Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/374

366 LUC Bilgrám, his Neib, built Mahmúdnagar and Shahganj to the right and left of the chauk, and the Akbari Darwaza at the southern end. During the reign of Jahangir, Lact called Lucknow a magnum emporium."* The next subahdar that is mentioned is Sultan Ali Shah Quli Khan, of the time of Shih Jahan, who had two sons, Mirza Fázil and Mansur, who built Fázilnagar and Mansurnagar in the same line as the chauk further south. Ashraf Ali Khan, a Risáldár, of the same time, built Ashrafabad on the east side of the chauk, and his brother built Musbar- rafabad or Naubasta, a continuation of it to the south. Pír Khán, another Risáldár, built Garhi Pír Khan, which lies to the west of the city in the Daulatganj thána. The muhalla of Ráni Katra, on the east of Daulatganj thána, was built by the wife of Girdbá Nága, Subahdar in the time of Emperor Muham- mad Shah. This Risáldár was the nephew of Chhabíle Rám, Governor of Allababad, who, on his uncle's death, raised a rebellion and attempted to hold for himself the province of which his uncle had been governor, but he submitted in time, and was appointed to the governorship of Oudh (Sair-ul-Mutaák hirin). The present Machchhi Bhawan fort includes a much larger space than the old fort of that naine, which consisted only of the building on the south of the road, noticeable for its round earthen bastions. This was the old fort of Lucknow, and was famous for its strength fully two centuries ago. According to an old proverb, he who holds Machchhi Bhawan holds Lucknow. The high ground across the road, within the defences of the fort surmounted by a small mosque, is Lachhman Tila, the site of the original Lachhmanpur. Behind the Macbchhi Bbawan itself, in a south- west direction, an open space occupied by ordnance stores marks the sites of the Mubarak Mahlâ and Pach Mahla, the oldest houses in Luck- now, built by the family of Shekhs, who formerly owned territory bere. When Saádat Khan, the first member of the late reigning family, came here as Subahdar in 1732 A.D., he hired these bouses from the owners at a monthly rent of Rs. 565. The money was paid at first, but, by a natural transition of sentiment, his successors got into the habit of looking on the houses as their own, and after Safdarjang and Shujá-ud-danla had respec- tively written agreements to pay rent, but had never done it, Asif-ud- daula gave up that farce altogether, and confiscated the bouses outright. It is well known how, on the 1st of July, 1857, the garrison which held this fort evacuated it and joined the Residency, and how skilfully and successfully it was blown up by the retreating party. Saádat Khan was made Governor in A.D. 1732, but found his authority contested by the Shekhs of Lucknow. They had now for a long time been celebrated, and their power may be attested by the fact that their family supplied more than one of the Governors of Oudh. It is said they opposed his entry at the Akbari Darwaza, and he had to pitch outside ; but he took the gate by the time-bonoured stratagem of a banquet, at which he left the Shekhs carousing and entered the city. This was the Lact's India, Ver, Ed., 1631, page 70.