506 L UCA'NO W CITY.
Saddat Khan himself met at first with some opposition from the Shaikhs ; but in the end he was completely successful, and before his death he had made Oudh practically an independent principality. Even in his old age he retained his personal strength and his military skill; and his Hindu foes recorded with awe how he slew in single combat Bhagwant Singh Khichi, and haw his troops, when almost beaten, rushed again to the conflict where the long white beard of their chief led the van of the battle.
His son-in-law and successor, Safdar Jang (1743), lived at Delhi as Wadr; but he built the fort of Jalalabad, 3 miles south of the city, to intimidate the liéis of liaiswara. He also rebuilt the old stronghold of Lakshmanpur, which thenceforth bore the name of Machi Bhaivan, from his own crest (a fish—mat/u'). Under his rule, too, the bridge across the river was begun, though not completed till the time of Asa!- uddnulzi. Safdar Jang’s son and successor, Shujti-ud-daulti (I7 53), lived at Faizahéd after the battle of Baksar (Boxer); and Lucknow received no additions during his rule.
The three earliest Nan-{tbs of the Oudh dynasty were soldiers and statesmen, all of whom took the field in person against English, Marathas, and Rohillzis, or against the great nobles whose feudal power had reduced the central authority to a mere name. Under their government, therefore, Lucknow received few architectural embellishments of an ornamental kind. Only works of military utility. such as forts, wells, and bridges, engaged their attention; though the city continued to grew, as the head-quarters of the ruling house, and several wards were added on its spreading outskirts.
With Asaf-ud-daulti, the fourth Nawab, a new political situation de- veloped. He lived the contented and scrvile ally of the English. By their aid, Oudh had acquired Rohilkhand, and might acquire llenares; and he felt himself independent of his own people. The grandeur of Lucknow dates from the reign of this Namib. Yet his works did not degenerate into the mere personal extravagance of his successors. He built bridges and mosques, as well as the Imambtira, the chief archi- tectural glory of Lucknow. Though inferior to the purest Muhant' madan models of Delhi and Agra, the Imémbara, taken together with the adjoining mosque and the Rtimi Darwin, forms a group of striking magnificence and picturesque splendour. Asaf-ud-dauld’s erections are simple and grand, free from the base admixture. of bastard Greek and Italian features which disfigure the later style of the Oudh dynasty. 'l‘he lmrimhrira, constructed during the great famine of 1734, as a relief work for the starving people, now covers the remains of its founder. 'l‘radition relates that manyof the most respectable inhabitants, com. polled by want, enrolled themselves amongst the workmen ; and that to save their honour and keep their identity unknown, their names were
