"The life was gone out of the body, and the body of this town had been left lifeless". On whose exile was the above line recorded by a contemporary observer?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Nawab Wajid Ali Shah
The line records the grief in Lucknow when Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was dethroned and exiled to Calcutta after the annexation of Awadh in 1856.
NCERT (2026-27): “2.2 ‘The life was gone out of the body’ Lord Dalhousie’s annexations created disaffection in all the areas and principalities that were annexed but nowhere more so than in the kingdom of Awadh in the heart of North India. Here, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was dethroned and exiled to Calcutta on the plea that the region was being misgoverned. The British government also wrongly assumed that Wajid Ali Shah was an unpopular ruler. On the contrary, he was widely loved, and when he left his beloved Lucknow, there were many who followed him all the way to Kanpur singing songs of lament. The widespread sense of grief and loss at the Nawab’s exile was recorded by many contemporary observers. One of them wrote: ‘The life was gone out of the body, and the body of this town had been left lifeless…” |