The sitar is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau Khan, an 18th-century figure of the Mughal Empire has been identified by modern scholarship as the inventor of the sitar. According to most historians, he developed the sitar from the setar, an Iranian instrument of Abbasid or Safavid origin. Another view supported by a minority of scholars is that Khusrau Khan developed it from Veena.
Umrao Jaan is a 1981 Indian period musical drama film directed by Muzaffar Ali and starring Rekha as the eponymous character. Based on the 1905 Urdu novel Umrao Jaan Ada, the film tells the story of a Lucknow courtesan and her rise to fame.
Begum Hazrat Mahal, also known as the Begum of Awadh, was the second wife of Nawab of Awadh Wajid Ali Shah, and the regent of Awadh in 1857–1858. She is known for the leading role she had in the rebellion against the British East India Company during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Mirza Wajid Ali Shah was the eleventh and last King of Awadh, holding the position for 9 years, from 13 February 1847 to 11 February 1856.
Gerasim Stepanovich Lebedev, also spelled Herasim Steppanovich Lebedeff, was a Russian adventurer, linguist, pioneer of Bengali theatre, translator, musician and writer. He was a pioneer of Indology.
Enrico Adelelmo Brunetti was a British musician and entomologist. He specialized in the Diptera and worked for many years in India.
John Borthwick Gilchrist was a Scottish surgeon, linguist, philologist and Indologist. Born and educated in Edinburgh, he spent most of his early career in India, where he made a study of the local languages. In later life, he returned to Britain and lived in Edinburgh and London. In his final years, he moved to Paris, where he died at the age of 81.
Vishnu Govind Jog, better known as V. G. Jog, was an Indian violinist. He was the foremost exponent of the violin in the Hindustani music tradition in the 20th century, and is credited for introducing this instrument into Hindustani music.
The Defence of India Act 1915, also referred to as the Defence of India Regulations Act, was an emergency criminal law enacted by the Governor-General of India in 1915 with the intention of curtailing the nationalist and revolutionary activities during and in the aftermath of the First World War. It was similar to the British Defence of the Realm Acts, and granted the Executive very wide powers of preventive detention, internment without trial, restriction of writing, speech, and of movement. However, unlike the English law which was limited to persons of hostile associations or origin, the Defence of India act could be applied to any subject of the King, and was used to an overwhelming extent against Indians. The passage of the act was supported unanimously by the non-official Indian members in the Viceroy's legislative council, and was seen as necessary to protect against British India from subversive nationalist violence. The act was first applied during the First Lahore Conspiracy trial in the aftermath of the failed Ghadar Conspiracy of 1915, and was instrumental in crushing the Ghadr movement in Punjab and the Anushilan Samiti in Bengal. However its widespread and indiscriminate use in stifling genuine political discourse made it deeply unpopular, and became increasingly reviled within India. The extension of the law in the form of the Rowlatt Act after the end of World War I was opposed unanimously by the non-official Indian members of the Viceroy's council. It became a flashpoint of political discontent and nationalist agitation, culminating in the Rowlatt Satyagraha. The act was re-enacted during World War II as Defence of India act 1939. Independent India retained the law in a number of amended forms, which have seen use in proclaimed states of national emergency including Sino-Indian War, Bangladesh crisis, The Emergency of 1975 and subsequently the Punjab insurgency.
Umrao Jaan Ada is an Urdu novel by Mirza Hadi Ruswa (1857–1931), first published in 1899. It is considered the first Urdu novel by many and tells the story of a tawaif and poet by the same name from 19th century Lucknow, as recounted by her to the author.
Justice Syed Mahmood was Puisne Judge of the High Court, in the North-Western Provinces of British India from 1887 to 1893, after having served in the High Court in a temporary capacity as officiating judge on four previous periods since 1882.
Christopher Webb Smith, was an English-born bird painter and public official. After joining the East India Company he was sent to India in 1811, where he remained in various administrative posts until 1842 and is remembered as a “gentleman naturalist” who specialised in ornithology and illustration. He was one of the first to codify the birds of India.
Colonel John Vaughan (1778–1830) was a senior British officer in the service of the Honourable East India Company’s Army. Through his military career he saw active service on the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, Second Anglo-Maratha War and Third Anglo-Maratha War.
Umrao Jaan Ada is a 1972 Pakistani musical romantic drama film loosely based on the novel of the same name by Mirza Hadi Ruswa and directed by Hassan Tariq with lyrics and screenplay by Saifuddin Saif. Rani played the titular role in the film opposite Shahid while Zmurrud, Aasia, Nayyar Sultana, Rangeela and Allauddin appeared in supporting roles. It revolves around the entire life journey of a tawaif from Lucknow and her tragic romance with a Nawab. The film was a golden jubilee hit a Box office. Lok Virsa Museum screened the film in 2017 as part of special showcase of the feature films in the country.
Benjamin Guy Horniman was a British journalist and editor of The Bombay Chronicle, particularly notable for his support of Indian independence.
Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway (R&KR) was a metre gauge railway in India covering a total network of 592 miles (953 km). It was owned and worked by the Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway Company. The Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway was transferred to the Government of India and merged into the Oudh and Tirhut Railway on 1 January 1943.
Atul Prasad Sen was a Bengali composer, lyricist and singer, and also a lawyer, philanthropist, social worker, educationist and writer.
Raja Sir Sourindra Mohun Tagore or Sourindro Mohun Tagore CIE was a Bengali musicologist who came from an upper-class family from Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent; that also later produced Rabindranath Tagore. He studied both Indian and western music theory and published extensively on the topics. He founded the Bengal Music School and Bengal Academy of Music. A staunch supporter of the British Empire and its agencies in India, he was commissioned to set Indian translations of God Save the Queen to Indian tunes.
Joseph Walker Jasper Ouseley was a British orientalist and a colonel in the British Army.
Guzashta Lucknow: Hindustan Mein Mashriqi Tamuddan Ka Akhri Namuna, popularly known as Guzashta Lucknow, is the socio-cultural history of Lucknow, India written by Abdul Halim Sharar.
