Historical Lucknow

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As written in my last post, Lucknow is known for its role in the Mutiny of 1857 and the consequent rise of the British Raj.  The heart of that piece of history is the British East India Company Residency which was the site of a 4 month siege and which was then mostly destroyed by the insurgents (or revolutionaries depending on which side of the coin you are looking at).   Although the British eventually prevailed In Lucknow, they abandoned the damaged Residency site which has been preserved as a historic landmark.

The original residency, with shell holes from the Mutiny

When I entered the area and saw the remains of the old buildings, I felt like I had been there before.  My Hindu friends would say this was a stirring from an earlier life and, who knows, I have always been attracted to the history of the Raj and life during those times.  There is nothing left but the shells of buildings and a museum created out of the remains of the Residency itself.  Although there are few images of pre-1857, with the immediate ascendancy of British rule, artists arrived to illustrate what happened here as it was a major world event.  The museum displays a number of lithographs of the damaged buildings soon after the mutiny, as well are related historical documents.  We walked around outside to the cemetery where after the disturbance was quelled, people came and properly buried their loved ones or provided memorials to the soldiers who fought and died there.  It is definitely a Christian cemetery with the remains of a church at its center and crosses prominently displayed.

The Christian Cemetery at the Residency

Also in the Residency are are found the areas where the soldiers stayed and the nearby house of a European woman who married a local Nabab and built a luxurious palace for herself protected by her foreign neighbors.

At the Officer’s Mess. Beautiful details on the arch.
The begum’s palace at sunset next to the residency grounds

Earlier in the day we visited the estate of Claude Martin, a poor French boy who ended up joining the British Army in India, becoming an entrepreneur and one of the richest men of the area.  He died in 1800 but had put his very large estate into a trust for creation of a school for boys, which is ongoing to this day, Le Martiniere.   The main “palace”, still stands with a beautiful chapel and wings of classrooms and dorm rooms added so that today there are 4000 students, 400 of whom are boarders and it is considered a prestigious private school, K-12.

The front of the palace built by Claude Martin and now a private school
The chapel of the school

At the time of the Mutiny, the students were evacuated to the Residency and scores of them were put to work defending the site and serving as hospital workers during the siege. Two of the students died, I think from dysentery, which laid many people low.   The remains of the building where they stayed is now designated as Le Martiniere’s post.  

Dilkusha Gardens was a visit to another Nawab constructed palace.  The old architecture forms are interesting in this part of India because as foreigners brought their culture, they introduced pictures of buildings from Europe which those with wealth and power thought attractive enough to imitate.  So in addition to the well-known Indo-Saracene style, we have seen the Indo-French style and the Indo-Italian style.  And Dilkusha was based on a hunting lodge in Northern England.  India has always been willing to adopt the ideas of others to its own needs,

The Dilkusha palace remains: it once had greek columns in the front
In front of the Armory near the Dilkusha Palace

Also in the same area are two elegant tombs, of the 5th Nawab of Awadh and that of his wife. set in parks. There are very few visitors here, perhaps it is the time of year but these tombs deserve attention – and greater upkeep which can be said of many of the historical buildings in the area.

Tomb of Saadat Ali Khan built in 1814, the 5th Nawab of Awadh

Below is a mansion which was built by Charles Martin as his city residence, in a very mixed style of Greek and Neo-Paladian combined with local Mogul styles. It is near the river and boasts cool air coming up from the river through underground channels. It was abandoned, as was the large palace built next door to it for the Nawab’s sister which now stands disintegrating day by day.

The Kothi Farhat Baksh, once the home of Claude Martin, and now abandoned.

Bill and I had lunch at a small cafe at a mall near to our hotel and then dinner at the upscale restaurant at the Taj Mahal Hotel where there were 4 waiters for every patron.   The cook came out to find out our individual dietary needs and then checked back with us afterwards to make sure all was satisfactory — which it was.  We had a plain vegetable pulao and an okra and tomato dish, without chilis for me.  Getting vegan non-spicy food has been a challenge.  I gave up on low-salt.

We are on the road now on our way to Kushinagar and were in a extreme traffic jam, with very few private cars, and the remainder are all gigantic trucks of all types.  Finally, with our skilled driver taking a side road and precariously skirting on dirt by the edge of the pavement next to very impatient truck drivers, we pass the accident — a very large truck turned on its side and spilling its contents, completely blocking the 4 lane highway.   It will take many hours before all the traffic is moving again. There is never a dull moment in India.