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Rh a story, that when in 1540 A.D., the Emperor Humáyún went down to Jaunpur to fight Sher Shah, then king of Jaunpur, and subsequently Emperor of Delhi, he retreated after his defeat viâ Sultanpur, Lucknow, and Plíbhít to Kashmir, and on his way stopped four hours in Lucknow, and that beaten and dispirited as his force was, and therefore probably little able to compel obedience, they collected for him in that short time Rs. 10,000 in cash and fifty horses. That such a story should prevail, however much exaggerated, is in itself a proof that Lucknow was then a wealthy and flourishing town.

We hear mention made of the title of Súbahdar of Oudh as early as 1280 A.D., but the title could not properly be given till in 1590 A.D., when Akbar divided the empire of Hindustan into twelve subabs, of which Oudh was one. The boundaries of the súbah differed from those of the present province of Oudh, chiefly in the fact that they included part of the Gorakhpur district, but excluded Partabgarh, and a large part of what is now the Fyzabad district, of this súbah it is impossible to say that any one place was the capital. The súbahdars seem to have been constantly changed, seldom keeping the dignity more than three or four years. Most of them were Delhi favourites, who remained at court the greater part of the year, and then came down to Oudh to collect revenue, marched about the districts without halting, and when they had got all they could went back again. When any inhabitant of Lucknow was made subahdar, he would naturally make Lucknow his headquarters, and in the same way with other places.

The growth of the city.—Not much was added to the city till up to the middle of the sixteenth century, and its subsequent extension seems to belong to three periods. First that of the Emperor Akbar, who seems to have taken a great liking to the place, when muhallas were built to the south along the line of the chauk. Secondly that of Asif-ud-daula, under whom the greatest extensions in the city were made. In his time all the central parts of the city were built, and fifty-two villages are said to have been taken up. And lastly, that of the fifth Nawab, Saádat Ali Khan, brother and successor Asif-ud-daula, who built all the city which stretched towards the east. The present oldest inhabited parts are the old Hindu wards—the Bájpei, Katári, Sondhi, Banjári, and Ahíri- tolas, which are situated round and to the west of the chauk.

In the time of the Emperor Akbar one of the principal sections of the inhabitants was still the Brahmans, and the free-thinking monarch, wishing to do them an honour, caused the Bájpeí sacrifice to be performed, and gave them a lakh of rupees; from which time they became known as the Bájpeí Brahmans of Lucknow.

Mirza Salím Shah, the son of the Emperor, founded Mirza Mandi, part of which lies to the west of the enceinte of the present fort. Jawahir Khan was subahdar at the end of Akbar's reign, and Qázi Mahmud of