Wajid Ali Shah- The Tragic King

About the Book This volume deals with the life and times of The Tragic King, Wajid Ali Shah the last nawab of Awadh. It unfolds the history of the Dynasty of the nawabs of Awadh. Their rise and the supremacy at the court of the later Mughal Emperors and the formation of the Kingdom of Awadh.

It deals in depth about the life and times of Wajid Ali Shah, and tells the story of the colonial conspiracy which resulted in the annexation of Awadh by Dalhousie.

For the first time, this volume unfolds the new facet of Wajid Ali Shah, as a genius. Wajid Ali Shah was the man who revolutionized the Dance of Kathak, by introducing Thumri, Costume, Ballet, and the elegance (nazaqat) to it. It was Wajid Ali Shah as a playwright who wrote the play in 1843 which may be called the first play of Hindustani theatre. By dramatizing his poems and staging those as Rahas at Kaisar Bagh introduced Total theatre to Indian theatre. Wajid Ali Shah was a poet and was author of about 60 books. He was a great patron of art and culture. He was a beloved and a benevolent King, a patriot and secular ruler. But tragically like the hero of greek tragedy became the victim of the colonial conspiracy.

About the Author He is the Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain.

He is presently Director of Dundlod Shodh Sansthan, a research centre at Dundlod, Shekhawati Rajasthan. Vice President of National Council, of Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA).

His previous books include, Mauritius: the key to Indian Ocean, History of Shekhawats, Theatre Quotes, Parsi Theatre, Indra Sabha, and has written several plays in Hindi. Hai Mera Oil, Hesiyat, Mukhoton-ki-Zindgi, Sarai- ki-Malkin, Kal Isi Waqt, Gulfam, Amrit Jal and several short plays. His forthcoming book, Ran t ham b h 0r. The impregnable fort will be released soon.

Preface It may sound unbelievable but it is my interest in theatre which brought me close to Wajid Ali Shah. One question which perplexed me for long, was that what type of theatre tradition was there when the curtain came down on Sanskrit theatre till the advent of Amanat's 'lndra Sabha'. One day I came across two books written in Urdu 'Lucknow Ka Shahi Stage' and 'Lucknow Ka Awami Stage' written by the eminent scholar Dr. Masood Hasan Razvi. The book 'Lucknow Ka Shahi Stage' Stage presented Wajid Ali Shah as a genius. a great artist, a poet and patron of art and culture. who was deeply interested and highly knowledgeable in Drama, Music and Dance, and who wrote the play 'Radha Kanhaiya Ka Qissa' in 1843 based on one of the episodes from the life of Lord Krishna. The play incidentally becomes the first play of Hindustani theatre, as 'Sita Swayambar' written by Vishnu Das Bhave in the same year is considered as the first play of Marathi theatre.

I came to know. about his Rahas, the dramatized version of his masnavis, which were staged at Kaiser Bagh, in the same manner as the Total theatre which we came to know after more than hundred years from the west? Unfortunately the critics of Urdu and Hindi did not acknowledge the performances of Rahas as Drama. Even today the play 'Radha Kanhaiya Ka Qissa' is not accepted as a play. The Rahas in the eyes of the literary critics not having practical knowledge of theatre considered Rahas as Raaslila, where according to them Wajid Ali Shah along with the beautiful girls danced and made merry. Ignorant of theatrical traditions they failed to accept the artistic creations and his contribution to Indian Theatre. He was really the avant-garde of the Indian theatre.

H is contribution of thumris to Kathak and innovation of the form that he gave to Kathak. which gave birth to Lucknow gharana. All this was a great contribution to Indian culture and to the Hindustani theatre, which later blossomed into Parsi theatre, which in real sense of the word became the National Theatre of India. I have here deliberately used the word Hindustani, because the theatre was the theatre of both Urdu and Hindi, as well as all the artists, directors, playwrights, and of course the audience was consisting of Hindus, Muslims and others. If Gauhar a muslim played the role of Sit a, then Fida Hussain played the role owners Bhagat. If Agha Hashr Kashmiri wrote his plays "Yahudi ki Ladki" and "Asserc Hirs" in Urdu, then he also wrote "Sita Banvas" and "Bilwa Mangal" in chaste Hindi. Hindustani theatre was a secular theatre and Wajid Ali Shah was its first playwright, who gave the form of writing to Indian theatre, which later influenced Amanat and subsequently through Parsi theatre all the regional theatres of India. This was the Wajid Ali Shah that I came to know. A completely different to the one, about whom I had from the very childhood heard many stories, which painted him as a lecherous man, womanizer pleasure seeker and who was constantly surrounded by eunuchs, and who was unable to run away when the British officers came to arrest him, because there was no one to place his slippers in front of him.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages