Born on July 30, 1822, in Lucknow, when the last nawab of Awadh dynasty, Wajid Ali Shah , attained the marriageable age of 15, he encountered similar problems which many commoners do.
In the first marriage arrangement, his father Nawab Amjad Ali Shah and mother Malika Kishwar carefully chose a girl but at the last moment it was discovered that she was not a suitable bride for Wajid Ali, so the marriage did not take place.
Later, to avoid embarrassment, the parents married the same girl to Sikandar Hashmat, the younger brother of Wajid Ali.
Once again, worried parents started looking for a suitable girl and soon finalised a proposal to the minutest details of marriage like ‘mahr’ but again some problem cropped up and the proposal was cancelled.
The third proposal was arranged by one of Wajid Ali’s aunts. According to writer Tahsin Sarvani, it was found that this girl was suffering from leprosy, therefore, the wedding was cancelled.
After these three failed attempts, his desperate parents soon came across the fourth proposal. In this case, the additional decisive factor was probably the family background of the girl’s uncle, Ali Naqi Khan, who later became the ‘wazir’ of Awadh. He was the great grandson of Mughal king Shah Alam II.
As Nawabs of Awadh were initially appointed by the Mughal kings, the marriage was a matter of pride for the groom’s family. They accepted this offer despite the glaring age gap between the groom and the bride.
According to historian RL Jones, “Although, unusually, she was five years older than her intended husband, the marriage went ahead.”
After marriage, she was given the title of ‘Malika Muqqadara-i-Azam Nawab Alam Ara’ but was popularly called ‘ Khas Mahal ’, the special queen. Lucknow’s Alam Bagh is still known by her name.
(The writer is a well-known historian and the author of ‘The Life and Times of the Nawabs of Lucknow’)
In the first marriage arrangement, his father Nawab Amjad Ali Shah and mother Malika Kishwar carefully chose a girl but at the last moment it was discovered that she was not a suitable bride for Wajid Ali, so the marriage did not take place.
Later, to avoid embarrassment, the parents married the same girl to Sikandar Hashmat, the younger brother of Wajid Ali.
Once again, worried parents started looking for a suitable girl and soon finalised a proposal to the minutest details of marriage like ‘mahr’ but again some problem cropped up and the proposal was cancelled.
The third proposal was arranged by one of Wajid Ali’s aunts. According to writer Tahsin Sarvani, it was found that this girl was suffering from leprosy, therefore, the wedding was cancelled.
After these three failed attempts, his desperate parents soon came across the fourth proposal. In this case, the additional decisive factor was probably the family background of the girl’s uncle, Ali Naqi Khan, who later became the ‘wazir’ of Awadh. He was the great grandson of Mughal king Shah Alam II.
As Nawabs of Awadh were initially appointed by the Mughal kings, the marriage was a matter of pride for the groom’s family. They accepted this offer despite the glaring age gap between the groom and the bride.
According to historian RL Jones, “Although, unusually, she was five years older than her intended husband, the marriage went ahead.”
After marriage, she was given the title of ‘Malika Muqqadara-i-Azam Nawab Alam Ara’ but was popularly called ‘ Khas Mahal ’, the special queen. Lucknow’s Alam Bagh is still known by her name.
(The writer is a well-known historian and the author of ‘The Life and Times of the Nawabs of Lucknow’)
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