Ira Mukhoty’s ‘The Lion & the Lily’ chronicles the making and unmaking of Awadh

Salil Misra

The history of Awadh is important for many reasons. It is simultaneously a story of the great transition from the Mughals to the British. Both the themes — the making and unmaking of the Awadh polity and the great Indian transition from medieval to modern — have been interwoven in the comprehensive and meticulous narrative created by Ira Mukhoty in ‘The Lion & the Lily’. So, what is the Awadh story?

When the Mughal empire expanded and also began to decline under Aurangzeb, many of the nobles asserted themselves and acquired control over specific regions. Saadat Khan, one of the Mughal nobles, controlled Awadh, which initially developed as a successor state, a miniaturised Mughal polity. It reached its heights of glory and cultural refinement under Shujauddaula and Asafuddaula.

New cities, art, culture and poetry, all flourished under these rulers. Awadh in the 18th century was a true replica of the great Mughals, now in decline. It was also very prosperous in comparison with the neighbouring regions. It had all the potentials of developing into an affluent modern polity and society.

After the British took over Delhi in the north and Bengal and Bihar in the east, their predatory gaze fell upon Awadh. In the great contest for power, involving Awadh, the Marathas and the British, each power made tactical alliances, leading to new rivalries. Often, it made sense for a regional power to align with the British in its rivalry with the other regional forces. None of the regional powers, with the exception of Tipu Sultan, could see that the British were different, more predatory and with all-India ambitions than other powers. This eventually resulted in a complete takeover of the entire country by the British. Using conquest, diplomacy and playing off one regional power against the other, the British became the rulers of the country as a whole.

Awadh has been on the radar of historians and other scholars. Many books — fiction and non-fiction — have appeared on this theme. ‘The Lion & the Lily’, however, has some distinctive features which mark it out from the rest. First, it has brought out in great detail the French connection not just with Awadh, but with India of the 17th-18th centuries.

The French came to India at around the same time as the English did. And they did all those things which the English did — trade, wars, diplomacy and hobnob with regional powers. They could have potentially performed the same transformative role which the British eventually did. However, for various reasons, the French retreated from the Indian scene early, conceding defeat to the British. The deep French entanglement with India during the 17th-18th centuries is generally not well known and the book has highlighted it for us.

Second, the book tells the story of Awadh against the backdrop of events at an Indian and a global level. From the 16th century onwards, the history of the world moved in such a way that all kinds of connectivities got established among regions, countries and continents. Certain global developments had begun to impinge upon the destinies of different regions. It is important to recognise the manner in which the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and Anglo-French rivalries affected not just the countries in which these occurred, but also areas such as Awadh. The book has brought out the nuances of the Awadh story by placing it in a global context.

Third, the book also portrays a very different imagination of the Europeans. The 19th century profile of the Europeans in India was that of policymakers, administrators, knowledge creators, ideologues and missionaries. All of them were at the service of imperialism. The profile of 17th-18th century Europeans was, however, quite different. They were mainly traders, soldiers and seekers of individual fortunes. They were essentially mercenaries who could fight for the Mughals or for Awadh. It was not very unusual for a French soldier to fight for the British against the French. They were often pleaders seeking favours from different rulers in India.

The book warns its readers against the perils of looking at history through Euro-centric lenses. The 19th century was the time when the entire non-European world came under the comprehensive domination by some European countries. It was also the century in which modern knowledge systems about the human world were established. These also carried a European stamp. This was not merely a coincidence. Europe had transformed not just our economic and political lives, but also our cognitive lives. In such a scenario, a world dominated by Europe appeared to us the only world that was historically possible.

Ira Mukhoty has written her story using non-English and unconventional sources and has arrived at very different conclusions about the essential character of Awadh. She has demonstrated that Awadh was not a land of poverty and decadence, run by irresponsible rulers leading luxurious lives, as portrayed in British records. Rather, it was a land of prosperity run by rulers committed to art, dance, poetry and other such cultural refinements.