A colleague disclosed some days ago that his grandmother was a student of Begum Akhtar, undoubtedly the greatest singer ever of ghazals, in Lucknow. The discussion next moved to books on Akhtar and Lucknow — there aren’t too many.
Shatranj Ke Khiladi, the short story by Munshi Premchand, gives a good feel of the decadence and debauchery during the days of Wajid Ali Shah, the last Nawab of Awadh, but it leaves you hungry for more. The corpulent Nawab was a rake — his muslin kurta had a deep cut at the top for him to flash his nipple — and possibly a cross-dresser as well. His life of sinful pleasures didn’t stop even after he was deported to Calcutta by East India Company in 1856. But he was a talented debauch: his poetry is worth dying for. As Delhi declined after the Great Mughals, Lucknow rose as a patron of poets, musicians and dancers. Delhi poets like Mir and Ghalib too came here in order to improve their fortunes. The spirit of the story, as well as the subtle nuances of the city’s mellifluous zubaan, comes alive in Satayajit Ray’s film which carried the same name. But there is a difference between the story and the movie: the two nawabs kill each other over a game of chess in the story, but just badmouth each other in the film. Ray’s argument was that they were so steeped in decadence that they had lost the courage to pull the trigger.
The Raj, the Indian Mutiny and the Kingdom of Oudh 1801-1859, by John Pemble, gives a good account of what happened in Lucknow and the countryside around before, during and after the 1857 sepoy mutiny. The book is out of print, though you may find it in some libraries. Online retailers in the US have some stock of secondhand copies.
Or you could read Veena Talwar Oldenburg’s Shaam-e-Awadh: Writings on Lucknow (Penguin, 2007). The title is drawn from the fascination of the people of Lucknow with the evening when, after a full day of life indoors (certainly not hard work; kite-flying on rooftops, maybe), it’s time for some pleasure — food, wine, music and dance, the company of courtesans. So strong was the desire to corrupt that the residents began to call their city Nucklau. This is the name Rudyard Kipling uses in Kim. Oldenburg was born in Lucknow and went to school in the city, before relocating to the US in 1970. Her book is a compilation of writings, old and new, on the city.
There are, of course, quintessential Lucknow chapters like “Interior of an Opium Den in Lucknow”, “Afternoons in the Kothas of Lucknow” and “Fragrant Feasts of Lucknow”, as well as recipes for dishes like kundan khaliya (kid goat curry wrapped in gold foil). But the one that will make you sit up is the one titled “Loot!”. Oldenburg has drawn from the archives a list of items that were transferred from the royal households of Lucknow to Queen Victoria after East India Company was disbanded in 1858. The 41 items on the list include a gold lace cup with a handsome “froutell” (sic) of diamonds, emeralds and small rubies, a pearled cup ornamented with diamonds, a gold spoon, eight Korans in gold, a bag containing many loose emeralds and a large pearl, et cetera. These were the contents of just one barrel. Oldenburg says that it is believed that at least 10 times more wealth was looted by East India Company after the mutiny was put down. The Sikh soldiers commandeered by the company had joined in the pillage. “These exquisite trophies were despatched to England to bedeck Queen Victoria and the royal family,” says Oldenburg, making her pique obvious.