In the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Paris visit, let’s revisit an inconspicuous story of an Indian ruler’s unusual last rites at the iconic Pere Lachaise cemetery almost 100 years ago
In the early 18th century, as that Empire began to dissolve, Oude became independent. Under a treaty with the Kingdom in 1801, the East India Company was able to use its vast treasuries for loans, but by the mid-1800s, the British wanted direct control. In February 1856, the Company declared that Oude was being misgoverned, and its ruler, Wahid Ali Shah, was banished to Calcutta, with the Company taking over. He was in reality a popular ruler, and this cynical ploy by the British was one of the main reasons why Oude became a seat of the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Lucknow the capital of Oude in 1857