Awadh From Mughal to Colonial Rule- Studies in the Anatomy of a Transformation

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Foreword The name Awadh invokes several memories of the Kosala of Buddhist and Brahmanical traditions to the area of the efforescence of Urdu culture, annals of repression and constant breaches of commitment by the British regime, the revolt of 1857, the ta 'alluqadars' increasing oppression and the anguished misery of its peasants, (Around 1900 over three-quarters of peasants in the Awadh districts were tenants at-will). My own introduction to Awadh came from my father's lively recounting of anecdotes of its rural life; one of these stories may be read in his Desecrated Bones and other Stories. I was, therefore, very happy when Dr Zaheer Husain Jafri decided to work for his Ph.D. degree on the agrarian history of Awadh from 1595 to 1856, with me as his Supervisor. He prepared a very informative thesis.

I hope he would publish it soon. During the course of his Ph.D. degree work, and later, during his successful career as a teacher, Dr Jafri examined a large amount of documentary material, leading him into a number of by-lanes of Awadh's economic, cultural and social history. These he has explored in a number of published papers, and in a few others submitted at conferences and seminars. It is these papers that are now conveniently collected together in the present volume to give us welcome insight into the various facets of the changes in Awadh from the Sixteenth century to the Revolt of 1857. Based extensively on Persian manuscript materials, Jafri's studies form an important addition to the contemporary historical literature on Awadh. And I hope that these would obtain the wide readership that they deserve.

Preface It is gratifying that the revised and substantially enlarged edition of my book on Awadh is being published after a long gap. The book was received well in the academic circles and reviews have encouraged me to take up the theme further.

Since the publication of my book, I have been working on the various themes explored earlier mainly focusing on the private records of the Sufi institutions. These records include the Colonial documentations as well; the files in the Board of Revenue and the files of Civil Litigations. A study of the data from Colonial times along with the documents 'created' by the Sufi institution,and the Chronicles have offered me an opportunity to study the different aspects related to the nature of the Colonial Policies vis-à-vis the indigenous education and the Sufi institutions, the ma'afi grants and the policy of resumption.

**Contents and Sample Pages**