 native cities of India—by native I mean one not taking its character, like Calcutta and Bombay, from the English element. Lucknow is more purely an Indian city, and has more of the Oriental style in its architecture—its domes and minarets reminding us of Cairo and Constantinople. ”

“ Many pensioners of the British Government and former Oudh kings still dwell in the city; it is the centre of modern Indian life, the queen of Indian fashion, and the best existing school of Indian music, grammar, and Moslema theology, at least for the Shias. Lucknow, viewed from a distance, and not too closely scrutinized, is one of the most beautiful and picturesque large cities of the world. There are two noble mosques, one imámbára of imperial dimensions, four tombs of regal splendour—those of Saádat Ali Khan, of Mushid Zádi, of Muham- mad Ali Shah, and Gházi-ud-dín Haidar ”

“ We shall be well disguised; and no end of Sepoys and people from Cawnpore must be making their way to Lucknow, so that very few questions are likely to be asked. It does not seem to me anything like as dangerous a business as those we have gone through, for the last thing they would look for is Englishmen making their way to Lucknow at present. The guide who is going with us got out, you know; and they must be looking out ten times as sharp to prevent people getting out as to prevent any one getting in. ”

“ When the mutiny broke out, it was soon seen that the native soldiers would attack the English in Lucknow, and the people at once set to work to make as many preparations against them as they could. To begin with, Sir Henry Lawrence, who was in command of the soldiers both English and Indian, and who was the brother of Lord Lawrence, of whom we spoke just now, ordered all the women and children to come and live in the Residency, which was supposed to be the safest place in Lucknow. ”

“ After breakfast next morning I started off to explore Lucknow. Going out of the door, how well I remembered the last time I went through it, starting from the Residency on the back of an elephant, guarded by a Sepoy all day. But Mr. Montgomery did not offer me an elephant on this occasion, and there were no Sepoys to attend me. So I walked off, quite content to have it so, and was not ten minutes in the Bazaar till it was all explained. The change was amazing, even already. Instead of every man being armed with tulwar and shield, nobody bore a weapon, save the native police. ”

“ There is, indeed, hardly a respectable family in Lucknow that is not more or less dependent upon our Government for protection, and proud to have it considered that they are so. The works and institutions which would soon be created out of revenues, now absorbed by worthless Court favourites, would soon embellish the face of the country, improve the character, condition, and habits of the people, stimulate their industry in agriculture, manufactures, and commerce; and render our connection with the Oude Government honourable to our name in the estimation of all India. ”