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CHAPTER XVI.
Distribution of the Oudli Bequest at Kerbella, Najaf and Kathimain.
Tho Mahomedan royal family and aristocracy of Oudli were Shiahs, and
before and at tho annexation of Oudli there was a large exodus of Oudli Princes
and Begums to Najaf and Kerbella, where there arc the shrines of All and Hussain
respectively. In the neighbourhood of these shrines there is many a tomb of
these princes and princesses, not to speak of other Shiahs. Por tho mainte­
nance of tho shrines and the worship connected with them many a bequest
lias been made and of these ono of the largest is that of Ghazi-ud-din, King
of Oudli, arising out of what is called tho Third Oudli Loan.
2. The loan, generally known as the Third Oudli Loan, was obtained by
Lord Amherst from King Ghnzi-ud din Hydcr at a time when the Burmese war
lind reduced the British Government to great financial straits. It was for a
croreof rupees at 0 per cent, interest ; and, as usual in the case of such loans,
the interest was devoted in perpetuity to tho payment of stipends to certain
favourites of tho reigning Prince. The Deed of Engagement between the
British and Oudli Governments will ho found at pp. of the second volume of i
AitchisoiTs Treaties. Under this engagement two of the King’s wives, Nawab
Mubarik Mahal and Sultan Mariam Begum, became pensioners of the British
Government to the extent of Rupees 10,000 and Rupees 2,500 per mensem,
respectively. The Begums were guaranteed the right of leaving by will one-
third of their allowances to any one they pleased, hut tho remaining two-
thirds of cither allowance was to go to the shrines of Ali and Hussain at Najaf
and Kerbella.
3. Both the Begums died, at different dates, in the year 1819 ; and from that
time tho Government of India became saddled with the responsibility of paying
monthly to the two shrines Rupees liGOG-10-8 on account of tho two-thirds of
Mariam Begum’s stipend, and Bupees 6,660-10-8 ou account of the similar
sliaro in Mubarik Mahul’s stipend, or, in tho aggregate, Rupees 8,333-54. Sir
Arnold Komhall, then Lieutenant Kemball, was Acting Political Agent at
Baghdad during tho temporary absence of Sir Henry Rawlinson. In December
1819 lie raised the questiou how the obligation was to he practically fulfilled.
Erom the antecedent history of Kerbella, and the known antipathy of tho
Shiah and Sunni sects, lie argued thatso considerable a sum as one lakh of rupees
per annum could not be placed at the disposal of the holy shrines, without endan­
gering the peace of the country, and ho pointed out that, if troubles should
arise, umbrage might be taken by the Turkish authorities at the disbursement
of the money in questiou from tho treasury of the Baghdad Agency. Upon this
representation Lord Dalhousie’s Government decidod that the money should
not be paid at Baghdad, but that tho chief priests of Kerbella and Najif
should, through their private agents, draw hills on Bombay for the amount.
The decision was duly reported to the Court of Directors, who, in reply, for­
warded a communication received by them from the Secretary of State for
Eoreign Affairs. Lord Palmerston’s view was that if, consistently with the
Indian Government’s obligations to the State of Oudli, the money could bo
remitted without passing through tho hands of a British Agent, suoli an
arrangement might with reforoncc to political considerations, bo preferable ;
but that if the Indian Government were precluded from auy choice in the I
matter, tho Political Agent would have'to pay over the money as lie received it
to the designated priests.
4i. Accordingly the’system of payment by bills on Bombay held good until 1862.
But in that year Sir Henry Rawlinson, who iu the interval had resumed chargo
of the Baghdad Agency, re-opened the question. He declared that the circuitous
and unusual mode of payment from Bombay had a clandestine and mysterious
appearanco, and so was more likely to give umbrage to the Porte than direct
and open payment by the Political Agent at Baghdad. The only way, ho
thought, in which tho Govornmont of India could acquit itself of the obligation
u as to place tho disbursement unreservedly in tho bauds of the Political Agent;
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