![]() ![]() The stories of Lucknow’s culture are legendary throughout the Subcontinent, known popularly through film, poetry and art. Lucknow became a beacon for scholars, artists, poets, architects, musicians, embroiders, craftsmen and other practitioners of the arts from a wide variety of cultural and religious backgrounds. The newly minted political capital quickly became the cultural capital of North India under the patronage of the wealthy Shia Muslim nawabs, descended as they were from a Persian dynasty. In 1775, the nawabs established their capital at Lucknow. ![]() ![]() The fertile region, with its thriving agricultural economy, became one of the most prosperous of northern India. Awadh, comprising what is today the central region of Uttar Pradesh, was established in 1722 under Nawab Saadat Ali Khan, having been a province of the waning Mughal Empire since the mid-16th Century. The city’s cosmopolitanism has its roots in the ruling nawabs, or princes, of the Awadh Kingdom of the 18th and 19th Centuries. In fact, Lucknow is one of India’s only major cities that has not experienced any major problems between the two communities.īut although Lucknow can clearly teach India lessons in tolerance, there are signs that even this historical safe space is showing serious signs of strain. This unique tolerance between religions is a key feature of Lucknow, whose population today is 70% Hindu and almost 30% Muslim, with small Sikh and Christian communities comprising less than 1% (in comparison, India’s national demographics are nearly 80% Hindu and 15% Muslim). ![]()
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