page_title: Awadh
section_title: Awadh under the Mughals
hierarchical_section_title: Awadh / History / Awadh under the Mughals
caption_attribution_description: English: Mahi Maraatib , the royal insignia of Awadh, is basically a pair of fish. It represents truth,valor and honesty. Here , one may notice the sole survivor from what must have been a pair of prominently painted fish. This insignia invokes Safdarjung's Awadhi connection.
context_page_description: Awadh, known in British historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a region in the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which was before independence known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. Awadh is bounded by the Ganges Doab to the southwest, Rohilkhand to the northwest, Nepal to the north, and Purvanchal to the east. Its inhabitants are referred to as Awadhis.
  It was established as one of the twelve original subahs under 16th-century Mughal emperor Akbar and became a hereditary tributary polity around 1722, with Faizabad as its initial capital and Saadat Ali Khan as its first Subadar Nawab and progenitor of a dynasty of Nawabs of Awadh. The traditional capital of Awadh was Faizabad, but the capital was later moved to Lucknow, also the station of the British Resident, which now is the capital of Uttar Pradesh.
context_section_description: From the pre-historic period to the time of Akbar, the limits of the subah (imperial top-level province) and its internal divisions seem to have been constantly changing, and the name of Oudh, or Awadh, seems to have been applicable to only one of the ancient divisions or Sarkars, nearly corresponding to old Pachhimrath. The title of Subehdar (governor) of Awadh is mentioned as early as 1280 AD, but it can only have denoted the governor of the tract of the country above defined. The Awadh of Mughal Badshah (emperor) Akbar was one of the twelve (or fifteen) subahs into which he divided the Mughal Empire as it stood in 1590. As constituted at the end of the sixteenth century, the Subah contained five sarkars, viz. Awadh, Lucknow, Bahraich, Khairabad and Gorakhpur, which in turn were divided in numerous mahals and dasturs (districts).
  Khan Zaman Khan Ali Asghar son of Qazi Ghulam Mustafa was appointed as Subahdar of Awadh during the reign of Farrukhsiyar. This appointment was made in place of 'Aziz Khan Chughtai'. Later on, Mahabat Khan was appointed as Subahdar of Awadh in place of Khan Zaman Khan Ali Asghar, who was all over again transferred to Azimabad (Patna) as Subahdar in place of 'Sar Buland Khan'.
  It seems to have been of nearly the same extent as the Province of Oudh at the time of annexation to British India in 1858, and to have differed only in including Gorakhpur, Basti, and Azamgarh, and in excluding Tanda, Aldemau, Rajesultanpur and Manikpur, or the territory to the east and South of Faizabad, Sultanpur and Pratapgarh.
caption: Mahi Maraatib fish emblazoned over the gateway to Safdarjung's tomb
exif: {"Image Make": "Nokia", "Image Model": "N8-00", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2011:12:23 14:07:40", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "170", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4866", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2863", "EXIF ExposureTime": "839/125000", "EXIF FNumber": "179/64", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "103", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:12:23 14:07:40", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:12:23 14:07:40", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "7219/1000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "755/128", "EXIF SubSecTime": "294", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "294", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "294", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2248", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "2", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up"}