“Jisey naa dey Maula, usey dey
Asaf-ud-Daula”
(He who is denied by Allah, is provided for by
Asaf-ud-Daula, a proverb of Lucknow)
In 1722,
during the reign of the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah (one of the lesser
Mughals), Mir Muhammad Amin Musawi, a.k.a. Saadat Ali Khan I was made
governor of Awadh or Oudh province. Awadh, deriving its name from Ayodhya, was
one of the 12 subahs or provinces that Emperor Akbar had carved out of his
empire, for administrative efficiency, between 1572 and 1580. The grandson of a
rich trader from Khorasan (in the North East of modern day Iran) who had
migrated to India, Saadat Ali as his father before him, rose rapidly through
the ranks thanks to military prowess, and found favour with the emperor. With
him began the line of the Nawabs of Awadh. His son-in-law, Muhammad Muqim,
a.k.a. Abul-Mansur Khan Safdar Jung succeeded him in 1737, and Safdarjung’s
grandson, Muhammad Yahya Mirza Amani, a.k.a. Asaf-ud-Daula ascended the throne
on the 26th of January 1775.
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| View from Bada Imambara's terrace |
