After Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was exiled, a folk song of Awadh voiced the grief of the people. What did this song bemoan?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → That the honourable English had come and taken the country
Option (1) That the Nawab's armed forces had been disbanded by the British — Incorrect. The Nawab's army was disbanded under the Subsidiary Alliance of 1801, long before the exile. The song was about the loss of the country.
Option (2) That the Company had raised the revenue demand on the peasants — Incorrect. Higher revenue demands were a grievance of peasants, but this folk song mourned the British takeover itself.
Option (3) That the sepoys of Awadh had been sent to fight far from home — Incorrect. Sepoy grievances were part of the wider unrest, but they are not what this song lamented.
Option (4) That the honourable English had come and taken the country — Correct. The song, Angrez Bahadur ain, mulk lai linho, mourned that the honourable English came and took the country. It shows the grief and loss people felt at the Nawab's exile.
NCERT (2026-27): “2.2 “The life was gone out of the body” … “which did not wail out the cry of agony in separation of Jan-i-Alam.” One folk song bemoaned that “the honourable English came and took the country’’ (Angrez Bahadur ain, mulk lai linho ).” |