How burial of ‘Hazrat’ got Ganj its name

Lucknow: When the sixth Nawab of Lucknow, Saadat Ali Khan, laid down a utility road to connect Dilkusha Kothi with the Residency in the early 19th century, little did he know that it would come to be revered as a heritage marvel and heart of the city—Hazratganj—for generations to come.
This was one of the several intriguing stories narrated by noted city-based historian Ravi Bhatt during a heritage walk in the city on Tuesday.The walk that started at 6am was part of the Awadh Mahotsav organised by UP tourism department and was attended by senior officials including chief secretary Durga Shankar Mishra.
At the centre of all stories was Hazratganj. Bhatt began with the iconic stretch and cluster of commercial, official, and residential structures around it and said it dates back to 1810 when Saadat Ali Khan laid a road in the heart of the city.
“The stretch gained prominence and commercial structures started to crop up here. By the time Amjad Ali Shah’s reign began, a flourishing market had come up and since then, Hazratganj has been the bustling nerve centre of the city,” said Bhatt.
“Amjad Ali Shah was a religious person and was often addressed as ‘Hazrat’, so when he was buried at the Sibtainabad Imambara, the area came to be known as Hazratganj,” Bhatt added.
Bhatt said the legacy of Hazratganj extended beyond the Nawabs. Near Janpath market in the area, the cold-blooded murder of Bahadur Shah Zafar’s sons at Delhi’s Khooni Darwaza was avenged. “Major William Hodson was shot here. It was then known as the Begum’s Palace (Begum Kothi). The palace was later razed in 1977 and Janpath came into existence.
After the first War of Independence, when the British did away with proxy rulers and feudal landlords and took direct control of the reign, the colonial legacy also got imprinted on Hazratganj. It was modelled after London’s Queen Street and named Queen’s Way.
Bhatt also narrated stories of how colonial rule defaced much of Lucknow’s heritage; one such monument was Sibtainabad Imambara. During the siege of the Residency, before the Meerut mutiny precipitated the First War of Independence in 1857, the British destroyed the walls of this edifice.
“Thereafter, it was used as a church until 1860 and the structure was categorized as a heritage monument,” he added.