Mirza Asaf-ud-Daula (23 September 1748 – 21 September 1797) was the

Nawab wazir of Oudh The Nawab of Awadh or the Nawab of Oudh was the title of the rulers who governed the state of Awadh (anglicised as Oudh) in north India during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Nawabs of Awadh belonged to a dynasty of Persian origin from Nishapu ...

ratified by

Shah Alam II Shah Alam II (; 25 June 1728 – 19 November 1806), also known by his birth name Ali Gohar (or Ali Gauhar), was the seventeenth Mughal Emperor and the son of Alamgir II. Shah Alam II became the emperor of a crumbling Mughal empire. His po ...

, from 26 January 1775 to 21 September 1797, and the son of

Shuja-ud-Dowlah Shuja-ud-Daula (b. – d. ) was the Subedar and Nawab of Oudh and the Vizier of Delhi from 5 October 1754 to 26 January 1775. Early life Shuja-ud-Daula was the son of the Mughal Grand Vizier Safdarjung chosen by Ahmad Shah Bahadur. Unlike h ...

. His mother and grandmother were the

Begum Begum (also begüm, bagum, begom, begam, baigum or beygum) is a royal and aristocratic title from Central and South Asia. It is the feminine equivalent of the title ''baig'' or '' bey'', which in Turkic languages means "higher official". It us ...

s of

Oudh The Oudh State (, also Kingdom of Awadh, Kingdom of Oudh, or Awadh State) was a princely state in the Awadh region of North India until its annexation by the British in 1856. The name Oudh, now obsolete, was once the anglicized name of ...

Reign

Asaf-ud-Daula became nawab at the age of 26, on the death of his father, Shuja-ud-Daula, on 28 January 1775. He assumed the throne with the aid of the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

, outmanoeuvring his younger brother Saadat Ali who led a failed mutiny in the army. British Colonel John Parker defeated the mutineers decisively, securing Asaf-ud-Daula's succession. His first chief minister was Mukhtar-ud-Daula who was assassinated in the revolt. The other challenge to Asaf's rule was his mother Umat-ul-Zohra (better known as Bahu Begum), who had amassed considerable control over the treasury and her own ''jagirs'' and private armed forces. She, at one point, sought the Company's direct assistance in the appointment of anti-Asaf ministers. When Shuja-ud-Daula died he left two million pounds sterling buried in the vaults of the zenana. The widow and mother of the deceased prince claimed the whole of this treasure under the terms of a will which was never produced. When

Warren Hastings Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first Governor-General ...

pressed the nawab for the payment of debt due to the Company, he obtained from his mother a loan of 26 lakh (2.6 million)

rupee Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, ...

s, for which he gave her a

jagir A jagir ( fa, , translit=Jāgir), also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar (Zamindar) system. It developed during the Islamic rule era of the Indian subcontinent, starti ...

(land) of four times the value; of subsequently obtained 30 lakh (3 million) more in return for a full acquittal, and the recognition of her jagirs without interference for life by the Company. These jagirs were afterwards confiscated on the ground of the begum's complicity in the rising of Chait Singh, which was attested by documentary evidence. Ultimately this removed Umat-ul-Zohra as an obstacle to Asaf's reign. In the aftermath of Saadat's revolt, Asaf sought to restructure the government particularly by appointing nobles favourable to his cause and British officers to his military. Asaf appointed Hasan Riza Khan as his chief minister. Although he had little experience in administration, his assistant Haydar Beg Khan turned out to be a valuable support. Tikayt Ray was appointed finance minister. Asaf was known for his generosity, particularly the offering of food and public employment in times of famine. Notably, the Bara Imambara, a mosque in Lucknow, was constructed during his reign by destitute workers seeking employment. A popular saying of the time of his benevolence: ''jisko na de maulā, usko de Asaf-ud-daulā'' "to whom even God does not give, Asaf-ud-Daula gives." He was painted several times by

Johann Zoffany Johan Joseph Zoffany (born Johannes Josephus Zaufallij; 13 March 1733 – 11 November 1810) was a German neoclassical painter who was active mainly in England, Italy and India. His works appear in many prominent British collections, includin ...

Shifting the capital

In 1775 he moved the capital of Awadh from

Faizabad Faizabad (Hindustani pronunciation: ɛːzaːbaːd is a city situated near the southern banks of Saryu river in Ayodhya district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The area of this Faizabad region is administered by Ayodhya Municipal Corpo ...

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and divis ...

and built various monuments in and around Lucknow, including the Bara Imambara.

