Lucknow: Hazratganj
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Hazratganj, 1939
This section was written in 1939 and has been extracted from
HISTORIC LUCKNOW
By SIDNEY HAY
ILLUSTRATED BY
ENVER AHMED
With an Introduction by
THE RIGHT HON. LORD HAILEY,
G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E.
Sometime Governor of the United Provinces
Asian Educational Services, 1939. “At Last We Suddenly Entered A very handsome street indeed, wider than the High Street at Oxford, but having some distant resemblance to it in the colour of its buildings and the general form and Gothic style of the greater part of them.” Such was Lucknow’s main street in 1824.
Twenty years or so later the traffic had grown out of all proportion to the size of the streets, especially as elephants were used. Nothing could be more ludicrous than the incongruity between the huge animals and the narrow, confined streets in which they once had to travel. One blocked up the entire road. In the lower and filthier parts of the town horses were seldom seen, elephants and camels being the common carriers.
Men of rank were accompanied by armed retainers in proportion to station and wealth. It was by no means unusual for fights to occur between these bands in the narrow streets. The term Hazrat is equivalent to Saint. Noah and Abraham and Christ are spoken of by Mussalmans as Hazrat Noah, Hazrat Ibrahim and Hazrat Isa (Jesus). Fashions change in streets as in everything else, and what was once termed a street of noble width had in 1856 become a narrow road, with tall houses rising from either side. A year later these same houses were strongly fortified.
In the angle made by Hazratganj and Outram Road, stands Lawrence Terrace, now the premises of the Lucknow (Residency) Club. The buildings are long and low, built by Nawab Sa’adat Ali Khan at the beginning of the nineteenth century for the Royal Chaupar stables. In 1856 they were turned into barracks and occupied by the men of the 32nd Regiment whose officers used the Khurshaed Munzil as their Mess House and had their quarters between the Allahabad Bank and Christ Church. The barracks were two immense squares with low buildings all round, housing the men who had been reorganised into ten companies of a hundred each.
A little further along the Ganj a small site is now occupied by a branch of a well-known shoe manufacturer. On March 10, 1858, a gun emplacement was hastily constructed on that spot. From it, mortars and the naval guns of H. M. S. Shannon were trained for twenty-four hours upon the Begum Kothi on the opposite side of the road. Another battery stood at the corner of Hazratganj opposite the Allahabad Bank, about a hundred and fifty yards from the Church, and bombarded the rear of the Begum Kothi.
The Dar-ul-Shafa is popularly supposed to have been originally a hospital, but no records remain to confirm this. Nawab Sa’adat Ali Khan stayed there to undergo treatment for a serious carbuncle at the hands of Dr. Law and Mirza Janzi, a native physician. They managed to cure him. Beyond that no details are available.
Returning to Hazratganj, the next building, proceeding towards the Chutter Munzil, on the left hand side, is the Kothi Sultan Inayat, which was the part of the Begum Kothit later used as the General Post Office. Further along past the shops, where Hazratganj is again called the Mall, on the right hand side of the road, stands the square and solid Kankar Wali Kothi. This was built by King Ghazi-ud-Din Haider between 1814 and 1827, but otherwise has little historical interest.
Farther along on the opposite side of the road stands the Nur Bakhsh Kothi, or Light-Giving House, now the residence of Deputy Commissioners of Lucknow. Some say that it was built by Nawab Sa’adat Ali Khan as a Maktab for his grandson, Rafi-ush-Shan. Other authorities state that it was built by Agha Mir, Prime Minister to King Ghazi-ud-Din Haider.
When Nasir-ud-Din Haider succeeded Ghazi-ud-Din in 1827, Agha Mir somehow fell out with his new master and had to leave Lucknow, so that his property including several handsome buildings was confiscated by the King. In 1837 Muhammad Ali Shah came to the throne and presented the Nur Bakhsh to his son Mirza Rafi-ush-Shan who lived there until 1857.
When Sir Henry Havelock advanced to the first relief of the Residency he stood upon the top of the Nur Baksh overlooking the enemy’s entrenchments and made his plan. Within the house stands a tomb popularly reputed to be haunted.
Kothi Noor Baksh/ DM's residence
A step into Awadh's past: Lucknow's Kothi Noor Baksh that stands today as DM's residence
Located in Lucknow's Hazratganj, Kothi Noor Baksh is believed to have been built by Saadat Ali Khan (1798-1814).
Location: Mahatma Gandhi Marg, Opposite Sarojni Naidu Park, Hazratganj
Kothi Noor Baksh or House of Light — the name in itself will sound like the source of light making an ardent adventurer travel through the misty time and into the rich history enveloping the city cozily.
Well, that could be one way to put it. For Lucknowites, the historical and glorious places to visit are abundant but so many lesser-explored narratives also surround us here. This particular kothi is one fine example of how architecturally and historically-rich legacies elude us and that is exactly why we're here engage in the discourse.
History of Kothi Noor Baksh
Located in Lucknow's Hazratganj, Kothi Noor Baksh is believed to have been built by Saadat Ali Khan (1798-1814), the sixth Nawab of Oudh. It is said to have been in constructed as a Maktab or school for the Nawab's grandson. While others say that the nawabs used it as a lodging.
Another legend goes that the site was built by his son Ghazi-ud-din Haider and then passed onto the grandson. Similar tales dictate similar historical narratives. And whatever it may be, the resonance of Awadhi imprints in the structure gathers immense appreciation in itself, whilst speaking volumes of glory, beauty, and renaissance.
Kothi Noor Baksh as DM's residence
The structure also finds its place in the history of India's Independence struggle, sometime between 1857-58, when it was utilised as the then Deputy Commissioner's dwelling. Today, the grandeur of a kothi stands as the district magistrate's residence and camp office.
