CHAPTER IV.
BUILDINGS OF INTEREST AT LUCKNOW.
(Noted on the map.)
To enable the reader to identify the edifices described below, it will be necessary to begin from the extreme south-east side and proceed thence, without any deviation, in a westward direction.
1.—BIBIAPUR KOTHIE.
This chateau is situated on the right bank of the Gumti, about a mile to the east of the Dilkusha Palace, from which a metalled road leads direct to the building, which is two-storied and English in style, General Claude Martine being its reputed architect. It was built by Nawab Asuf-ud-daula (1775-1797) who resorted thither for the chase, of which he was passionately fond.
Whenever a change of Residents took place, the incoming Ambassador, on first arrival, used to take up his abode here. Having fixed the auspicious day, the King would come with a procession and conduct the new arrival to the Residency, in great pomp, riding with him on the same elephant.[1] As the pageant moved along, it attracted crowds of peeple who thronged the roads to Witness this grand and imposing spectacle of richly caparisoned elephants and horses bedecked with gold and silver trappings.
When it was decided to depose Vazier Ali (see page 117), the reputed son of Asuf-ud-daula, in favour of Sadat Ali Khan, it was in this chateau that the Governor-General, Sir John Shore, held a Durbar (levee) of all the Lucknow nobles and communicated the order of his deposition to Vazier Ali, who was afterwards deported to Benares.
The building and extensive grounds are now exclusively appropriated for all the purposes of the Government Dairy Farm for the troops in Cantonments, in proximity to which it is conveniently situated.
- ↑ The golden howdah and the elephant play little part now-a-days in Viceregal pageantry: but let it not be supposed the magnificence of the office has departed. The Viceroy rushes across his vast dominions in a private train, which is nothing more or less than a sumptuously appointed palace.
