An exhibition of paintings and drawings on the life of Wajid Ali Shah, who settled in Calcutta after the kingdom of Awadh was annexed by the British, started at the Sibtainabad Imambara in Metiabruz on Saturday.
A walk with visits to various places associated with the Nawab will be organised on Sunday morning.
The occasion for the walk and the exhibition is the 200th birth anniversary of Wajid Ali, the last king of Awadh.
The Sibtainabad Imambara in Metiabruz was built by the Nawab after he came to Calcutta.
An 18ft-long portrait of the Nawab is on display at the Imambara together with the emblem of the Awadh kingdom. Two sets of 16 drawings — one on the life of the Nawab and another on the zoo that he set up in Metiabruz — are also on display.
Visitors at the exhibition.
Sanat Kr SinhaSoumyadeep Roy, a visual artist whose works are on display, said the 200th birth anniversary was an apt occasion for the exhibition.
One of the drawings on the Nawab’s life shows his mother on the night before she left for London. “After Awadh was annexed, his mother Malika Kishwar came with him. She then left for London and eventually passed away in Paris. So it was here in Metiabruz that the mother and son had last met,” said Roy.
There are drawings showing the Nawab taking lessons in music and of the first opera he staged in Lucknow.
Many of the drawings are imaginary visualisations based on writings by the Nawab and historical facts about him.
