In the early part of his reign the King used to drink hard and to indulge in pleasures which tended to unfit him for the duties of sovereignty, but, in 1801, he made a solemn vow at the shrine of Huzrat Abbas, at Lucknow, to cease from all such indulgences and to devote his time and attention to his duties. This vow he kept during the remaining years of his life. Sadat Ali Khan died on the night of 11th July, 1814, and was buried in the larger of the two tombs on the north-east side of the Canning College, and his wife, Murshed Zadi, in the smaller.
Monowur-ud-daula was Prime Minister of Sadat Ali Khan.
Note.—The Resident at the Court of Oudh, during the reign of Sadat Ali Khan, was Colonel J. Baillie, whose portrait is in the Provincial Museum, at Lucknow.
7.—GAZI-UD-DIN HAIDAR, 1814-1827.
In 1814 Gazi-ud-din Haidar succeeded his father, Sadat Ali Khan, but, beyond building his own tomb (for the decoration of which he despoiled the Imambara of Asuf-ud-daula of its furniture) and the tombs of his father and mother, he did little towards the embellishment of the city. On 8th October, 1814, Lord Hastings arrived at Cawnpore, where he was interviewed by Gazi-ud-din Haidar, who returned to Lucknow, a few days afterwards, in company with the Governor-General. He received the title of King, in 1819, from the Governor-General, who made him quite independent of the house of Delhi; so that the imperial name of Nawab-Vizier now vanishes from history.
On the day of his coronation, jewels and pearls to the value of Rs. 30,000 were scattered over the heads of the spectators. But the increase of dignity thus conferred upon him was more than counterbalanced by the degradation which he was subjected to at the hands of his chief wife, the Padshah Begum, an imperious and furious character, whose frequent ebullitions often disfigured the King’s robes and vests, and left even the hair of his head and chin unsafe.
In these domestic broils the King’s son, Nasir-ud-din Haidar, always took the part of his adopted mother, the Padshah Begum.[1] His natural mother had died soon after his birth; and people suspected that the Padshah Begum had her put to death in order that she might have no rival in his affections, and she had an entire ascendancy over him by every species of enervating indulgences.
The former Kings of Oudh, fearful of revolutions which
- ↑ Mussulman sovereigns take the title of Padshah (protector—ruler). The first wife, the Queen, is therefore the Padshah Begum.