Architectural and other contribution

File:Asfi masjid.jpg, Asfi mosque, named after the

Nawab Nawab ( Balochi: نواب; ar, نواب; bn, নবাব/নওয়াব; hi, नवाब; Punjabi : ਨਵਾਬ; Persian, Punjabi , Sindhi, Urdu: ), also spelled Nawaab, Navaab, Navab, Nowab, Nabob, Nawaabshah, Nawabshah or Nobab, ...

, Asaf-ud-Daula. File:Bara Imambara Lucknow.jpg, Bara Imambara (Asafi Imambara), an imambara, was built by Asaf-ud-Daula, in 1784 at

. Nawab Asaf-ud-Dowlah is considered the architect general of

. With the ambition to outshine the splendour of Mughal architecture, he built a number of monuments and developed the city of Lucknow into an architectural marvel. Several of the buildings survive today, including the famed Asafi Imambara which attracts tourists even today, and the Qaisar Bagh area of downtown

where thousands live in resurrected buildings. The Asafi Imambara is a famed vaulted structure surrounded by beautiful gardens, which the Nawab started as a charitable project to generate employment during the famine of 1784. In that famine even the nobles were reduced to penury. It is said that Nawab Asaf employed over 20,000 people for the project (including commoners and noblemen), which was neither a masjid nor a mausoleum (contrary to the popular contemporary norms of buildings). The Nawab's sensitivity towards preserving the reputation of the upper class is demonstrated in the story of the construction of Imambara. During daytime, common citizens employed on the project would construct the building. On the night of every fourth day, the noble and upper-class people were employed in secret to demolish the structure built, an effort for which they received payment. Thus their dignity was preserved. The Nawab became so famous for his generosity that it is still a well-known saying in Lucknow that "he who does not receive (livelihood) from the Ali-Moula, will receive it from Asaf-ud-Doula" (''Jisko na de Moula, usko de Asaf-ud-Doula'').

Rumi Darwaza (''Turkish Gate'')

The

Rumi Darwaza The Rumi Darwaza (Hindi: रूमी दरवाज़ा, Urdu: , and sometimes known as the Turkish Gate), in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, is an imposing gateway which was built by Nawab Asaf-Ud-Daula in 1784. It is an example of Awadh ...

, which stands sixty feet tall, was modeled (1784) after the

Sublime Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( ota, باب عالی, Bāb-ı Ālī or ''Babıali'', from ar, باب, bāb, gate and , , ), was a synecdoche for the central government of the Ottoman Empire. History The name ...

(Bab-iHümayun) in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

, is one of the very important examples of the exchange between the two cultures. Image:Roomi_Darwaza_03.JPG, Image:Roomi_Darwaza_04.JPG, Image:Roomi_Darwaza_05.JPG,

Death

He died on 21 September 1797 in Lucknow and is buried at Bara Imambara, Lucknow.

Gallery

File:Bara Imambara Lucknow.jpg, Bara Imambara,

, built by Asaf-ud-Daula File:asif_palace_lucknow.jpg, A view of the Palace of the Asaf-ud-Daula at Lucknow, c.1793 File:asif_muharram_1795_2.jpg, Asaf-ud-Daula, celebrating the Muharram festival at Lucknow, c.1812 File:asif_coin_1a.jpg, A silver ashrafi issued by Asaf-ud-Daula from the Najibabad mint in AH 1211 (1796/7), regnal year 38 File:asif_coin_1b.jpg, A silver ashrafi issued by Asaf-ud-Daula from the Najibabad mint in AH 1211 (1796/7), regnal year 38 File:asif_musicians_1812.jpg, Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula seated on a rug smoking a hookah and listening to a party of male musicians, c.1812 File:asif_cockfight.jpg, Asaf-ud-Daula at a cock-fight with Europeans; this painting most likely depicts the famous cockfight between Asaf al-Daula and Colonel Mordaunt which took place at Lucknow in 1786, c.1830-35

Timeline

Notes

References

External links

NIC Website
* Refer to mapsofindia.com Bara Imambar

for details of the Imambara

* ttp://rulers.org/indstat1.html States before 1947 A-J {{DEFAULTSORT:Asaf-Ud-Dowlah Mughal Empire people People from Lucknow Nawabs of Awadh 1748 births 1797 deaths Indian Shia Muslims Indian people of Iranian descent History of Uttar Pradesh History of Lucknow 18th-century Iranian people Deaths from edema Grand viziers of the Mughal Empire