Page:The tourist's guide to Lucknow.djvu/157

Rh Princes of Delhi,) who was mortally wounded on the 11th March, 1858, at the storming of the Begum Kothi, (now the Post Ofﬁce) and was carried thence to Hayat-bakhsh Kothi, the present Government House, where he expired the next day. “Parliament demanded Hodson’s trial for the death of the Mogul Princes, but the bold spirit had already gone before a higher tribunal. As long as the traditions of our race last the dauntless Hodson will hold a place in the Valhalla. of heroes of English blood."

Originated with Raja Bakhtwar Singh. He persuaded King Gazi-ud-din Haidar, in whose reign it was begun, that it would be beneﬁcial to the country to bring the water of the Ganges, by means of this channel, within the reach of the local agriculturists The King was thus induced to launch out into a costly enterprise which proved abortive in the end, as the bed of the canal is always dry except in the monsoons, when it serves merely as a sewer to carry off the rain water. The only persons who really beneﬁted by the undertaking were a number of rapacious contractors to whom the work was given of excavating the canal, which commences at Alumnagar and extends for a distance of about seven miles in an easterly direction, until it joins the Gumti at a point east of the Wingﬁeld Park. This canal was used by the rebels during the siege of Lucknow, as their first line of defence.

The Hayat-bakhsh (life-giving) Kothi was built in the time of Nawab sadat Ali Khan (1798-1814). It was originally used by General Martin as his powder magazine. The building is also known as Banks House, as it was, after the annexation of the Province, occupied by Major Banks, Commissioner of Lucknow, who was killed in the Residency; after him also the public road on the south of this house is named. It was Within the walls of this building that Major Hodson, of Hodson's Horse, expired. This position was captured on the 18th March, 1858, by General Sir Edward Lugard. The building is two-storied, and is now the Lucknow residence of the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces and Chief Commissioner of Oudh.

On the advance of Sir Colin Campbell to the relief of the Residency, this house was captured by Brigadier