Despite the meagreness of the amounts, descendants of Awadh nobility continue to collect wasiqa from the state in lieu of the money their ancestors gave to East India Company as loans.
A serpentine lane off crowded Victoria Street in Lucknow’s Chowk leads to the nondescript kothi of Mirza Zaighamuddin Haider. The elderly gent is a descendant of the erstwhile rulers of Awadh. Mirza’s blueblood status is certified by an official document, the Permanent Pay Order, which entitles him to a monthly wasiqa, or pension.
People like Mirza get wasiqa from the state in lieu of the money their ancestors gave to East India Company as loans. These were investments by the Awadh nobility for the financial wellbeing of their descendants. Historian John Pemble reckons that between 1814 and 1842, the Nawabs of Awadh lent as much as Rs 4.8 crore to East India Company. That was a period of conquest, and the company needed money to keep the war machine rolling. It was only too happy to mulct the nawabs.
Some historians, Pemble included, have argued that the nawabs were ever ready to give loans to East India Company because that helped them buy peace with the invaders. Their wealth was the stuff of fables — stacks of gold and precious stones could be found all over their palaces. With the affairs of the kingdom in the hands of the English Resident, the nawabs had all the time to indulge in their revelries — food, music, dance, poetry, kites and women. Still, in 1856, Wajid Ali Shah, weak and artistic, was exiled to Calcutta, and that was the end of the nawabs of Awadh. He composed tearful songs when he had to depart from Lucknow but not one to lose heart, Wajid Ali Shah soon picked up his debaucheries again in Calcutta.
Over the generations, the pension money has been divided between more and more claimants. According to official records, the highest wasiqa stands at Rs 569 to octogenarian Haider Ali Khan. The lowest amount is Rs 1.01. According to the rules, if the payout drops to Rs 1, the wasiqa is terminated by paying the equivalent of 20 years of pension (Rs 240). Yet, it makes sense to go on collecting the wasiqa — it is, after all, the last record of the recipients’ royal lineage. Most wasiqedars prefer to collect their money every six months or even once a year. Some have since migrated or settled abroad, but they have kept their nawabi umbilical cord uncut through the wasiqa.
The wasiqa records have been preserved in Wasiqa Office located in the heritage precincts of Picture Gallery. The office pays a monthly rent of Rs 133 to Hussainabad Trust which owns the monument. The records of over 13,200 wasiqedars are stuffed in rickety cabinets in a dusty chamber. The office, which functions under the Minorities’ Welfare Department, has long been demanding a budget of Rs 23 lakh for the digitisation of records, lest the brittle pages are lost forever to age and insects.
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At present, about 850 individuals draw wasiqa from the state. Besides, 575 people draw interest from promissory notes of money deposited with the British by their royal ancestors in the 19th century.
The bespectacled Mirza, who retired as the principal of Shia Inter College in the late 1990s, says wasiqa is an Arabic word that denotes a written agreement. He adds that wasiqedars include not only the descendants of kings, but also their closest aides or even attendants. “It was up to the nawabs to entitle wasiqa to their legal heirs or also to their servants,” he notes after gently declining to reveal his wasiqa amount.
Most wasiqedars inhabit such delightfully named old localities of Lucknow as Sheeshmahal, Kashmiri Mohalla, Wazirganj, Shahadatganj, Golaganj, Nakkhas, Raees Manzil, Sharif Manzil, Langarkhana, Muftiganj and Masahabganj. Others have moved to modern colonies in town and beyond to keep pace with their career and lifestyle.
Bahu Begum was the first Awadh royal to execute a deed of deposit with East India Company in 1813 to provide a permanent source of finances to her close relatives. She handed over cash and property worth almost Rs 1 crore to the company. Saadat Ali Khan gave two loans worth Rs 2.08 crore in 1814 and 1815 to help East India Company in its campaign against the Gurkhas, who had spread from the Teesta river in the east to the Sutlej in the west. The loans carried an interest of 6 per cent per annum. “The last wasiqa agreement with the British was signed by Mohammad Ali Shah in 1839, when he gave Rs 12 lakh to East India Company at 4 per cent interest, so that his descendants could live off the interest,” Mirza claims.
“The system of wasiqa speaks loudly for the benign souls that the nawabs were. The underlying spirit of the wasiqa system was to provide a decent and honourable life to their near and dear ones, sincere and faithful servants, generation after generation,” Mirza adds.
There is, however, another side to the story. Most of the money, though not all, was used to fund military campaigns. Nevertheless, East India Company justified these loans by describing them as sterile wealth being put to good use.
Meanwhile, Royal Family of Oudh, an association of the nawabs’ descendants, has demanded that the wasiqa amount be increased by 50 per cent and that the descendants also get a share of the royalty payment.
“We have been raising this demand since 2006 with the Lucknow district administration, state government and the Centre,” the association’s general secretary, Shikoh Azad, says. “In April this year, we will hold a meeting to chalk out our future course of action.”
Recently, 258 direct descendants of Nawab Mohammad Ali Shah were given a 30 per cent raise in their wasiqa by the Centre. “We are happy that their wasiqa amount was raised after 172 years. In the same vein, we want that the families and beneficiaries of other nawabs should also be provided matching benefits,” Azad adds. His father draws the princely sum of Rs 280 as wasiqa.