History often remembers Wajid Ali Shah as the ill-fated ruler who lost his throne and sought solace in music and dance. Wajid Ali Shah: A Cultural and Literary Legacy (Hachette India, 2026) challenges this narrative. It reconstructs the life of a ruler who was not only a king in exile but also a prolific poet, dramatist, musicologist, and cultural visionary in nineteenth-century India.

The book was originally written in Urdu by scholar Kaukub Quder Sajjad Ali Meerza and has now been translated into English by Wajid Ali Shah’s great-great-granddaughter, Dr Talat Fatima.

In her translator’s note, she writes: “Sadly enough, all of [Wajid Ali Shah’s] talents were cunningly misinterpreted and misread, and incorrect notions were propagated by the English for their shrewd and astute political gains…This research work corrects a number of misunderstands, errors and confusions…”

The Lucknow Nawab’s exile to Calcutta by the British in 1856 remains a subject of much discussion. Among the many popular legends, one holds that his royal chefs, constrained by limited resources, added potatoes to biryani — giving rise to the distinctive Calcutta biryani. While historians and food writers continue to debate the authenticity of this claim, Wajid Ali Shah’s broader cultural legacy in the city is indisputable.

The excerpt below explores how the king reimagined Calcutta, emulating the Lucknow model.

Lucknow Model

Machi Gola or fish market – which, due to widespread use of the word was transformed into ‘mochi khola’– was a colony of fishermen. In 1856, when Wajid Ali Shah reached Calcutta, he found himself in this strange place. He recollects it in the following words:

The moment I reached Calcutta

The leaves of the garden (as if) started devouring (me)

Day and night rain, echo of lightning

Gathering of thunder, force of wind

People of this place are dishonest

They have no identity other than non belief (kufr)

Women are shameless and men are feminist

They remain unaffected even if a head rolls down

Meat, clarified butter, oil, water all are bad

One does not care for another

This is a piece of hell

On which Calcutta is built

What to say nothing is useful

Stones are cheap and flour is expensive

They carry net on their shoulder

They know the techniques to trap

I suffered so much at this place

My end seems near

Wajid Ali Shah spent almost 35 years of his life in formal opulence, and so regarding this ‘hellish piece of land’ as his homeland was a matter of great courage for him. Either out of need, attachment, or for the sake of supporting oppressed and browbeaten men, women, and children:

“The King not only assigned work to one based on his ability, but those

who were ignorant and unskilled were also not devoid of his kindness. For

instance, hundreds of women and children were kept for picking up dry

leaves from the garden…. he provided for their food. The skilled people,

who were the victims of western prosperity and were dying of hunger, were

given a helping hand.”

Wajid Ali Shah started transforming the forest into a parterre and “gradually, near Calcutta, a second Lucknow bloomed, the population of which was more than 40,000.”

All the houses gained a royal look.

This was a forest which is turned into a garden

There is prosperity and the royal court is alive

There is a garden where there was no flower.

Sharar, who is the prime historian of this new Lucknow, gives an eyewitness account:

“Those days Lucknow was not Lucknow, Metiaburj was turned into

Lucknow, the same hustle and bustle, the same language, the same poetry,

the same jokes, the same learned and pious people, the same rich group.

The common people, the shop keepers and bankers; all were of Lucknow

and there was not a single thing of Lucknow which was not found in its

original form here.”

Sharar does not mention the bankers (mahajan) of this newly inhabited Lucknow. This matter is dealt with in detail in Afsanaey Lucknow by Sharaf, and in the Avadh Pension Papers, which also state that Billo ‘mehetrani’, Karim Baksh Barber, and the messenger Radhey all came from Lucknow.

In the intellectual and cultural life of Calcutta, this small habitat of people from Lucknow was a pleasant addition. It was the first opportunity for the people of Calcutta to see and benefit from the representation of Lucknow culture in ‘mushairas’, congregations, assemblies, and meetings. It was easy for Nassakh to criticize Anis and Dabir from home, but when he was caught in the gathering of ‘Anisis’ and ‘Dabirs’, it became difficult for him to save his pen name (takkhallus). Nazm has related more glimpses of contemporary rivalries, and has referred to the Daag’s observation that the amusement which he experienced in the ‘muhshairas’ of Metiaburj was not experienced in Lucknow.

