An Unexpectedly Competent Ruler
- sulla80
- 17 hours ago
- 5 min read
In "A Journey Through the Kingdom of Oude, in 1849-1850", Sir William Henry Sleeman, describes the violent scene of July 8, 1837, in which the British put Muhammad Ali Shah on the throne in Awadh (Oudh). The previous King, Nasir-ud-Din Haidar, died just before midnight. The Queen Mother, Padshah Begum, immediately launched an attempt to put her ward or grandson, Munna Jan, on the throne, whom she claimed was the rightful heir. Colonel Low and British troops stormed the palace and crowned the elderly Muhammad Ali Shah as king that same morning.
"It was nine o'clock before the palace could be cleared of the insurgents ; and the Resident was very anxious that the new Sovereign should be crowned, as soon and as publicly as possible, in order to restore tranquillity to the city, which had become greatly disturbed from the number of loose and desperate characters that always abound in it, and are at all times ready to make the most of any tumult that may arise from whatever cause. The new Sovereign had become greatly agitated and alarmed at the danger to which, he and his family had been so long exposed, and at the fearful scene which they witnessed at the close ; and the Resident exerted himself to soothe and prepare him for the long and tedious ceremonies of the coronation, while the killed and wounded were being removed and the throne-room and the other halls of the baraduree cleaned out and properly arranged and furnished." p168Sleeman estimates British forces killed or wounded approximately 120 individuals; as with most Company-era accounts, casualty figures should be read as indicative rather than precise.
Attributing the Coin
I didn't know what this was when I bought it - it was just attributed as 12.1g India Paisa: the "coat of arms" is what caught my attention - I've scanned a lot of Indian coins and hadn't seen one like this before. It took a while to identify - there aren't a lot of them in catalogs or on the internet - google image search was more useful than ChatGPT and got me to Awadh - there I was stuck - nothing matched.
The motif on the left (reverse?) is a modified Awadh coat of arms two winged attendants above a single curved fish, holding up a crown.
It is a 12.18 gram 24mm falus or paisa of the Kingdom (State) of Awadh (Lucknow Mint). ex Priapus
Denomination: Falus (Copper)
This second coin almost the same weight 12.08g and much smaller diameter at 21mm.
Ruler: the ruler was obvious once I found this coin of Muhammad Ali Shah in ACSearch. AH 1253-1258 / AD 1837-1842, an AV Ashrafi - the legend clearly citing Muhammad Ali Shah (not my coin)
Where is Awadh?
Rise to Power
Muhammad Ali Shah did not come to power through normal succession; he was installed during one of the most violent nights in Lucknow’s history.
In 1837, the previous King, Nasir-ud-Din Haidar, was poisoned and died without a recognized heir. The Queen Mother (Padshah Begum) seized the moment. She barricaded herself in the palace and forcibly crowned a young boy named Munna Jan, whom she claimed was the rightful heir.
The British Resident, Colonel Low, refused to recognize the boy. When the Queen Mother refused to surrender, the British brought up artillery and stormed the throne room. Members of the Queen’s bodyguards were killed and wounded. In this chaos, the British arrested the Queen and the boy, and dragged Muhammad Ali Shah - then a 63-year-old uncle of the late King - out of his bed in the middle of the night, terrified, and and was made to sign a treaty and take the throne while the bodies were being cleared away.
The Unexpectedly Competent Ruler (1837–1842)
The British expected a puppet who would be too old and weak to resist them. While he was compliant, he surprised everyone by being a capable and dignified administrator. Unlike his nephew who had spent the treasury on parties, Muhammad Ali Shah was frugal and experienced. He reorganized the administration and improved the state's finances.
Muhammad Ali Shah was determined to turn Lucknow into a "veritable Babylon". He built the famous Chota Imambara (also known as the Palace of Lights), which stands today as one of Lucknow's most beautiful monuments.
He began building the Satkhanda, a watchtower intended to be 7 stories high (rivaling the Qutub Minar or Tower of Babel). However, he died when it reached only the 4th story, and it remains unfinished to this day because his successors considered it bad luck to complete it.
Relationship with the British
Muhammad Ali Shah’s relationship with the British was defined by the Treaty of 1837, which he was forced to sign as the price for his crown. The treaty allowed the British East India Company to take over the administration of Awadh whenever they deemed there was "misrule".
Although the treaty’s most intrusive clauses were later questioned in London, no revised agreement was issued in Awadh, allowing Company officials to continue invoking it de facto. He generally maintained good relations, allowing British troops to move through Awadh (vital for the Afghan wars happening at the time) and paying his subsidies on time.
Muhammad Ali Shah died of illness on May 7, 1842, and was laid to rest in the Chota Imambara, the "Palace of Lights" he had constructed as his own mausoleum. In a rare instance of stability for the dynasty, he was peacefully succeeded by his son, Amjad Ali Shah, whom he had carefully groomed to ensure a smooth transition of power.
The Annexation
In 1855, William Knighton wrote a book that was a sensation in Victorian England, The Private Life of an Eastern King. It is a "tell-all" account of the court of Nasir-ud-Din Haidar (the predecessor of Muhammad Ali Shah). It is a biased and sensationalized (playing to the British argument for annexation), and includes vivid descriptions of the atmosphere, parties, and animal fights in the Lucknow court. William Knighton never met the King. He never lived in Lucknow during Nasir-ud-Din's reign. He was a schoolmaster in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and later Calcutta. He wrote the book based on second-hand gossip from a former European servant years later.
On February 7, 1856, Governor-General Lord Dalhousie ordered the deposition of King Wajid Ali Shah. The formal annexation was completed on February 11, 1856. Unlike other states annexed under the "Doctrine of Lapse" (due to lack of heirs), Wajid Ali Shah had many sons. The British instead used the excuse of "chronic misrule" (maladministration), claiming the King was too debauched to govern.
References:
Ira Mukhoty: The Lion and the Lily: The Rise and Fall of Awadh.
Prayag Dayal (1939) Catalogue of the Coins of the Kings of Oudh
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