After the death of husband several woman have gone to the battle to fight off the enemy but Begam is the rarest example who battled against British because her husband was a coward, idler, drunkard and womaniser. She administered the state, managed it and to keep the enemy away generalled her forces against a mighty foe. It was Hazrat Mahal, the Begum of Nawab Wazid Ali Shah of Lucknow. She was one of the native stars of India’s first freedom struggle of 1857. Like the shame of Moghul empire Mohammad Shah Rangila, the degenerate debauchee, Nawab Wazid Ali Shah of Lucknow was no better. He was not interested in the affairs of state. The whole day he would spend surrounded by women and rhapsodists. Begum Hazrat Mahal used to look after the affairs of the state. Nawab Wazid Ali Shah was ruler in name only.
The main cause of 1857 Uprising (First independence struggle of India) was the devious policies of Lord Dalhousie used by him to usurp the native princely states one by one to add to the British colonial empire. When Dalhousie saw that Nawab Wazid Ali Shah was a good for nothing idler he proclaimed the Lucknow ruler to be degenerate, Nawab was arrested and shifted to Calcutta (Kolkata). The 11 year old son of Wazid Ali Shah was put on throne of Lucknow, the capital of Avadh state. Dalhousie hoped that the boy won’t be able to run the state and British would get a chance to usurp Avadh citing failure of rule. But the trick did not work. Begun Hazrat Mahal had been the real ruler of Lucknow before and she continued to run the show now.
Not much is known about the background of Hazrat Mahal and her parentage. Her detractors and jealous elements used to say she was an entertainer in some whorehouse of Lucknow where Wazid Ali Shah saw her and got her to his palace for his permanent entertainment.
If that claim was true about her origine then Hazrat Mahal proved a surprise. In her lay dormant and astonishing administrative talent. In palace, the centre of the state power that talent erupted and the people got an efficient ruler they had been praying for. That proved a boon for Nawab also. He could employ himself full time in his carnal indulgences free of the worries of the affairs of the state which were in the safe hands. Even while Wazid Ali Shah languished in the prison of Dalhousie the scheming British did not succeed in usurping Avadh. Avadh and its capital Lucknow remained free upto 1857 turmoil.
Against the injustices of British East India Company native rebellion broke out in 1857. Almost entire country was overtly and covertly involved in it against the aliens. Bengal, UP, and Bihar were the epicentres of that revolt. Avadh was a thousands of kms. of area around Lucknow, the most elegant city of that time. It still is the capital of U.P. and a beautiful city of distinct Nawabi culture.
The revolutionaries (mutineers) of Avadh declared Begum Hazrat Mahal as their leader in the independence battle against British. Begum herself was a battler. She dedicated the entire state treasury to the freedom struggle of India for buying weapons, cannons, ammunition and overhead expenses. That was not all, mounted atop a great elephant she began to direct the battle.
At one point of time Nana Saheb in Kanpur and Begum Hazrat Mahal in Lucknow had almost decimated the local British armies. But British were masters of the empire spread all over. Any local setbacks they could easily reverse with reinforcements and with their superior overall strategic planning. Soon, a big British force arrived from elsewhere and laid a siege of Lucknow.
Begum Hazrat Mahal assembled her soldiers and delivered an inspiring speech exhorting everyone to do-or-die for the honour of the motherland. Atop an elephant she rode out of the fort and launched a fierce attack on the British force.
But Begum had a small force and the British had a massive army and backup resources. Still a fierce battle was fought. The commander of Avadh forces, Maulvi Ahmad Shah and other prominent soldiers died. Begum fought her way out of the battlefield and gave a slip to the enemy cordon. With her son she made it to Nepal and spent rest of her life there in the capital Kathmandu, the details of which are not available.
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