The gifts from the people of Lucknow to Bengal in religion and music is evident from the popularity of ‘thumri’ and the observations of ‘Azadari’, which was typical of Lucknow, and which is still prevalent in Calcutta. The tradition of ‘khutba’ after ‘namaz’, and the propagation and professing of the Shia beliefs of Lucknow, has its roots in Lucknow traditions. Until the discussion of congregations by Afsos, there is no mention of the processions of ‘zarih’ and ‘zuljinah’ in Calcutta. But until the end of Wajid Ali Shah’s reign, these processions increased in such a number that there were discussions to restrict them.

The intellectuals of Metiaburj were mindful of the work of composition and compilation, but were devoid of the economic and mental peace which is so important for such work. By way of tradition and inclination, whatever was written by them was destroyed.

Among the memoirs of that period, Nadiratul Saaqib by Maharaj Jai Gopal Saaqib, Afsaanaey Lucknow by Agha Haju Sharaf, and Alhasanul Matin by Abbas Mirza are regarded as unforgettable.

The first of these books is in Persian, and the compiler, after explaining the toughest rhetoric and ingenious language, presented 68 examples of different styles of elegant poetry about Wajid Ali Shah. It relates the devastation of Lucknow and the habitation of Calcutta in poetic form in Urdu. The last of these books is in Arabic, and is an account of the history of Avadh, from Burhan ul Mulk to Wajid Ali Shah, spread over hundreds of pages. Based on these books, the gifts and donations by Sultania, and the compositions of Wajid Ali Shah, it is evident that the people of Metiaburj struggled to keep the eastern fine arts alive. Neighbouring them were the headquarters of the English. Due to the presence of the English, a school by the name ‘King of Oudh’s School’ was founded, and placed under the supervision of English teachers whose patron was the King himself. But neither the King nor his fellow men were happy with the English style of teaching. For the education of their children, on 26 February 1887 the Hindus and Muslims of Metiaburj jointly established a madrasa by the name of ‘Madrasaey Qaiserya’. There, apart from English, were arrangements for the teaching of Arabic, Persian, and Bengali. Wajid Ali Shah was happy with this madrasa and wanted to reserve a large amount for its maintenance. But the same year, the fate of the madrasa was sealed by the King’s death on 21 September.

It was impossible to imagine Wajid Ali Shah’s Metiaburj without Wajid Ali Shah. Hunar had foretold this in his Qata’a:

Hazrat Sultan Alam went to reside underground

These were the last changes of time in Metiaburj

People with the funeral procession beat their chest and head

Every mourner in Metiaburj had his head rolled on the ground

It was the love of heaven which brought them here

Otherwise who had his belongings in Metiaburj

The one who maintained the people of Lucknow

Who is such a lion hearted in Metiaburj

See in four days it will be a hounded place

Now what the intellectuals will do in Metiaburj

There will be no pile of flowers even for name sake

But there will be piles of dry leaves in Metiaburj

The line showing the year gives the news

Dust will fly all over Metiburj

2 247 204 56 621 451 205 100 1887 (The cumulation of these figures

show the date 1887 as per the Urdu poetic genre “Tarikh”)

Only Hunar knew how swiftly the government would disperse the kingdom that the King built during the 31 years of his stay in Metiaburj. Within three days of his demise, an Act comprising three sections was passed. It stated that the Governor-General in Council would have the sole right to the King’s property, and he would have the right to expend it. Whether there was a will or an heir was to be decided by the officers, and there would be no right to challenge such orders in a court of law. As per the orders of the Governor-General Lord Dufferin, in place of the King’s one lakh per month pension, 36,381 rupees were allocated for an allowance for survivors and ‘old associates’ of the King. The share of each associate was not more than 2,766 rupees. His personal belongings were also auctioned.

“Had the buildings and houses been distributed in the same condition then

perhaps they could last, but the English regarded it fair to sell off all the

buildings and belongings and distribute the money among the inheritors.

Consequently, all the buildings were dug up, gardens and parterres were

desolated, in sum no reminiscence of the times of Wajid Ali Shah were

saved.”

The above narration is of those days when some ruins of the Sultan Khana were left. Now even those are destroyed. Only the traces of the mosque of Sultan Khana can be found. These were saved for the sanctity of the mosque and remind one that:

‘Allah’s name will last.’