Rewind gate: The entrance to Metiabruz
T
he Imambara and the Shahi Masjid, however, are only two of the 35-odd structures which include sprawling and architecturally rich palaces and mansions the nawab built for his concubines and senior officials along the banks of the Hooghly. "Metiabruz was actually a mini Lucknow," historian Uttara Chakraborty told
Outlook. "Wajid Ali Shah infused the Lucknawi culture into Metiabruz. It's as if he transplanted a miniature form of Lucknow into this part of Calcutta." Wrote Abdul Halim Sharar in his book in Persian,
Guzishta Lucknow, which has been translated into English: "There was the same bustle and activity, the same language, the same genteel style of poetry, conversation, wit, the same tehzeeb, and many of the same aristocrats, nobles and commoners. No one thought he was in Bengal: there was kite-flying, cock-fighting, quail-fighting, opium addicts reciting the same tales, the same lamentations in the recitals of marsiya and nauha." Sharar's father was a senior figure in the nawab's court.
Sharar's book provides a fascinating glimpse of life in Metiabruz from 1856 until Wajid Ali's death in 1887. Wajid Ali, wrote Sharar, used to stay at a palace called Sultan Khana which, along with two other mansions (Asad Manzil and Murassa Manzil), were given to him by the British. But within a few years, the Nawab constructed beautiful new palaces with sprawling gardens on the banks of the Hooghly. Sharar documented in detail the nawab's fondness not only for art, music and dance (notably thumri and kathak), but also animals. The exiled prince had a large zoo with thousands of birds and animals including tigers, leopards and giraffes. He also built what was perhaps the world's first snake house with hundreds of reptiles, whose daily feeding of frogs drew fascinated crowds. The nawab used to spend nearly a fifth of his monthly allowance of one lakh rupees from the British for the upkeep of this zoo. Sharar also provides an account of the nawab's other monthly expenses, including those on his legion of concubines, and the court's decadent ways even during exile.
All this, however, came to an end abruptly after Wajid Ali's death in 1887. "The British immediately threw out all the nawab's family members, officials and others from the palaces he had built, and auctioned off these properties, even demolishing many of them," says Chakraborty. "The entire lot of people from Lucknow were reduced to penury and many went back to an uncertain future in Lucknow. The British did this to obliterate all traces of the Awadh royalty from Calcutta and ensure there would be no rallying point for any future revolt against British rule." Naqvi adds that the British didn't destroy the Imambara or the Shahi Masjid due to fear of inciting Muslims to another revolt. It's an irony of history that these royal relics are now being leveraged by Marxists to win over the city's Muslim populace, in the process saving a small part of a prince's legacy to Calcutta from obliteration.