After the British takeover of Awadh, the Nawab was removed; then came a missing step; then musicians, dancers, poets, artisans and cooks lost their livelihood. What is the missing step?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Dissolution of the court and its culture
Option (1) Overassessment of revenue on the peasants — Incorrect. Overassessment raised the revenue burden on cultivators in the villages. Its weight fell on the peasants who paid the land revenue.
Option (2) Disarming of taluqdars and destruction of their forts — Incorrect. This step hit the taluqdars and their armed retainers in the countryside. It belongs to the British attack on rural power, far from the court's artists.
Option (3) Removal of taluqdars under the Summary Settlement — Incorrect. The Summary Settlement took villages away from taluqdars. It was a land revenue measure and did not touch the court's artists.
Option (4) Dissolution of the court and its culture — Correct. With the Nawab gone, the court and its culture broke up. The people who served the court then lost their work and income.
NCERT (2026-27): “2.2 “The life was gone out of the body” … |