Medieval Uttar Pradesh: Sultanate, Mughals and Awadh Nawabs

The land that is today Uttar Pradesh sat at the centre of every medieval empire in north India. The Ganga and the Yamuna carried its trade, the road from Delhi to Bengal ran through it, and whoever held Agra, Kannauj and Jaunpur held the richest countryside of the plain. Its medieval history therefore has three layers, the Delhi Sultanate and the regional kingdom of Jaunpur, the Mughal century when Agra and Fatehpur Sikri were imperial capitals, and the eighteenth century state of Awadh with its Nawabs at Faizabad and Lucknow. UPPSC, UP Police, UPSSSC and Lekhpal papers draw heavily from this chapter.

The Sultanate period

The decisive battle for the region was fought at Chandawar on the Yamuna in 1194, where Muhammad Ghori defeated Jaichand, the Gahadavala ruler of Kannauj, two years after Tarain. With that victory the Ganga valley passed to the Delhi Sultanate, and Kannauj, once the seat of Harsha and of the Gurjara Pratiharas, lost its imperial standing for good. Under the Sultans the region was governed through the provinces of Badaun, Kara Manikpur, Kalpi, Etawah and Awadh, and Firoz Shah Tughlaq founded the city of Jaunpur in 1359 in memory of his cousin Muhammad bin Tughlaq, whose earlier name was Juna Khan.

The Sharqi kingdom of Jaunpur

As Tughlaq power collapsed after the invasion of Timur, Malik Sarwar, a noble given the title Malik us Sharq or lord of the east, made himself independent at Jaunpur in 1394, and his successors ruled as the Sharqi dynasty until 1479, when Bahlol Lodi finally absorbed the kingdom. The Sharqis were great patrons of learning and music, so that Jaunpur came to be called Shiraz e Hind, the Shiraz of India, and Ibrahim Shah Sharqi is the best known of the line. Their architecture forms a distinct provincial style with huge pylon like gateways in place of minarets, seen in the Atala Masjid, the Jama Masjid and the Lal Darwaza Masjid of Jaunpur.

The Mughal century

Sikandar Lodi shifted his capital to Agra in 1504, and under the Mughals the city became the heart of the empire. Humayun lost his throne in the region when Sher Shah Suri defeated him at Kannauj, also called the battle of Bilgram, in 1540. Akbar rebuilt the Agra fort in red sandstone and then raised a new capital at Fatehpur Sikri near the hospice of the Sufi saint Salim Chishti, where the Diwan i Khas, the Panch Mahal, the Jodha Bai palace and the Ibadat Khana of religious debate still stand. The Buland Darwaza was added as a gateway of victory recalling the conquest of Gujarat. Akbar lies buried at Sikandra near Agra. Nur Jahan built the tomb of her father Itmad ud Daulah at Agra, the first Mughal building faced entirely in white marble and the first to use pietra dura inlay, which is why it is called the jewel box and the draft of the Taj. Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal at Agra for Mumtaz Mahal and the Moti Masjid inside the Agra fort.

The Nawabs of Awadh

Awadh became effectively independent of Delhi when Saadat Khan Burhan ul Mulk was appointed governor in 1722 and made the office hereditary, with his capital at Faizabad. His successor Safdar Jung served as wazir of the empire, and Shuja ud Daula fought the English at Buxar in 1764 along with Mir Qasim and the emperor Shah Alam II, losing a battle that cost Awadh its independence under the Treaty of Allahabad of 1765. Asaf ud Daula moved the capital to Lucknow in 1775 and built the Bara Imambara and the Rumi Darwaza, the Imambara famously raised as famine relief so that the hungry had work. Saadat Ali Khan the second had to surrender about half of Awadh to the Company by the treaty of 1801, Ghazi ud din Haidar took the title of King in 1819, and Muhammad Ali Shah built the Chhota Imambara. The last ruler, Wajid Ali Shah, a poet, dancer and patron of Kathak and thumri, was deposed in 1856 when Lord Dalhousie annexed Awadh on the plea of misgovernment, an act that became one of the causes of the revolt of 1857.

Saints, Sufis and culture

Medieval Uttar Pradesh was also the home of the Bhakti and Sufi movements. Kabir, the weaver saint whose verses attacked ritual and caste, lived at Varanasi and died at Magahar, and Ravidas too belonged to Varanasi. Tulsidas composed the Ramcharitmanas in Awadhi and is associated with Ayodhya and Varanasi, while Surdas sang of Krishna in Braj around Mathura and Vrindavan. The Chishti order flourished in the region, and Salim Chishti of Fatehpur Sikri was Akbar favourite saint. Out of the Awadh court came the Lucknow gharana of Kathak and the refined Urdu of the city, which together made Lucknow a byword for courtly manners.