Asaf-ud-Daula | |||||
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Mirza (Royal title) Nawab Wazir of Awadh Khan Bahadur Adan Muqaam |
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Water colour in style of Zoffany
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Reign | 1775–1797 | ||||
Coronation | 26 January 1775 | ||||
Predecessor | Shuja-ud-Daula | ||||
Successor | Wazir Ali Khan | ||||
Born |
Faizabad |
23 September 1748||||
Died | 21 September 1797 Lucknow |
(aged 48)||||
Burial | Bara Imambara, Lucknow | ||||
Issue | adopted son Wazir Ali Khan | ||||
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House | Nishapuri | ||||
Father | Shuja-ud-Daula | ||||
Mother | Umat uz-Zohra Begum Sahiba | ||||
Religion | Islam |
Full name | |
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Muhammad Yahiya Meerza Amani Asaf-ud-Daula |
Asaf-ud-Daula (Hindi: आसफ़ उद दौला, Urdu: آصف الدولہ) (b. 23 September 1748 – d. 21 September 1797) was the nawab wazir of Oudh (a vassal of the British) ratified by Shah Alam II, from 26 January 1775 to 21 September 1797, and the son of Shuja-ud-Dowlah. His mother and grandmother were the begums of Oudh.
Asaf-ud-Daula became nawab at the age of 26, on the death of his father, Shujauddaula, on 28 January 1775.
When Shuja-ud-Daulah died he left two million pounds sterling buried in the vaults of the zenana. The widow and mother of the deceased prince claimed the whole of this treasure under the terms of a will which was never produced. When Warren Hastings pressed the nawab for the payment of debt due to the British East India Company, he obtained from his mother a loan of 26 lakh (2.6 million) rupees, for which he gave her a jagir (land) of four times the value; of subsequently obtained 30 lakh (3 million) more in return for a full acquittal, and the recognition of her jagirs without interference for life by the Company. These jagirs were afterwards confiscated on the ground of the begum's complicity in the rising of Chai Singh, which was attested by documentary evidence, as the evidence now available seems to show that Warren Hastings did his best throughout to rescue the nawab from his own incapacity, and was inclined to be lenient to the begums.